GOTV; ORITSEFEMI, MR IBU AND OTHERS STIR UP THE SHOW

when a typical small African community sleeps, it will require only a metal gong and the deep voice of a practised town crier to wake up the residents. But, when a city as big as Port Harcourt, the Garden City and capital of Rivers State, slumbers, the residents will need more than the loud notes of a gong and the crier’s booming voice to rouse them.



Indeed, a few days ago, it took the unusual combination of music stars and popular comedians, Daddy Showkey, Mr. Ibu, Oritsefemi, Aki and Pawpaw, alongside Helen Paul and MC Acapella, as well as a few other entertainers, to  give the city a treat.

A quick tour of parts of the city by the artistes was sufficient to announce the fair, an event aimed at rewarding the customers of GOtv for their loyalty over the past five years of the brand’s existence.

Although the event was scheduled to hold at the Astek Events Centre on Stadium as from 1.pm, it did not begin until an hour later. Apparently it was delayed to enable the residents to arrive in the hall.

As the guests began to trickle in, the host, MC Acapella, decided to kick off the event with some really funny jokes that almost got members of the audience roiling on the floor  with laughter. Before then, Acapella’s ‘accomplice’ in this first wave of entertainment, Naija FM’s DJ Kentalky, had been on the turntable dishing out trendy music to the delight of the guests.

Needless to add, Acapella’s well-aimed jokes (or barbs) and Kentalky’s skilful manipulation of the turntable (or the ‘wheel of fire) succeeded, to a large extent, in sustaining the attention of the thousands of fun lovers, who flocked to the venue of the fair to enjoy the unexpected offering from GOtv, till the event started in full swing.

The local artistes were the first people to mount the stage. One after the other, with only a few minutes allotted to them, they tried as much as they could to give a good account of themselves. Some of them were quite excited to be given a chance to ‘showcase’ their talents. But, the interesting part of the event was that most of them were so good they almost stole the show.

These artistes had a wide variety of performances to offer the audience, from singing to choreography and acrobatic display. The dimensions of performance were so engaging that some guests were moved to wonder aloud if the event was really a customer fair or a talent hunt. But GOtv was clear about its mission, which was to reward its customers in the city. Not one of the organisers suspected that the event might turn out to be a harvest of young talents.

However, the arrival of Ghetto Soldier, Daddy Showkey, and one of his ‘galala’ dancers on stage introduced another dimension to the event. The atmosphere in the hall became charged instantly as the singer took the audience down memory lane with a performance of his old hit-songs, such as ‘Hossana’ and ‘Fire’, and gracefully glided across the stage.

Many of the guests, especially the older generation, could not resist the temptation to dance and sing along to Showkey’s songs. The same thing happened when Oritsefemi came on stage. The most exciting moments, perhaps, was when comic actors, Mr. Ibu (real name is John Okafor), Aki (Chinedu Ikedieze) and Pawpaw (Osita Iheme) led others to cut the GOtv @5 anniversary cake and to present prizes to subscribers who participated in the dancing and quiz contests.

But the event was not all about music, dance and prizes. Extra services were also rendered to subscribers on the side by a GOtv Clinic set up at the venue for that purpose.