By Lucy Ezeliora and Azeez Balogun
Omoni Oboli
After two postponements, the anticipated Best of Nollywood Awards (BON) finally took place in Asaba last weekend.
Despite the apprehensions caused stakeholders by the two postponements, the organisers surprising came up with a successful and spectacular event. Held at the Dome event centre, the first thing that caught the attention of guests was the incredibly long red carpet that led to the venue in fulfilment of the promise made by the organisers to break the world record for having the longest red carpet at an event.
The first menu, served to relax guests before the main course, was given by a traditional troupe that sang traditional tunes till the event proper started about 9:30pm. Master of ceremony, Gbenga Adeyinka, was at his best as he humoured guests with his highly entertaining selections of quality humour from his basket of jokes.
By the time, the Delta State Commissioner for culture and tourism, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD) came to the podium to perform the official opening ceremony; guests were already relaxed for the main course. Branding Delta State as the home of Nollywood, RMD cited the recent influx of movie makers to the state as well as the large number of movies done in the State as his reason for saying so.
Professor Amos Agbe Utuama (SAN), Delta State Deputy Governor who represented the Governor, Emmanuel Uduagan thanked the organisers for bringing the event to the State. He went on to say Nollywood has the potential to overtake oil in terms of revenue earning for the country
Entertainment was provided by a cross section of the best of Nigerian musicians and comics.
Finally, it was time for the event, the main course proper. The Best Actor in a Leading Role (English) went to, OC Ukeje for his role in Alan Poza. Best Actress in a Leading Role (English) was Omoni Oboli for her role in Brother’s Keeper. The Best Actor in a Leading Role (Yoruba) category surprisingly went to an Ibo actor, Mike Ezuruonye for his role in the movie ‘Unforgivable’. Best Actress in a Leading Role (Yoruba) went to Joke Muyiwa while The Best Actor in a Supporting Role (English) was won by Alex Ekubo.
Other awards were; Best Actress in a Supporting Role (English), which went to Rita Dominic for ‘Finding Mercy’. Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Yoruba) was won by Odunlade Adekola for his efforts in ‘Aja’. Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Yoruba) went to Fathia Balogun while Kola Ajeyemi won the Most Promising Act of the Year for his role in ‘Were Meta’. Most Promising Act of the Year (Male) won last year by Alex Okubo, went this time, to Sylvya Oluchy
The children, the future of Nollywood were not left out. Best Child Actor (Male) was won by Asimiyu Uthman Omokunmi who acted in ‘Ifa Iwa’. Best Child Actor (Female) went to Oyinda Lanpejo for her role in ‘Finding Mercy’. Koffi’s movie, ‘Nanny’ won the Best Comedy category while The Movie with Best Social Message went to ‘Journey to Self’. Best Kiss in a Movie was that of Ibironke Ashaolu and Wale Akanbi in the movie ‘Unforgivable’.
For the technical categories: ‘Judgment Night’ won movie with the Best Special Effect. The Best Screenplay went to, ‘Confusion Na Wa’ which also went home with the award for Best Production Design, whose director, Kenneth Gyang won best Director of the Year award as well the Movie of the Year. Movie with the Best Sound went to Cobweb. Best Use of Costume went to ‘Twin Sword’
Revelation of the Year (Female) is Laitan Ogungbele while Charles Billion Pius won the male category. Saturday Independent’s Azeez Balogun was named Movie Journalist of the Year. Divine Touch, was the Marketer of the year.
There were also some funny moments at the event. The first artiste on stage was a young artiste named G-Spliff who made a total fool of himself on stage. His performances failed to impress and to add insult to injury, he lost one of his shoes on stage. Instead of him to continue performing as a professional, he tried to put the shoe back on. Then was the attire of actress Adaora Ukoh. Her outfit could be better described as leopard jumpsuit. It was a leopard skin made into a jumpsuit. Everyone giggled as she walked around the hall. Another attention grabber was Sir Shina Peters. He refused to sit through-out the event. He went from table to table taking pictures. This created a lot of distraction as guests were looking at him instead of paying attention to the stage.
On the whole, this fifth edition of the Best of Nollywood Award was the biggest and the most attended of all. It showed the organisers have put more thoughts into logistics and details. In a chat with Fidelis Duker who was also at the event, “many complain that there are too many awards for Nollywood, but BON has been an award that recognises those that may never be recognised by huge awards like African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) and Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA). It is the real awards for Nollywood either you are making Yoruba, Hausa or Ibo movies.”
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