The #IamFlorenceEpee Campaign and Miss West Africa Ltd denounces Rachel Ikekuame. She “Is Not Miss West Africa, We Do Not Condone Cheating,” states Miss West Africa Ltd. See the full press release below.
Audience at the Miss West Africa International 2014 event, organized by D.Sinatra, witnessed a failed attempt to fix the Miss West Africa crown for Rachel (from Nigeria), a lady close to D.Sinatra Ents recently interviewed on Channels TV. The show heard a mild boo when Rachel was announced as the winner, and shortly after some of the audience walked out on her crowning, the rest witnessed her dethroned by the franchise owners no more than 5 minutes after her crowning. The event took place late December 2014, Delta State.
The audio below taken from a statement on www.MissWestAfricaInternational.com is of a phone call conversations of D Sinatra members admitting Rachel did not deserve the crown. In the audio the same guys who admit Rachel did not deserve it continue to request she is fixed in the runners up position with no justification of any good performance.
“We do not condone cheating at Miss West Africa” CEO Of Miss West Africa ltd Speaks “D.Sinatra Ents probably assumed we would simply walk away from the attempt to fix the competition, but we do not work like that, this is a very valuable crown and Girls and organizers need to know now, if you attempt to be crowned the wrong way in Miss West Africa you will be decrowned, it is as simple as that and we are strict about it. There is only one Miss West Africa International crown and Rachel is not wearing it, it’s in Cameroon with Florence Epee”
He continues “We heard that they are currently bribing media stations to promote Rachel as the queen, we just hope genuine publications will do their research before working with them. A day after the show, D Sinatra members, agreed in a round meeting with the former queen Hawa Kamara, and myself. They admitted to Rachel not deserving of the crown, and everyone that day acknowledged Florence Epee from Cameroon as the best performer. However, upon returning to our countries, the D Sinatra organization began promoting Rachel as the queen. This made it even more obvious their part of fixing the show”
The Miss West Africa ltd launched the #IamFlorenceEpee hashtag for Nigerians who stand against cheating in pageants and exploitation of young aspiring contestants. The statement regarding Rachel is written out in full at MissWestAfricaInternational and it breaks down Rachel’s selection process and her envy towards a former Miss West Africa Nigeria 2013 she lost to in February, with audios and pictures.
Miss West Africa ltd also states “We would prefer to avoid all of this, but for us to sympathize with Rachel and reframe from stating our position, would be for us to disrespect the efforts of all the other contestants and participating countries including the other Nigerian contestant Adekemi. We are very thankful to the Nigerian media adnd people for their continued support for Florence Epee and making her a world wide sensation on twitter and other social media. We kindly ask you continue, with the hashtag #IAmFlorenceEpee as a symbol to stand against fixed pageantry.”
“The success of this will rely on the good people of Nigeria to share this amongst TV stations, blogs, diplomat and reputable organization and charities so they aren’t duped into a scam. We hope Rachel would reframe from her actions, because in such an international event she is carrying the name of Nigeria in a negative light to other countries in and out of Africa especially where our regional events take place. All the other contestants are appalled by her actions and the D Sinatra organization. Some even took the experience back to media outlets in their countries. West Africa remains proud of Nigeria especially in the fields of sports, music, entertainment, business and film. However, such characters like D Sinatra and Rachel bring down the name especially in the fields of pageantry.
Florence Epee from Cameroon who worked hard and wowed the crowd as even said by D.Sinatra Ents in the recorded phone conversation, won the crown, and is the rightful deserving queen and Miss West Africa International 2014/15. Let’s continue to support a process of just crownings in pageantry in Africa and push the hashtag #IAmFlorenceEpee.
Find the link to the full statement by Miss West Africa ltd here.
