A fortnight ago, a lesbian sex video involving Chidinma Okeke, winner of the 2015 edition of Miss Anambra Beauty Pageant went viral in the social media. Before then, the organizers of the event, state owned Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) had a few days to the expiration of her tenure, dethroned and retrieved her official car in very curious circumstances.
The current edition of the event was also put off apparently because of the contradictions raised by the X-rated sex video for an event that is designed ostensibly to empower Anambra women, promote their culture and heritage. Rather than enhance these objectives, what has emerged from the sex video is an unbridled debasement of womanhood such that has left public sensibilities badly ruffled.
Accounts of what transpired vary amidst allegations of threats from unknown quarters to harm the dethroned beauty queen should she go public with all that transpired. But in the midst of this silence, the ABS, organizers of the event issued a quick statement seeking to exculpate the organization from issues relating to the sex video scandal.
The organization condemned the circulation of the video together with its contents and apologized to the government and people of the state, sponsors of the event and supporters for the embarrassment the issue would have caused them. It would also want to dissociate Miss Anambra Beauty Pageant from any discussions on the matter.
But the girl in the storm, Chidinma has come out with her side of the story even as she refrained from naming her traducers with a promise to expose them soon. She said when the event was advertised, she made enquiries and one of the organizers encouraged her to apply. On seeing her reluctance, the man insisted she should apply as she might win. He even promised to give her the form free if she applied which he eventually did.
She was later told that there were certain things to be done before a winner could be declared including the sex video. After much persuasion by the organizers, she later consented. She later went for the contest and was declared winner with a car as star prize.
But when she went for the car, they brought a contract paper urging her to sign. Chidinma said when she insisted in contacting her lawyer before signing the contract papers, the organizers threatened to release the said video. At that point she was left with no option than to sign. According to her, from that point, she became a slave to the organizers.
Things however came to a head on October 11, when one of the organizers invited her to his office purportedly to make a presentation. While there, the man excused other people in the same room, showed her the video and asked that the beauty queen should drop the car and the crown.
She refused the order and contacted her uncle who demanded that the official should leave the car with Chidinma in keeping with the terms of the agreement. Instead, the official forwarded the sex video to her uncle as part of the blackmail. And that was the beginning of the circulation of the sex video. It is not clear who posted the video in the social media. But if the statements of Chidinma are anything to repose confidence on, the last official she had contact with, should be able to account for how the video found itself in the social media.
From the account of the young lady, it is obvious that the official who asked her to drop her car and crown with threat to make public the sex video if she resisted was the brain behind its eventual release. Even without naming the said official, his complicity in the matter is very obvious.
And one asks, why has it been difficult for the Anambra State government and the police to wade into this unmitigated scandal? We raise this question given that the event is organized by a government owned broadcasting service. That being the case, the organization cannot feign ignorance of the critical details of all activities leading to the short listing, selection and eventual emergence of the winner. It cannot claim that it is not aware of some of the conditions set for the eventual emergence of the winner.
It is not enough for that organization to just condemn the sad episode. Neither is it sufficient for its officials to wash their hands off the mess. The ABS owns the beauty pageant. It sets the rules and supervises the contest and therefore should be held accountable for whatever lapses that arise from that contest. And if there are other interests that hijack the beauty contest for some other sinister motives as we have seen from the controversial sex video, it is the duty of the organizers to call them to order.
The contest being the franchise of the ABS, the organization has the responsibility to ensure that its overriding objectives and philosophy are strictly adhered to. Unfortunately, that has only been observed in its breach as the recent scandal vividly shows. So the ABS cannot shy away from assuming responsibility for the mess. Its attempt to dissociate Miss Anambra Beauty Pageant from any discussions on the matter cannot stand.
The fact that the current edition has been put off is clear evidence that the show has run into credibility problems. It has lost steam and no self respecting citizen would have anything to do with an event that dehumanizes young girls in the most callous manner depicted in that sex video.
But then, what purpose do those involved in the video recording want to achieve? Why would a lesbian sex video be a condition before the outcome of the beauty contest would be announced? And who are the brains behind such a dehumanizing and demented recording- the organizers, sponsors or some other party working outside of the knowledge of the two?
These posers underscore the imperative of very thorough and detailed investigation into the matter. It is curious that Anambra State government has remained silent in the face of the unmitigated embarrassment into which one of its agencies has been entangled. The fact that a government agency is involved demands that the state governor, Willie Obiano rise to the occasion by ensuring detailed inquisition into the matter if anything, to save the face of his government. Chidinma has provided sufficient lead into the scandal and it will not be difficult to get at all those behind that show of shame.
Sadly, the event bears the imprimatur of the Okija shrine saga where a former governorship candidate in the state was made to swear to an oath of allegiance by a political godfather. Events of that episode are now history. But they exposed the evil practices that went on in that evil shrine forest, eventually culminating to its destruction.
Today, Anambra is better for it. It is not surprising that all the governments that came since that incident have been able to raise the bar of governance. The state has become a reference point in good and purposeful governance in the South-east.
It is this excellent record that stands to be tainted by the activities of some evil and demented few in the state as we have seen in the senseless sex video recording. If the objective is to blackmail winners to drop their crown and car before the expiration of their tenure, that is the most crude an unethical way of going about it.
But as despicable as the entire episode is, it should serve as a hard lesson to ambitious young girls and boys. Had Chidinma realized the folly in subjecting herself to such a dehumanizing and utterly indecent exposure for whatever motivations, she would not have found herself in her current mess.
