By Ogbonna Amadi,with agency report
Her last performance at the maiden edition of the Nigerian Idol TV Reality show was the icing to her brilliant run at the show and it was indeed breath taking.

Yeka, Christy and Naomi in action

Yeka Onka left  no one in doubt that she was desirous of clinching the top prize, when she took the microphone to do a rehearse of two songs, I will Always love You and Natural Woman originally done by Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin.

And when she was through with her performance, this writer was not the only one left with wet eyes, some of the judges were too.

It wasn’t as if she was better than her main rival Naomi Mac, no. Naomi’s performance was also awesome and had been all through the competition. And as a matter of fact the line of thought was that she’d worked hard enough to win. But a winner had to emerge and Yeka did.

And the first thing she told me when she visited Vanguard Newspaper on a thank your tour was “The moment when I was called, I wished my parents were around to share the joy with me because that was what they’d always wanted for me.

If they were around, it’ll have been a dream come true for them. I immediately went on my kneels and thanked God”
For a girl who had almost lost hope of making the finals it was a dream come true.

“I am really excited for this, it took me a while to get to this point, I was rejected in Enugu and Abuja, before I came down to Lagos and then I got the golden ticket.. I loved the experience, all through the six months, And now here I am walking away with the grand prize”

Screaming and jumping, before leaving the stage, many had considered Naomi Mac a better option, but to a number of the other finalists, Onka as they have all come to call her is the best option

“I think viewers did the right thing by voting Onyeka as the first Idol because she is a total package. She sings really well and she has good interpersonal relationship. I thank God for her” AJ one of the finalists says.

“I campaigned for Yeka; I really wanted her to win, and I am excited”. The tears didn’t stop with Bibi. AJ, Emmanuel, Chito, Nina, Zoe and Naomi’s parents all cried as jubilation consumed the entire studio..

The word ‘no’ simply does not exist in Yeka’s dictionary. Rather than accept ‘no’ from the Idol judges at the audition stage, she embarked on an ‘Idol mini tour’ that took her from Enugu to Calabar and finally Lagos where she eventually got her ‘Yes’.

She says she probably couldn’t have done it alone but for the chance meeting with an Idol crew member after her first rejection in Enugu. The crew member had encouraged her then by saying “it’s not how hard you fall but it’s what you do after you fall”.

With that mentality she gave the competition all that she’s got. Fast-rising female singer Tiwa Savage who performed at the grand finale. The audience was also thrilled with performances from West African Idol winner Timi Dakolo, R&B star Banky W, Retta and Praiz

Perhaps the highlight of the grand finale was when the two finalists sang “Seun Rere” with the lady of song Christy Essein Igbokwe And finally, the TV reality show which has been the talk of the town since kicking off in November 2010 ended with Yeka Onka becoming the first-ever Nigerian Idol She returned home with a recording contract, 7.5Million naira courtesy

Etisalat and Royal Exchange, a brand new car courtesy Tom Tom and a Sony entertainment TV center.