By AYO ONIKOYI

I have a younger brother with whom I have this sibling rivalry. He auditioned in Ghana and qualified. I am here basically because he has been rubbing it in my face and boasting about it. I am motivated to achieve the same thing.”

These were the opening words of 27-year-old Klause Uche Umeh, a major highlight of Episode 6 of X Factor singing reality show broadcast last weekend. The show is sponsored by Globacom.

*X factor Judges

The Anambra State-born singer promised, before taking the stage, that he would out-perform his brother. “I will put up a very emotive performance, a heart-rending performance that the judges will have no option than to give me 3 “yeses”, not 2. I want 3,” he confidently declared.

And that was exactly what Klause did. He rendered Adele’s “Skyfall” so smoothly that the judges, true to his word, had no choice but to give him 3 “Yeses”. A highly impressed M.I. said, “Wow! This is what the show is about. You got the X Factor”, while Reggie Rockstone gushed: “Amazing! Amazing grace! It is an ‘007 Yes’ for me.”

For Onyeka Onwenu, Klause nailed the song. “What a voice! You are truly a performer. And mine is the cherry on the top. It is a big ‘Yes’ for me,” she complimented.

Talking to X Factor show presenter, Tools, after he got the passage to the next round, Klause stated, ‘It is so fulfilling, now my brother and I can really battle it out. I stepped it up and I am proud that I got a “Yes” from the three judges.

Another performance that got the three judges saying “Yes’ was that of the group “SmoothBoiz” led by 25-year-old Victor who lost one of his legs when a lorry ran over it a few years ago. Singing “Little Boy” by Paul Simon, the group got a standing ovation from the audience and left the judges momentarily speechless.