Edo people love to party. And on Wednesday evening at the Oba Ovoranmwen Square at the Ring Road area of central Benin City thousands of people turned out to celebrate the victory of Muhamadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president-elect.

The party, which was organised by the party-loving Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, featured two famous Nigerian music artistes, Timaya and Patoranking, who sent the crowd wild in lyrical ecstasy with their recent jams.

The state governor had declared Wednesday a public holiday in honor of Buhari’s triumph.

Shouts of ‘Sai Buhari’ trended in the city as supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) celebrated the historic emergence of the retired general as President-elect. Buhari becomes the first person to defeat an incumbent President in Nigeria.

The most relieved person however is arguably Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who has waged a bitter battle with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. There was a real threat of a complete PDP takeover of the state after last Saturday’s parliamentary elections produced crucial wins for the PDP. A win for the PDP’s Goodluck Jonathan would have been seen as a sucker punch on Oshiomhole as vital House of Assembly elections approach.

But with the APC now set to be in control of the Federal Government, Oshiomhole could not contain his excitement as he intermittently left his sitting position to dance and sing along with the music acts.

Edo State music legend Osayomore Joseph was the first big-name musician to take to the stage. The ‘old school’ master brought out the wildness of the appreciative crowd as he dished out a couple of his native Edo songs.

When dancehall and reggae crooner Patoranking stormed the stage, the crowd which had been demanding heavily for him from the MCs got their wishes and went double wild. The 24-year-old star showed his stage power as he got the fans to sing along as he did some of songs from his repertoire, including the monster hits ‘Alubarika’ and ‘Girlie o’. He connected with the crowd as he got them to wave their hands from side to side and would stop at times his instrumentals so as to hear the fans sing the lyrics of some of his lines.

The loudest welcome was reserved for Timaya, whose peculiar dance steps and performance of his recent songs made a mess of the ability of the crowd to exercise self-control. However, Timaya’s performance was hijacked by a young fan who took to the stage to display his dancing skills which mirrored the dancing style of the ‘Dem mama’ singer.

The young fan who is a groundnut seller in Benin won the admiration of Timaya, the crowd and government officials around. The governor later called him off stage and handed him a white envelop of cash which the young lad had begged for.

Timaya also promised the kid that he would feature him in his next video and later joked that he was stealing his show. “The fans are cheering you not me,” Timaya laughed.

•Photo shows an MC entertaining the crowd at the Ovoranmwen Square in Benin in celebration of Buhari’s win.

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