Ogunrombi Olakunle, popularly known as K-Peace, late last night joined the league of Nigerian Idol winners. He defeated Dolu in the grand finale to emerge winner of the popular music reality television show.

The victory of K-Peace did not come to many as a surprise because of his large followership and the huge applause that greeted his performances throughout the show. His style of music called Fuji ‘RnB’ stood him out all through the competition. His fuji rendition of the John legend’s hit tune ‘All of Me’ at the audition stage and his fusion of fuji with ‘RnB’ during the weekly performances showed that he was born to do music. Interestingly, both finalists, K-Peace and Dolu were awarded golden tickets in their regional audition, which spoke volumes of their music talent.

With this win, K-Peace has become N7.5 million richer, in addition to smiling home with a brand new SUV, a recording deal worth N7.5 million with South-Africa’s Universal Music label and some other high-end devices.

As first runner-up, Dolu walked away with N1.5 million cash reward, a saloon car and some other high end devices while the second runner-up, Nexus, got a million naira and other high-end devices.

While making it clear that he still has a lot of work to do, K-Peace told News Express that he was going to invest a huge portion of his winnings into music. Said he: “Now I feel my career has just started, which means a lot of work is needed to be done. Firstly, I will invest a huge portion of my winnings into music, which is what I have been doing for years. People are going to be hearing more of the Fuji ‘RnB’ which I created.”

He admitted that there is going to be a lot of pressure on him from his fans and followers who are going to be wondering what is next for him, but promised to ensure not to disappoint anybody.

Since its inception, Nigerian Idol has been usually won by the female folk, the exception being Season Three won by Moses Obi-Adigwe and now the latest one by K-Peace.

This, Rotimi Pedro, Chairman, Optima Media Group (OMG), franchise owner of Nigerian Idol, said, shows that the show is not gender biased. He told News Express at the OMG Studio, Omole Lagos, venue of the grand finale that Nigerian Idol is designed to discover exceptional music talent and that it has been doing this successfully.

His words: “At Nigerian Idol, we are not gender biased; if you are gifted musically, we will discover you and show you to the world.’

Pedro said that he believed in the future of K-Peace, who has been able to create a genre of music called Fuji ‘RnB’. “Our joy at Nigerian Idol is, the more we do this, the more talents we discover and the good thing is that the winner, K-Peace, has the ability to blend fuji and ‘RnB’ and we believe that the young man will do very well in the music industry,” he said.

Nigerian Idol Season Five grand finale showcased electrifying performances from various groups that included the top 12 finalists, Dance Na the Main Thing (DNMT), a choreography and dance group, and comedy by Acapella. The Season Five judges; Dede Mabiaku, Yinka Davies and Darey Alade, showed that aside seeing contestants’ fault while performing, they too can ‘walk the talk’ – they took turns to put up exceptional performances that left the crowd on their feet.

International act Asa, who flew in the previous night from her base in France, did not leave anyone in doubt as to why she is called Nigerian queen of the classics, as her stage performance testified to that fact. She did three songs from her current album, specifically the hit songs ‘Satan Be Gone’, ‘Eyo’ and ‘Moving On (Where Do People Go?)’.

•Photo shows K-Peace, flanked by officials of Etisalat Communications, being awarded his cash reward . . . last night at Omole Lagos.

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