COVER
April - June 2017 •
The Lion King
• 15
and needed to let me go and do my
own thing. He said that in the dream
he had seen that I would be fine’.
And off went Agbani to Lagos again
with her sister. It was the year 2000.
She had finished secondary school in
Port Harcourt at this time. ‘I came to
Lagos once again with my sister. We
stayed with a cousin on Bode Thomas
in Surulere, Lagos’.
Agbani entered for the MBGN
pageant. She roomed with someone
with whom she became quite close.
They needed to stay in Lagos for
a few weeks during the pageant. “
I remember hearing them call my
name as the winner and my room
mate Anne Suiner came to hug me.
She had been the runner up. We
were room mates and both came in
first and second. I was so thrilled. If I
remember correctly, I think I cried’.
She had no idea what lay ahead for
her as she put on the crown of the Most
Beautiful girl in Nigeria. She travelled
round Nigeria with different sectors of
the Nigerian government. But one of
the main roles she had to play as the
Most beautiful girl in Nigeria was to
represent the country internationally
at both the Miss Universe and Miss
world pageants. A couple of months
after winning the Nigerian crown, she
was off to Puerto Rico for the Miss
Universe pageant.
“Even though I had attended
boarding school in Port Harcourt at a
young age, being away from home at
the age of 18 and so far away from my
family was a little daunting for me. We
were in a camp for a month preparing
for the live show, doing great stuff like
travelling.’
‘On the night of the show, I remember
everyone made a fuss that I didn’t
want to wear a bikini. I wore a full
piece swim wear.’
‘ I had expectations of winning of
course’ she laughs when I asked what
her expectations were at the Miss
Universe pageant. ‘Anyone who goes
to a pageant aims to win’ she told me.
Of course that would be the case.
Agbani didn’t win but came in 7th out
of over a 100 girls at the pageant. ‘On
the one hand, I was disappointed.
But on the other hand, I had learnt
a lot from the Miss Universe pageant
experience’.
She went on to the Miss world pageant
in South Africa a few months later,
better equipped. But what was it that
really helped her win the title of the
most beautiful girl in the world? ‘If I‘m
going to be honest with you, I don’t
really know’ she said. ‘I was always
one of the favourites. You would hear
