Defying the early morning showers of Monday, June 20, 2016 as well as the gridlock that gripped Third Mainland Bridge and Ikorodu Road for hours on that day, some of Nigeria’s best and brightest still converged to celebrate with YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine at 5.


The high profile event which held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), on KofoAbayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, in fact, was packed-full – and with quality guests.

Dubbed the 5th AnnualYES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine Lecture/Cocktail Party, heavyweights like Dr. (Mrs.) Nike Akande, CON, former Minister of Industry and President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Dr. Gabriel Ogbechie, MD/CEO, Rainoil Ltd; Barrister TaiwoAdeoluwa, Secretary to the Ogun State Government; Mr. EmekaOparah, Vice President, Corporate Communications,Airtel Nigeria; Prince BisiOlatilo, Chairman, Biscon Communications; Bishop Isaac Idahosa, General Overseer, Illumination Assembly; Hon. TundeBraimoh, Chairman, House Committee on Media, Lagos State House of Assembly; Mr. HabibAruna, Chief Press Secretary to Lagos State Governor, Mr. AkinwunmiAmbode;Mr. TokunboModupe, Chairman, TPT International; Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman, Cosonand Dr. Larry Izamoje, Chairman, Brila FM,were all there.

Representing the showbiz sector were ace comedian, BasorgeTariah, Jnr. (who was the compere) andHarrysong, who also entertained. Then, the Ejiro brothers, Chico and Zeb, Tunde and WunmiObe, Ken CalebsOlumese, Ali Baba, Fred Amata,Teco Benson, Obi Osotule, Jennifer Eliogu, Grace Ama, Raw Nwanne, Prince Ifeanyi Dike, UcheIwuji, Matthias Obahiagbon, YemiBlaq, AkeemRahman, Femi Lasode, D’Lectura, De Don, Mike Nliam, KoffiNuel, Zik Zulu Okafor,TunjiBamishigbin, ArinzeOkonkwo, Linchung and Tony Akposheri. Others were Mrs. ChizorMalize of Brandzone, Dr. (Mrs.) Quincy Ayodele of Quincy Herbals, Deaconess (Mrs.) BolanleOginni of Blessed Water, Alhaja Tai Elemesho-Okesanjo of Montai, Mr. Charles Aigbe of UBA, Mr. Toni Kan of nTEL, Mr. Abdul Imoyo of Access Bank, Mr. Michael Effiong of Ovation Magazine, Prince DayoAsaju of First Weekly, Mr. LoyeAmzat of News of the People, Mr. Chris KehindeNwandu of CKN News, Hon. UzamaOkpalaeke, IkengaAzia, Mr. Ingram Osigwe, MD, Full Page Communications, Mr. AzuhAmatus of Daylight.ng, among many others.

Kicking off at exactly 12.05pm (due to the rain), the opening prayer was said by Bishop Idahosa, followed by the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine, Sir AzuhArinze’s welcome address. Then, the chairperson, Mrs. Nike Akande’s opening remarks.

The unveiling of YES CLASSICS!,heraldedby a scintillating performance by rapper DozieMbata,was next. And then the reason for the gathering – Dr. Ogbechie’s lecture on ‘Running A Successful Business In Nigeria – My Experience’.

Brilliantly and eloquently delivered by the billionaire mogul behind Rainoil Ltd, veteran journalist and godfather of entertainment journalism, Mr. Femi Akintunde-Johnson (FAJ), described it as a ‘Master’s Class’ while multi-talented entertainer, Mrs. WunmiTunde-Obe, who has witnessed all the five editions of the annual lecture summed it up as the‘most interesting one yet!’

Richly endowed with the gift of the garb, Ogbechie, an Engineering graduate of the University of Benin, recounted a riveting story of how he transformed a company set up only years ago with just N300,000 into a multi-billion empire.

As the standing ovation that trailed his superb presentation was dying down, Ogun SSG, Barrister TaiwoAdeoluwa, AirtelVP, Mr. EmekaOparah and President, DirectorsGuild of Nigeriacum renowned actor, Mr. Fred Amata, quickly mounted the rostrum to give their short remarks.

Rave crooner, Harrysong, took over from there, doling out hit track after hit track. But beginning with the monstrously popular Reggae Blues. And instantly, the hall rose to dance with him and also sing along.

Actress and singer, Jennifer Eliogu, wrapped up the event which also witnessed the cutting of the anniversary cake, massive networking, cocktail and so on.

Commenting on the 5th Annual Lecture/Cocktail Party of YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine, the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the celebrity journal which prides itself as being more than just a softsell, Sir AzuhArinze, stated that all the glory must go to God. ‘Because without Him, we can do nothing. For 5 years now, He has stood solidly behind us and notwithstanding today’s early morning rain, the hall was still full and we even had an overflow. All our key guests equally turned up.

'The greatest thing, however, is that the whole thing went well. We thank all those that attended and even those that could not make it due to one reason or the other. Our prayer is that next year will be better and bigger'.