The show which ended on May 26 2007 had the optimistic undergraduate student of Mass Communication at the University of Port-Harcourt, scoring 63 per cent of total votes cast from viewers round the continent to become the first winner in the West African version of the show thereby joining the ranks of other Idols winners in the life changing experience which has been described as a dream-come-true-tale.

Unlike the other Idols winners that became instant stars, Timi Dakolo is yet to have the microphone to do what makes him the Idol; this time, not to fans from the stage but in the studio where he is expected to record his songs.

This rather unexpected twist in an already progressive start of his musical career is not only causing the West African Idol sleepless nights and embarrassment, it has made him start losing respect among the millions of people who voted him to emerge the winner last year. He is now thinking about returning to school to finish his education as he fears the one year recording deal he had with SONY BMG International which is the star prize in the competition, is becoming a mirage.

“The songs are ready, but the label I am signed on to; has not started recording, which is not a problem from me. My only fear is that the deal is taking forever to come?, a worried Timi revealed recently while celebrating his birthday at Legato Niteclub in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The contract will expire in May 2008.

When the management of MNET, a Satellite TV Channel, in Partnership with Pan Africa Entertainment Ltd, announced on December 1, 2006, that West Africa will experience the thrills and excitement associated with the Idols competition, it was heralded all over the continent as a welcome development that would give young aspiring artistes in the music circle a chance and platform to exhibit their talents.

No sooner had the gates of the venues for the audition which held in different locations in Nigeria and Ghana, were opened than thousands of hopeful youths from 16 West African countries of - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, appeared to partake in the show which is unarguably one of the most popular and successful reality TV shows that have ever attracted millions of audience voter participation.

After a hectic and eventful selection which came with so much drama, thrills and disappointments, the trio of Ghanaian singer, Abrewa Nana, Fela Kuti’s protégé, Dede Mabiaku and American-born-Nigeria based radio presenter, Dan Foster, who constituted the panel of judges in the show, picked 80 contestants who did make an impression in their performances. The lucky ones were chosen from the audition venues in Lagos, Calabar, Abuja, and Accra.

The number was further reduced to 24 contestants who were given the opportunity to proceed to Planet One Entertainment Centre in Maryland, Lagos, venue of the Idols West Africa show to begin the very intensive part of the show which saw the systematic elimination phase of the contestants as they were voted out one after the other till the last man standing. Week after week, the smiling and at-times-sad face of Michael Adekunle a.k.a Mike Magic, announced the contestants who were shown the way out.

The elimination process reduced the number of contestants to 10 who contested and gradually got evicted from the show. At the end of the day, Timi Dakolo was announced the winner in the First West African Idols Competition with Omawunmi who scored 37 percent emerging first runner up while Temitayo George came third in the competition that lasted close to five months.

Being the winner in the sensational search for the Idol, Timi won an international recording contract with Sony/BMG International; a Kia Picanto car from Dana Group Nigeria; $10 000 from Ecobank while telecommunication company, Celtel, gave him an ultimate viewing prize comprising of a 26 inches flat screen television, I-Pod and cable television system.

But ironically, Timi is yet to fully benefit from his star prize of the international recording contract four months to the expiration of his contract and information exclusively gathered reveals that talks have reached an appreciable extent for the second edition of the show.

When the South African owned Multichoice Nig Ltd, came up with the idea of staging the Idols Show, many observers in the industry were skeptical about how realistic the show would be but the involvement of Pan Africa Entertainment who were the producers of the show, along with the information from Elvina Ibru on how the Idols concept came about, doused whatever doubt anybody had.

Said she, “A friend informed me that a certain company wanted to meet her about their plans of becoming the number one music power in Nigeria. So she wanted me to come along. We went and found out they wanted to bring in international artistes. I advised them rather to make use of the artistes we have in the country because they would need a lot of catching up to do with respect to Nigeria Breweries and Guinness unless they were ready to bring Michael Jackson. I suggested they do a kind of talent competition and they bought the idea. In passing, I mentioned it to my brother, Peter, and he in turn told his friend in South Africa who happened to be working with Fremantle, owners of the Idols franchise in Africa. Coincidentally, MNET had been toying with the idea of staging Idols and somehow, we found ourselves; Pan – African Entertainment and MNET and that was it.?

But it did not take long for signs indicating the earlier fears that the participants and eventual winners of the show stand to be exploited were confirmed.

Prominent among the early signals was the period it took the organizers to announce the prizes for the winner of the show. It took close to three months into the show and so much pressure from the press for the prizes to be announced. Apart from the prizes for the eventual winner, the other contestants got N50, 000 courtesy of Ecobank and a Motorola phone each.

At the presentation ceremony of the Kia Picanto from Dana Motors to Timi, Elvina Ibru announced to the media that the 10 contestants who made the top 10 would proceed on a tour after which Timi will jet out to start recording his album possibly in South Africa. Today, Timi has not been contacted on when he will start recording contract he painstakingly won in the show nor has he stepped his foot on South Africa as was promised. The only time Timi was oppurtuned to travel out of Nigeria was when Celtel took him and Omanwumi to the United Kingdom for the Music of Black Origin Awards (MOBO) and also to Ghana last year.

It became noticeable that all was not well with the outcome of the event when the second runner up, Temitayo George, was not part of the group when the tour was about to kick off. Investigations revealed that as a result of the stringent conditions attached to the contract, Temitayo, daughter of Rev. Dele George who runs the charitable Little Saints Orphanage, refused to put pen on paper.

A contract proposed by Twice As Nice, which had Elvina Ibru as its CEO, made Temitayo opt out of the tour. Though the contract was not compulsive, its terms and conditions were non negotiable.

“I felt I wanted my parents to be my management as they have always been my management. The contract wasn’t really clear to me so I had my lawyer take a look at it. He asked me to wait because the terms there would not really favour me.? Temitayo responded when she was asked by journalists on why she was not part of the tour.

After the road show which took the contestants to Abuja, Lagos and Calabar; they were told to wait for responses from Sony BMG for possible sign on. Apart from Timi, whose contract was automatic, the other contestants were told that they could be signed on provided they were contacted. Omawunmi, Uche, and Jodie were eventually among those selected for the contract.

Further enquiries showed that unlike Timi who was signed on to Sony BMG International automatically for being the winnwr, the rest had terms of their contract different as they would be assigned to indigenous recording labels which meant that Timi’s songs would be recorded in South Africa while those of Omawunmi, Uche and Jodie will be recorded in Nigeria. The expected dste of release for Timi and Omawunmi’s albums was slated for December 2007 while Uche and Jodie album were to be released during or before Easter this year’s celebration of 2008.

But as at the last week of January, Timi is yet to start recording and has not been informed of a likely date the recording session will start suggesting that he might have been dumped by SONY BMG. The delay is causing the Idol start thinking about returning to school.

“I want to go back to school, I will still continue with my music as I don’t want people to look at me and think that if the microphone is taken from me, I will not be able to do another thing,? Timi said recently during his birthday celebration.

When asked if he had been told why the whole project is still on hold, a very disappointed Timi replied, “I don’t know. If there is any problem, it is certainly not from me. I don’t just understand what is happening. I have asked questions and they will say today or tomorrow. This is very frustrating and embarrassing as people who meet me keep asking when my album is coming out,? he lamented.

Timi is not the only person in this dilemma; Omawunmi, Jodie and Uche are faced with similar predicaments. Uche, who became a beneficiary of the “juicy? deal with Sony BMG, was even luckier than the Idol himself.

Carl Raccah, the CEO of Orangootan Records, a record label in Nigeria, had interest in the talent of the young Uche and met with Peter Theunissen, who is the representative of Sony BMG in Africa on signing him. His request was turned down while a completely different deal was offered him; a chance to become a judge in the next edition of the West African Idols which was silently being hatched after one of the telecommunication giants which was involved in the sponsorship of the last edition indicted their willingness to bankroll the project.

Reliable sources revealed that Dan Foster, one of the judges is very much involved in the talks suggesting that Dede Mabiaku may be the likely judge to be dropped

Having got a willing sponsor and with talks going on, a little problem was perceived; it would be embarrassing for the second edition of the West African Idols to begin without the substantive works of the earlier winners on ground.

In order to clear the tide and take care of the situation, Uche was immediately granted leave to start recording with Orangootan Records and it was reliably gathered that he has started recording sessions with Cobhams Asuquo.

According to a reliable source, “what they intend to do is to hastily release a single from any of the former Idols Contestants and put it on air so that it would not clash with the upcoming Idols second edition.?

And to make sure that is realized, Orangootan Records was given a deadline to finish up with Uche’s work by the middle of February and have a single released in that same February so that the album will be released in March this year. This rush had led to Uche’s intended 14-track album to be reduced to 10 tracks.

Interestingly, while all the plans about the next Idols Show were being plotted, Twice As Nice which played a major role in realizing Idols West Africa, is being kept on the dark on the new deal. Evidently, the South Africans have schemed Elvina Ibru and family out of the Idols show.

Many observers of the unfolding drama are not surprised as there were so many indications that the show after all, was not particularly held with the sincere objective of finding a singer they can help launch his career as is obtainable in Idols around the world, one motive that stands out in the whole arrangement is the quest to make money from SMS sent by viewers while voting.

Moreso, factual statistics stood some distance away as Alexander Forbes the firm that authenticated the votes came out with final results in each of the stages with only percentiles that had no grand total. Unlike the American Idols were more than 60 millions votes were announced cast, Africans were not informed the grand total of votes cast or the likely approximate.

Again, there were insinuations in some quarters that the idea of all the contestants performing together on the final day was actually not in the Idols schedule. A reality TV show company alleged that the idea was stolen from the proposal of a similar show which they had submitted with one of the main sponsors of the West African Idol show while they were looking for sponsorship.

While the West Africa Idol, Timi, is still waiting for a recording deal that might never come, MNET’s Director of Operation for Sub-Saharan Africa, Joseph Hundah, had announced another Idols auditions which will begin next month before it hits the screens in April 2008 from its new home in Nairobi and will be open to citizens of Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia and Swaziland.

Unlike other Idols like Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Will Young, Karin Kortjie, Heinz Winkler and Jordin Spark, who have been treated to the elegance and stardom normally associated with the show which has over 37 million viewers and grossed a global number of votes exceeded 36m, will the next editions of the West African Idols produce a real Idol? Maybe Timi Dakolo can give a better answer.

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