Florence Epee from Cameroon who wowed the crowd on the night of 21st December, left Nigeria with the Miss West Africa International 2014 title, succeeding to the former queen Hawa Kamara, Miss West Africa International 2013. Miss West Africa USA, Lily Ogechi Udumukwu originally from Nigeria, scooped the 1st Runners up and Annarosa Traoré Assita, Miss West Africa Mali 2014 left as the 2nd Runners up.
The event which was sponsored by the Swiss Spirit Hotel saw contestants from Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Sao Tome and Ivory Coast.
On the day there was a very flawed line of judging by judges called up by D Sinatra Ents, organizers of Miss West Africa International 2014 in Nigeria. A number of judges seemed to have forced upon the other judges Miss West Africa Nigeria 2014 into the finals as well as having her announced as the winner, this was not only rejected by the crowd but also by the CEO of Miss West Africa International.
“Racheal (Miss West Africa Nigeria 2014) is a great and very beautiful girl, but it was very obvious she was far from the most impressive on the day, I felt slightly similar about the situation last year, and regretted for a whole year that it was not opposed, I will not let that happen again. I understand when there is a little difference of opinions, but it does raise questions when the judges results are totally different from the crowds expectations. I am not going to stress my brain about how it happened, or who was behind it, or what was the reason it happened, what is very obvious is that she is not the winner, and that Florence, Lily and Annarosa will now be acknowledged in their respectful positions. And that from this point on, we will not take the risk of letting franchisers decide on the judges for the international event. It is an international event, they didn’t just jump in a taxi to get here. It is disrespectful to the girls and every single person that supports them” – Nana Tamakloe
Other highlights of the day saw an amazing performance by Shoki singer, Orezi, comedy by Frank Da Don, Hosting by Denrele, and a young candidate by the name Carla Patricia Lima of age 16 give a fierce performance on the day whilst representing Sao Tome. Miss West Africa ltd believes the confusion of the winner will stir, but switching the titles was a necessary action if it wishes to maintain a great history of rewarding those that deserve to uphold the Miss West Africa title. “There is a lot to express on this situation, but now the only essential thing at this time is to thanks all the queens for thier participation. We are looking forward to making an extrodinary impact on pageantry with the new international queen Florence Epee, she is more than determined, beautiful and passionate about Africa, and deserves every inch of the crown on her head.” – Miss West Africa ltd
