It was with a grand finale and champagne party. The show which has been on our screens for 6 months had the two top talents Joe Blue and Mercy Chinwo gunning for the top prize off $100,000 amongst other prizes and bragging rights as Nigeria’s next top-rated star.

The evening started with a cocktail attended by the ‘who is who’ in the entertainment and show biz scene. The real show kicked off at about 2pm with performances from Chuddy K and the Kontrol master, W4. This was just the beginning as the Nigerian Idol team had a full house of stars waiting to entertain the guests.

The next rounds of performances after the Etiasalat CEO’s speech were from the top 10 finalists and past Nigerian Idol winner, Yeka Onka. The atmosphere in the studios was turned up a few notches as  MI stepped on stage, signing his highlife-infused song featuring Flavour ‘Africa Rapper No. 1’. Also, EME hot-shot WizKid aka Star Boy gave a wonderful and might I say ‘kick ass’ performance that kept everyone on their feet.

Then came the big guns! Mercy and Joe Blue. They gave a wonderful and hilarious rendition of Rex Lawson’s Taxi driver. This got the house smoking hot as they received a resounding round of applause for their performance. Though the dice had already been cast as this was the final show of the season, the audience still yearned to get more performances from these two as they were both on the top of their game that night.

Mercy came up next in ‘Abamieda’ style as she gave a pulsating and energising performance of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s ‘Zombie’. Her wonderful vocals, dance routine and command of the audience kept everyone spell bound till the end of her performance. On the other hand, Joe blue the master showman didn’t disappoint either as he delivered a unique twist to ‘Oloriko’ driving the crowd wild with his spot on choreography and excellent vocals. His performance was undeniably on point and the best of the night as the crowd almost sent the roof flying with cheers and applause.

The moment we had all been waiting finally came as the hosts Ill Rhymes and Tiwa Savage came on stage with the Etisalat officials to announce who will be going home with a new SUV and the $100,000. The silence was deafening as Mercy was named the Nigerian Idol. The young lady from Port Harcourt  who was in shock as her name was announced as the winner and was full of appreciation to her loyal fans and supporters for taking her thus far.

See some of the photos below: