For Miss Nigeria, Ezinne Akudo, life as a beauty queen is all about working closely with the victims of sexual violence.
In an interview, the newly crowned
damsel and graduate of law from Asia State University disclosed that her decision to work with rape victims stemmed from her experience last year after her close friend fell victim.
"It was a very touching experience for me. My very good friend was raped last year and you can only imagine the trauma she went through. That made me
realise how close it could get, how
vulnerable we all are. It could happen to anybody including me; rape is the trending evil right now. I was there by her side all through and I watched her pass through it all. I am happy she is okay now and has gotten over the
traumatic experience."
"It's going to be a total campaign against sexual violence in Nigeria and right now, we are at the drawing board. We are
looking at talking to victims and creating awareness about sexual violence. We will be talking to parents, their kids and
all stakeholders. Because of the stigma attached to rape, we are also working on an emergency help line, which will provide counseling for victims. We'll be talking about rape and how to avoid it," she said.
On her saddest moment:
According to Akudo, her saddest
moment since she became queen was losing her close friend who died a few weeks after she was crowned.
"I lost a friend of mine a while ago. He was my campus pastor. His name was Emanuel Akibi. It affected me a great deal because we were very close. We were friends throughout my days at Abia State University (ABSU). His death was a big shock for me," she lamented.
Her love life:
Beauty queens are not expected to talk about their love lives on the pages of newspapers.
However, Akudo painted a picture of her ideal man. "I have not lost any of my friends because of my new crown, but I want to keep issues about my love life private. I love a guy that's passionate about serving God. Any guy that doesn't really love God can't love a lady. I am impressed about guys who are God fearing. I am not a fan of very fair guys. I'm down with chocolate skinned guys," she concludes with a soft laugh.