One story that is making the rounds in the Lagos social circle is about an alleged bitter war between former Miss Nigeria and ageless beauty,Helen Prest Ajayi and her erstwhile protégé and ex Most Beautiful Girl In Nigeria pageant,Nike Osinowo-Soleye.
According to the gist,the two women do not see eye to eye and each of them in recent time,has been bad mouthing the other.
Those who peddle the gist,claim that the issues stems from a seeming”lack of respect” for her elders on the part of Nike Oshinowo-Soleye.
Those who hold this view,claim that years ago,Nike was a protégé of Helen Prest Ajayi,who is one of the most evergreen Miss Nigeria pageant winners.
As they put it,it was Helen Prest that persuaded Nike,who was then living in England to return to Nigeria to contest the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria crown which she (Nike) won at the time.
The gist peddlers say her victory,was also with the aid of the former Miss Nigeria who groomed and guided her through the processes that saw her tops.
Years later however,they claim that Nike,”grew wings” and was claiming equality with Helen Prest who incidentally is also five years or more older than her.It was this equality claim that tore the two erstwhile pals apart and started their unending war.
But even as they battle each other,a lot of celebrity women in their circle are already taking sides.Many say Helen Prest Ajayi is a little envious of Nike Oshinowo whom they claim dwarfs Helen Prest and is perhaps Nigeria’s most acclaimed and most celebrated beauty queen ever.
They allege that with her(Nike’s) achievement,Helen Prest should not expect her to be perpetually crawling to her even if it was she who pushed her into returning to contest the MBGN years ago.But Helen Prest’s supporters are saying that despite Nike’s popularity,that she lacks the sterling quality of a real queen.
They also claim that she is disrespectful and should kowtow to Helen Prest as her elder and erstwhile mentor.They claim that Nike has no substance to her persona except the media hype that follows her.
This they say is why she has fallen apart with all her friends including Erelu Dosunmu,Doyin Abiola,Biola Okoya and Nkiru Anumundu.
