and Technology, Port Harcourt, is N64m richer. She emerged the winner
of a Cessna 182T aircraft in the MTN Ultimate Wonder promo after a
draw held in Lagos on November 13.
When the news of her winning the lottery broke online, some comments
about 'the lucky guy' in her life came up — with some people advising
whoever she is in a relationship with not to let go. But
Essien-Garricks says she is single and when she is ready for marriage,
she would not go for anyone who is interested in her money.
"I know what love is," she notes. "People are calling to ask my
parents if I am married, some others are giving them promises. Even on
the Internet, I don't have a Facebook account but someone has opened
one in my name. If anyone is coming because of my money, I promise the
person that he will not get a dime because I will make sure he
doesn't."
"I was surprised when I was called by a family friend that I had won
because I thought it was not real," she says. "Before then, I had
never played any game concerning MTN. Ironically my SIM card was
blocked at the time. I had a code on my phone which I forgot and in
the process of trying to decode it, my line was blocked."
She adds that her family friend's number was the last contact she made
before her line was disconnected and so she was contacted through him.
"When he told me, I just told him to forget about it that it was the
handiwork of 419 people. But later a lady called me from MTN to
confirm it. I then asked her to unblock my line to convince me. She
did so and it was at that point that I realised my fortune," she says.
The unassuming young lady, who hails from Akinima in Ahoada West,
Rivers State, is a 300-level student of radiography.
For her, however, winning N64m could only be a divine act, perhaps a
manifestation of her full name, Ebubeomiso, meaning 'the glory of
God'.
She says, "I have never fainted in my life before, so when they called
the amount I did not faint. I just became thirsty, I kept asking for
water and I kept smiling, again and again. I thought I was dreaming
but with the kind of people I have been shaking hands with, people
hugging me, asking to take photographs with me, I think it's an act of
God. I can imagine how many numbers they played and mine was singled
out, just like that."
In these times, when owning a private jet is becoming the norm in
Nigeria, some people may wonder why Essien-Garricks opted for cash
equivalent instead of the airplane.
"If I took the plane, where would I park it?" she asks rhetorically.
"I just told them it was the cash I really wanted and nothing else. I
was not persuaded to take cash. If it is something I worked for, I
would argue but I never laboured for it. They said either the plane or
the cash equivalent and I chose the cash."
Prior to her winning the lottery, she says, she planned to work as a
radiographer after school but with the change of status comes her
change of plans. "Now I will buy machines and work for myself. I will
be an employer of labour," she states.