Toyin Enitan Raji (born c. 1972) is a Nigerian former actress who was crowned

Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria – often abbreviated as MBGN – is a pageant organised by Silverbird Group with the main purpose of sending representatives to international competitions. Originally known as Miss Universe Nigeria, it was rena ...

and represented her country at the

Miss Universe 1995 Miss Universe 1995, the 44th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 12 May 1995 at the Windhoek Country Club Resort in Windhoek, Namibia. Chelsi Smith of the United States was crowned by Sushmita Sen of India at the end of the event. Eighty-two con ...

pageant in Windoek Namibia and at the Miss World 1995 pageant held in Sun City South African.Raji distinguished herself as Nigeria’s representative at the 1995 Miss Universe pageant in Namibia, finishing in 11th place. Miss South Africa had finished in 10th to deny Raji the chance of becoming Nigeria’s first Miss Universe semi–finalist, although she was awarded the "Miss Cogeniality" prize. The irony became more glaring later in 1995 when Raji went to South Africa for the Miss World contest. A huge favourite for the crown, Raji was prevented from participating following political controversy over Sani Abacha’s decision to execute nine dissidents. However, she was awarded the "Miss Personality" prize. After appearing in a few Nollywood movies, Raji relocated to the US where she now lives with her daughter and husband.

Miss Universe 1995

As the official representative of Nigeria to the

pageant, broadcast live from

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

on 12 May 1995, Raji placed

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first atteste ...

overall in the preliminary competition,

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

in a preliminary interview, and

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

in a swimsuit, barely missing the semi-finals by five-hundredths of a point. Augustine Masilela of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

made the cut in 10th place, denying Raji the chance of becoming Nigeria's first

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

semi-finalist. Nonetheless, Raji received the Congeniality award, voted by her fellow contestants.

Miss World 1995

A few months later, Raji participated in the Miss World 1995 pageant, held in Sun City, South Africa on 18 November 1995. She was pressured to withdraw by South African authorities following political controversy over de facto

Nigerian president The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Nigeria ...

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

's decision to execute nine dissidents. Toyin still went on to win the Miss Personality award

Personal life

After appearing in several

Nollywood Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there ...

movies and Sunny Ade's ''Ololufe'' video, Raji relocated to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, completed her education and currently works in IT.Motherhood has been pure perfection for me –Toyin Raji

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raji, Toyin 1970s births 20th-century Nigerian actresses Actresses from Lagos American people of Yoruba descent Beauty pageant contestants from Lagos Living people Miss Universe 1995 contestants Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria winners Nigerian emigrants to the United States Nigerian expatriate actresses in the United States Yoruba actresses Yoruba beauty pageant contestants Nigerian film actresses 21st-century Nigerian actresses Nigerian beauty pageant contestants

Miss Universe 1995

Miss World 1995

Personal life

See also

References

External links