About 40 hours into the 120 hours contest to set new Guinness World Record, Ekiti chief, Sanya Atofarati, is in high spirits and hopeful of achieving the feat.
Atofarati began the five-day GWR contest for the Longest Marathon Watching Television in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Director of Administration, CSA GWR Watch-a-thon, Temitope Ogunsanya, said at about 3pm on Thursday, “Atofarati is in high spirits. His doctors are checking up on him to check his physical and mental state and the verdict is that he can go on. So far, it is encouraging. He has done about 38 hours now, we are getting there gradually.
“He has been watching news, documentaries and other programmes on TV since the competition started by 12.01am on Wednesday, December 27. It has been fun with him though it has been a challenging exercise.
“People have been coming since Wednesday to cheer him up. We have played hosts to well-meaning members of the immediate community, friends and representatives of the landlord’s association. By the grace of God he will meet the 120 hours goal. From the look of things, he can surpass it.
“I want to appreciate his doggedness. He is the type that strives to achieve so many things at a time. When he told me about his interest in the 120 hours watch-a-thon, I encouraged him.
“We have been giving him the support because when he eventually gets this GWR, it will be a major feat, not only for Ekiti, but for the black race. Chief Atofarati has always been passionate about people around him.
“He said he wants to use it to gather information and to showcase his community. This competition is for him to gather awareness and support for his people through information gathering.
“We would seek the audience of the government and people of Ekiti State and well-meaning Nigerians to pay a visit or send their representatives to see what their son is doing.
“We seek their support in any area they deem fit that they can encourage one of them because we are trying to further portray the name of Ekiti to the world. I expect everybody home and abroad to support us in whatever form. We are not asking for money, we are not raising funds for anybody.
“What we are saying is that in the way they deem fit. We need them to cheer us up. We have our register there for our visitors so that we can appreciate them at the end of the challenge.
“We are conscious not to distract the contestant, hence we have not been entertaining visitors with music. What we have is a reception where visitors sit and watch the activities of the contestant on a large projector screen”.