Shopping sprees for three lucky Nigerians and other valuable prizes such as HiTV decoders, generators, plasma screen television sets, and cash awards were among items carted away by consumers at the Abuja regional draw of the Harp Real Dash promotion held in the Federal Capital Territory recently.

The draws for the Northern Region consisted of Kano, Kaduna and Abuja.

Guests who came to the event at the 24/7 Restaurant and Bar, located on Area 11 in the heart of the city were informed of the awards categories and the rules of winning any of the prizes on offer.

The two-category draws have standard rules which must be read out to every audience at whatever town where the draws is held.

Category A is the general draw that includes the tickets collected from all redemption centres across the state.

Winners who were not present at the draw venue were contacted on phone, but where the phone rang thrice without any response; it is automatically cancelled, and where the number is not available or cannot be reached, the draw is also cancelled. And when the ticket has no telephone number to reach the winner, it is also automatically nullified.

Mr. Nwamba Nwachiba, who won a HiTV decoder in the General Category, was called on phone and he excitedly promised to be at the venue from his location in Gwagwalada, a trip that required almost an hour.

And when he rushed into the venue, his joy knew no bound as he discovered that the phone call was not a fluke but for real.

Mr Ignatius Okafor who won in the Instant Play Category took over 20 minutes trying to sort his bunch of tickets before he finally got the winning ticket for identification before claiming his prize of a Plasma television.

Both winners profusely thanked Guinness Nigeria for making their dreams come true. "I don get HiTV, so I can join other people to enjoy Premiership. In fact Harp don make me a big man but I didn't know it was going to be true I would have bought more tickets or more larger" said Mr. Nwachiba.

Other winners at the Abuja draws were Mr. Nduka Emeka who won an Elemax Generator, and Mr. A Boniface, who received a cash prize of N100,000.00. He was so excited that he became speechless, "what do I say, I'm very happy, thank you Guinness, thank you Harp, may God bless you and I promise to keep drinking Harp. This is an evidence of truth and reality" he said.

Other lucky winners were Emmanuel Bari, who went home with a Plasma TV, Mr Lawrence Achibong, a winner of HiTV decoder and Prince Gbenga Otunubi who was the real man standing of the day as he grabbed the ticket for a '60 Seconds Shopping Dash'.

As usual every winner of the '60 seconds shopping spree' has an automatic blank cheque opportunity to shop at the Park N Shop Superstores situated at the city where promo is held or a neighbouring city.

The two winners who won the 60 seconds Real Dash shopping spree in Jos, Mr. Kingsley Onwu and Ugochukwu Ndibe as well as Prince Gbenga Otunubi who won same in Abuja, had thrills of a lifetime shopping at the Park N Shop multipurpose stores in Abuja.

Thanking Guinness for the gesture, Otunubi, who works as a teacher at the Federal Government College, Suleja, said he didn't know that it was real. "I have always been a Guinness brands loyalist, so it was natural for me to parttake in the promotion and each time I took a bottle of Harp since the beginning of this promo, I have won a free drink, any of the other prizes or a raffle draw. On the draw day I came to the venue praying to God to let me win especially the N100,000.00 but I didn't know that the ultimate prize is the 60 seconds shopping dash." "Guinness has lived up to their promises and it is real, the promo is genuine, I am a testimony of it, today I have done the biggest shopping of my live, I got goods worth a total of N444,000.00 at a go. It is a promotion for everybody," he concluded.

Similarly Ugochukwu Ndidbe, a footballer, said the Harp brand has been his favourite for over four years now. So winning in this promo only reinforces his dedication to Guinness brand. "Ever since I started taking alcohol about four years ago it has been Harp. I dreamt of winning in this promo and I told my mum and siblings but they didn't believe me, then I was the last person to win and I won the Shopping Spree. I went with my mum to the draws and then she believed me" he exclaimed.

But for Kingsley Onwu, a welder in Jos, it was simply unbelievable, "I no believe in this kind of try your luck before but one of my friends told me they were doing the harp draws so he gave me a free ticket and I filled. I thank God almighty, when they called my name I was overjoyed and I was just looking morose because I didn't know what to do, I was so excited. And when they brought us to Park N Shop I was more confused because things were too many to pick so I collected what I can. I want to tell people that Guinness promotion is real. I am happy I shopped close to four hundred thousand naira"

Mr. Emmanuel Agu, Brand Manager, Harp Lager, expressed satisfaction over the response of Harp consumers to the promo which is still very open for participation by the public, "what we have witnessed so far is a demonstration of credibility, transparency, authenticity and genuineness of this promotion, some consumers at the beginning of the promo had misconceptions but it obvious that the story is different now. We are very happy because it is one thing to put up a promo and another for people to believe in it and participate. This is the first shopping spree for the northern zone we still have two more to be held in Abuja before the end of the promotion and if there is need for extension we will do it" he promised.

The Real Dash Promo, which kicked off several weeks back in Lagos, has been in major cities across the country including Aba, Benin, Enugu, Jos and Abuja, while other cities in the South-South and the rest of the Northern regions are earnestly preparing to experience the excitement of the promo which will run till December 6, 2008. Being a part of the fun and excitement requires buying a bottle of Harp Lager and checking the crown for a 'raffle draw' which qualifies the holder to take to any of the redemption centers spread across the country for a raffle ticket that gives him a chance of doing the '60 Seconds Shopping' extravaganza on the draw date.