bia State Governor Alex Otti has approved the appointment of former Super Eagles skipper and two-time CAF Player of the Year, Nwankwo Kanu as the new chairman of Enyimba International Football Club of Aba.

Nwankwo will be replacing the club’s longest serving chairman Felix Anyansi Agwu who was in charge of the team for 24 years .

Kanu’s appointment was confirmed by the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu yesterday in a terse press statement which read thus: “Sporting legend and former Super Eagles’ star, Mr. Kanu Nwankwo has been appointed to supervise Enyimba Football Club to strengthen the team and make it win more laurels for the State.”

Kanu twice won the coveted African Footballer of the Year award first in 1996 after leading Nigeria to win historic Africa’s first Olympic Games football gold medal in Atlanta Georgia. He made an encore in 1999 during his days with Arsenal.

Under Anyansi, Enyimba became a household name across the continent as the first Nigerian club to win the continent’s most prestigious club competition , the CAF Champions League trophy in 2003 and made an encore in 2004. The club also won the African Super Cup twice in 2004 and 2005.

On the domestic Nigeria football scene, Enyimba won a record nine Nigeria Premier Football League title as well as four national cup otherwise known as Federation Cup among other laurels.

The last time Ms Hilda Effiong Bassey featured in this column was in a piece titled “Tales The Country Told Me: Hilda Baci and Seun Kuti” (ThisDay, May 16) wherein I commented on her courage and heroism for using her culinary skills to bring herself to global attention by breaking the Guinness World Record in cooking, what has now become known as cook-a-thon. Hilda Baci, 27, cooked for 100 hours at the Amore Gardens, Lekki, Lagos, from Thursday, May 10, till Monday, May 13. 2023. Her exploit was a big social media event, a big, welcome distraction for a Nigerian community that was becoming weary of corrosive and febrile politics arising from the country’s 2023 general elections. Celebrities trooped to the venue of the cooking marathon for photo opportunities. Hilda Baci became an instant celebrity too. Many defied the heavy rainfall to support her.

As it turned out, the Guinness World Record, after assessing her submissions ruled that she had in fact made up to 93 hours, 11 minutes - seven hours short of her target but remarkable enough to dethrone the then cooking marathon champion - Indian Chef Tata Landon who set the existing world record of 87 hours, 45 minutes in 2019. Ms Baci became an instant megastar. She won endorsements. She was given a royal reception by her home state of Akwa Ibom. She even got to meet billionaires and because she is backed by a good social media team, and looks really stunning, stylish, a head-turner in appearance on top of everything, she generated so much excitement. Some people tried to cash in on her fame by organizing a “Meet and Greet Hilda Baci” event for an admission fee which she promptly turned down. She has since been reported as using her celebrity status to raise funds for widows, by cooking more. She has since received her certificate from the GWR. I wrote in praise of Ms. Baci’s creativity, how through sheer imagination and effort she got transformed from being a great unknown into a global figure. But I have since noticed an emergent Hilda Baci syndrome that speaks to the character of the average Nigerian, and this is a problem, an abnormality. Not long after Hilda Baci was recognized by the GWR, the Hilda instinct started crawling out of many Nigerians who wanted to be like her. These persons have since turned the country into one big kitchen of emergency cooks. It is not funny. It is beginning to look like the spread of mass psychosis! Ms Tata Landon kept the record for marathon cooking from 2019 – 2023. Nigerians are not even allowing Ms Baci to enjoy a month of fame, before they started rolling out their own kitchen utensils in larger numbers to displace her.

By June 9, another Nigerian lady, Ms. Damilola Adeparusi, popularly known as Chef Dammy had entered the kitchen in Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State with the mind to cook for 120 hours and prove that she could do better than Hilda Baci of Akwa Ibom State. She did 120 hours, June 9 -13.! The people of Ekiti were excited. They had produced their own marathon cook, so they thought. Chef Dammy was celebrated by the First Lady of Ekiti State. The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Oye Ekiti, Professor Sunday Abayomi Fashina led a delegation of University Council Members to visit Chef Dammy, a student of the university, to thank her for putting the university on the global map. Imagine a whole university throwing its weight behind a cooking event. Ekiti persons in diaspora also expressed their excitement with one of them sending a return ticket to the US and N500, 000 in appreciation, someone else sent a gift of N1 million but as Chef Dammy herself disclosed later, she didn’t make up to N2 million. She also got some endorsements. But she did not displace Chef Baci. What she got instead was a statement from Guinness World Record advising that anyone who wants to break a record must first apply and follow due process. Chef Dammy did not. She was courageous, but hers was a waste of time and energy, more or less. She has however threatened to cook again in July and follow due process. We were told in an official statement by her handlers that “Chef Dammy is coming back!”. But before then, other cooks have since stepped into the fray. In Ile-Oluji, Ondo State, Ms Adeola Adeyeye, aka Chef Deo announced a 150-hour cooking marathon again to beat Hilda Baci. Unlike Chef Dammy of Oye-Ekiti, Chef Deo followed due process and took the precaution of informing the Guinness World Record, hence from June 30 2023 – July 7, she too started cooking round the clock and crossed the 150-hour mark. If she submits her evidence to the GWR, she could break Ms. Baci’s record and become the new champion.

But again, she is not alone. About the same time that she applied to GWR, an Ogbomoso-based chef, Temitope Adebayo also applied for a 140-hour cooking marathon, and his application was verified but it is just that he has been asked to wait till November 2023 before he enters the kitchen. He says he is ready and he has been taking lessons in endurance and stamina building. He is probably thinking of extending his advertised 140 hours, to surpass Chef Deo of Ondo who is expecting a response from GWR. Generally, this is very much like what Nigerians refer to as a “wahala be like bicycle” situation, and understandably, the obsession of young Nigerians (age range 26 -31) with cooking marathon has generated comedy skits with one Chef Damilda Adeoci clowning around on instagram that he intends to break the cooking record by 363 hours, 11 minutes. There is never a shortage of humour around here. Nigerians joke with everything and everything. But there are others who do not think this is a joke who have proposed other options in pursuit of a Guinness World Record. Here are a few examples, because nobody knows what may still come up tomorrow: At the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) a computer science lecturer, Joshua Hassan Bature is now proposing a 150- hour teaching marathon which he calls ‘aca- a-thon”. The GWR people have given him an October 16, 2023 date. I hope “Lecturer 150 hours” would have enough audience for his computer jargon.

Similarly, one Oluwatobi Kufeji, Alejo Pataki, is proposing a 200-hour singing marathon. He calls his proposal: “Praise Worship-a-Thon”. There is also Joyce Ijeoma, the Nigerian lady who wanted to set a record for the longest hours for body massaging. She collapsed in the process and had to be revived! There is also a lady from Benue State, Treasure Joseph who says she wants to set a record for the longest video on instagram with a target of 125 hours between July 5 -9. Woli Arole – I want to believe that one is truly clowning, has also been quoted as saying that he wants to do a “Prayer-a-thon” for 5, 000 hours. Please, who has to pray to God for 5, 000 hours before he answers? The Catechist taught us that God sees our mind. He is omnipotent and omnipresent. Apparently, whatever God Woli Arole worships needs over 5, 000 hours before he can hear His children’s pleas. But the more ridiculous aspect of all this is that the Hilda Baci syndrome has since gone across the border. Nigeria is the main leader in West Africa and to a great extent in Africa. Other countries within the sub-region look up to us. That is probably one of the reasons why President Tinubu is now the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments, within 41 days of his assumption of office as President. It also probably explains why when our President decided to remove fuel subsidy on May 29, some motorcyclists in Cameroon had the temerity to stage a public protest to question President Tinubu, asking him to reverse himself because the economic policy in Nigeria is not in their best interest in Cameroon.

It further makes sense to see why and how the Nigerian Hilda Baci syndrome has crossed the border. In Cameroon, a 25-year-old lady who wants to be the Hilda Baci of Yaounde has now announced a sex-a-thon. She wants to have sex with able-bodied, strong men for 200 hours non-stop. She wants strong men to line up. In Ghana, another lady is proposing “eat-a-thon.” How did we get here please? Nigeria is now a country that is exporting psychosis to demonstrate leadership? Other countries are demonstrating leadership in cutting edge science and technology, artificial intelligence, and global politics, we are here, a country of over 200 million people, with youths that are obsessed with cooking, prayers, singing, sex and a culture of frivolity. Nigeria should not become a sub-regional leader that exports mass, intercontinental psychosis. Can anyone in fact believe the fact that in this country today, one Nigerian lady is now launching what she calls “snails--a-thon”? She wants to cook and fry snails for 500 hours and get into the Guinness Book of World Records. At least one person has called on the Nigerian government to stop the madness from spreading further. Not many would disagree, and we already have an example in this regard.

In Ekiti state, one guy called Sugartee showed up the other day proposing to organize what he called a 72-hour “kiss-a-thon”, that is a kissing marathon. The same Ekiti state government that accommodated the cooking competition by Chef Dammy and the proposed lecture marathon by lecturer Bature immediately stepped forward to ban the proposed kissing marathon as “unhealthy, absurd and an attempt to denigrate the image of Ekiti State.” In my view, the Gov. Biodun Oyebanji administration acted rightly in the interest of public morality. Coincidentally, the GWR itself had banned kissing world records among its categories because of the risks involved. It has since accommodated a revised kiss-a-thon but with a different set of rules, and procedures. While individuals have the right to express themselves, it is also important to stress that there are no absolute rights. As the Ekiti state government has done in the case of the so-called “kiss-a-thon”, the Nigerian government must draw a line in the sand with regard to all the GWR psychosis that has overtaken the country. Danny Lammy of Cameroon for example is calling on strong men to come over and have free sex for 200 hours. If any Nigerian man shows up at that free sex event, assuming it eventually happens, such a Nigerian male citizen should be arrested on his return for engaging in an act that is against public morality and the order of nature. When the accused person gets to court, he and his lawyers can go and argue their case about jurisdiction, human rights and morality. What nonsense!

The real problem is that Nigeria is a troubled country and the evidence shows in the psychotic conduct of its people. It was Aristotle who told us that “imitation is a form of flattery”, and in addition that “a child learns by imitation”. The people imitating Hilda Baci and seeking a Guinness World Record are not children. It appears they are envious people, lacking in originality who simply want to pull down Hilda Baci, and prove that they are better than her. Envy. Jealousy. Desperation. In a country where inflation is galloping, and more people are slipping into the poverty trap, salaries and pensions are not paid, it must not be too surprising that the young people have become so desperate they would imitate anything that can bring a little fame and opportunity. Hilda Baci cooks for hours, gets famous, everyone else rushes to the kitchen. It is an emergent trait in our land. People don’t think. They copy. If you set up a business, and you seem to be doing well, before you know it, everyone in the neighbourhood would set up a similar shop. And if they have their way, they will stop at nothing to pull you down, in typical crab-mentality fashion. It is a crime to succeed at anything in Nigeria. And it is in every facet of our lives: in politics, business, academia and even in personal relationships. When as a politician, you give people opportunities to also grow and rise, the next thing they would be gunning for is to dethrone and send you into retirement while they move past you. Many friends whose colleagues die, pretend to be helping the widow, but their main interest is to take over the wife whom they have always been eyeing by the way. This is the root of the psychosis.

Worse still, this character flaw is often justified as did the kiss-a-thon Sugartee of Ekiti state. After the state government banned his proposed programme he later came forward to say that he actually did not want to organize any kissing marathon. He, being a musician, would ordinarily have proposed a singing marathon, but if he said he wanted to sing, nobody would have paid any attention. So, he had to announce a kissing marathon which got him the attention and influence that he needed. “People now know Sugartee,” he said. “In this country, you need something to get people to talk about you.” Sugartee also reported that he was invited to the Ekiti State Government House, and that he, the same man that the past administration in the state ignored, is now being invited by the new administration. And he has the effrontery to take the people for a ride and promote a scam? Sugartee and others like him who have turned the pursuit of a Guinness World Record into an opportunity for clout-chasing, misrepresentation and deception should be made to face the full wrath of the law. There are too many jobless people in this country, particularly among the younger generation who are willing and ready to turn everything into a joke. Can we all get serious for once please? Administrators of The Guinness World Record also have an obligation to review their procedures and introduce more stringent rules to protect public morality and humanistic values. Nigerian youths have a bigger obligation to dig deeper into our culture as Africans to evoke and embrace profound authenticity, innate resourcefulness and heritage that we have across board instead of competing viciously for Western style-records that come across as a validation of their own limitations rather than true strength.

A Manchester United scout has passed away at the age of 61.

Tommy Moller Nielsen was a talent scout with the Red Devils since 2016 after retiring from playing and entering a career in coaching.

The son of former Denmark manager Richard Moller Nielsen, he was a popular figure in Dutch football having played for the likes of Odense Boldklub and Kjobenhavns Boldklub.

He also featured for Boldklubben 1909 and Odense Kammeraternes Sportsklub in Denmark before taking the step into coaching.

During a long coaching career he spent time at the likes of Rangers, Aberdeen and FC Vestsjaelland before making the move to England under Jose Mourinho.

Moller Nielsen was appointed first team coach at Rangers in 1997, handed the opportunity by Walter Smith.

He stayed on board with the club under Dick Advocaat and was part of the coaching staff that helped the club win the league title in 1999 from arch rivals Celtic.

After a short spell with Aberdeen, he moved on to take the reigns as a manager again having led the likes of Boldklubben 1909, firstly back at the club before managing Viborg and HB Koge.

Rangers led the tributes to the Dane on social media, posting: 'All at Rangers FC are saddened to hear of the passing of our former first team coach, Tommy Moller Nielsen, at the age of 61. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.'

 

Rangers led the tributes to the Dane on social media after his passing was confirmed

Aberdeen added: 'Everyone at AFC is saddened to learn  of the passing of Tommy Moller Nielsen at the age of 61.'

Odense Boldklub, meanwhile, also offered their condolences following his death.

They posted: 'It is with deep sadness that we have received the message that the former first team player and OB ambassador Tommy Møller Nielsen has passed away.

'All our thoughts go out to Tommy's family and friends at this difficult time.'

[DailyMail]

Barcelona have made two first-team signings so far this summer with Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez arriving earlier this month.

While the official announcements have been made for both their signings, the club has yet to present either of them as their new players.

And now Mundo Deportivo is reporting that Barcelona have set the dates for the official presentations of Gundogan and Martinez following their summer arrivals.

Gundogan was the first of the two signings to be confirmed, with the midfielder arriving from Manchester City on a free transfer after his contract expired.

The 32-year-old has signed a two-year contract with an option for a third depending on the number of appearances he makes in his second season.

Now, MD is reporting that Barcelona will officially present Gundogan at the club’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper complex next Monday, July 17.

The midfielder has been given an extended break after his involvement in international fixtures last month and will be joining the pre-season camp next week, which is when he will be presented officially as a Barça star.

As for Martinez, his signing was officially confirmed only last week and the defender, who also signed for free from Athletic Club, has already started pre-season training under Xavi.

The 32-year-old left-footed centre-back has signed a two-year contract with the Blaugrana and his presentation is set to take place this coming Thursday, following a double training session on Tuesday and the afternoon session on Wednesday.

The transfer business is far from done for Barcelona though as they have all but confirmed the signing of Vitor Roque from Athletico Paranaense, although his arrival could be delayed until January 2024.

Oriol Romeu is another player who is understood to be close to joining the La Liga champions in the near future while work is also being done to rope in Ivan Fresneda.

[barcauniversal]

John Souttar believes he will benefit from the rigours of Rangers’ pre-season training as he prepares to battle for his place in Michael Beale’s side next season.

The revamped Light Blues squad are being put through their paces in Germany with a view to a flying start to next season.

Beale has signed six new players, with the promise of more to come, and the Gers defender told RangersTV that he is in a good place.

Souttar, whose  2022/23 season was hampered by injury before he was involved in Scotland’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign wins over Norway and Georgia, said: “For me it is the first time in a couple of years I will have had a proper pre-season where I am feeling fit and feeling 100 percent.

“It gives you a base for the rest of the season, you are not catching up with the lads or feeling like you are behind, you are right on it.

“This next week or two will give me a great base to hopefully have an injury-free season, so I am looking forward to it.

“Everyone is really hungry and when there are that number of new boys that come in everyone automatically has got to fight for their shirt.

“It is always the case at Rangers, but even more so now with the amount of quality that has been brought in and I think everyone is aware of that.

“There are only 11 jerseys for the first game of the season so everyone is going to be fighting for it and that can only be a good thing going forward.

“It has got a slightly different feel to it with the new players coming in and I am looking forward to seeing them all in training.

“These few weeks are massive, especially when there are new boys coming in, they are getting a feel for the club and how everyone gets on – off the pitch is as important as on it.

“Especially in pre-season, getting to know everyone’s characters, what they are like and what pushes them, so it is good, and everyone is going to enjoy getting away and enjoy creating bonds.

“I think that is what pre-season is about, when you are at home you don’t really get that 24/7 with the lads and hopefully it is the foundation for a successful season for us.”

[irishnews]

Al-Hilal are desperate to lure Man City’s Bernardo Silva to the Saudi Arabian league and have told the Premier League champions that they are willing to pay €70m for the Portuguese midfielder. 

That is according to CBS’ James Benge, who reports that the Saudi club have also offered Silva a massive salary worth €50m-a-year. However, the Man City star is yet to decide on his future and is not sure where he will play next season.

The 28-year-old is also wanted by Ligue 1 champions PSG, but City will only sell to the French club if they can convince them to part-exchange with talented teenager Warren Zaire-Emery, reports RMC Sport.

Silva has a contract at the Etihad until 2025 and Man City will not stand in his way if the Portugal international wants to challenge himself elsewhere; however, the European champions want their asking price to be matched and that is something Al Hilal are willing to do.

It remains unclear if Man City would accept a bid if it arrives and it is also uncertain if Silva wants to move to Saudi Arabia during the prime of his career.

[caughtoffside]

Arsenal have a surprise next signing from LaLiga in their sights and Barcelona’s ‘slowness’ could prove decisive for the Gunners, per a report.

Arsenal are spending big this summer, with Kai Havertz already banked to the tune of £65m. Deals for Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice have been agreed. The Ajax defender and West Ham captain will cost £38.5m and £105m respectively.

Timber’s move will be a blow to Man Utd who tried in vain to sign the Dutch international last year. The versatile 22-year-old is equally adept at playing at right-back or centre-half and is known for his elite passing range.

Arsenal expert Charles Watts exclusively told TEAMtalk it’s Ben White who is most at risk once Timber arrives. White spent last season deputising at right-back, though may be relegated to the bench if Arteta puts his faith in Timber from day one.

However, according to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, another right-back is in Arsenal’s sights.

Indeed, MD state Arsenal’s interest in Real Valladolid’s Ivan Fresneda – which dates back to the January window – has been reignited.

Fresneda, 18, was heavily linked with Newcastle, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund in the winter window. The Spaniard ultimately remained with Valladolid, though couldn’t prevent their relegation to the Segunda Division.

Per Mundo Deportivo, Valladolid’s exit from LaLiga has triggered a reduction in Fresneda’s release clause. It’s claimed he can now be signed for just €20m (approx. £17.2m).

The discount is understood to have revitalised Arsenal’s interest who have reportedly initiated contacts with Valladolid. Another club keeping a close eye on developments is AC Milan.

Fresneda is also admired over at Barcelona, though their well-documented financial strife is preventing them from acting quickly and decisively.

As such, their ‘slowness’ is opening the door for Arsenal who are moving ‘faster’ than their Spanish counterparts.

Fresneda is a player Mikel Arteta is reportedly a big admirer of. Aged 18, he could be viewed as an option to help secure the club’s future rather than a player who’ll make an instant impact.

Timber (22) and White (25) have the best years of their careers still to come. As such, spending around £17.2m on a third-string right-back would be a surprise.

But given Fresneda is a player tipped to be a future Spain international and his release clause means his value is artificially lowered, if Arsenal don’t strike, someone else will.

[teamtalk]

Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen is the top transfer target of PSG should in case the club’s talisman, Kylian Mbappe leaves the club this summer.

Mbappe has openly stated his desire to leave Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer when his contract ends in June 2024, but the Ligue 1 giants are hoping to sell him this summer if he chooses not to sign a new contract.

The printed edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport from Sunday states that if Mbappe is sold this summer, Osimhen will be PSG’s top priority.

According to reports, Napoli has raised their asking price for Victor Osimhen to €180 million after turning down PSG’s bid of €100 million.

Mbappe’s summer sale will help PSG’s finances even more, which might enable them to accede to Napoli’s asking price.

The Serie A champions still intend to extend their contract with Osimhen beyond the summer of 2025 in which his current contract is expected to expire.

Naija News has reported that Napoli and Osimhen’s agent, Roberto Calenda have been negotiating for a contract extension but the wage demands of the 24-year-old striker have been delaying the process.

La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed that Lille forward Jonathan David will be Napoli’s primary priority if Osimhen leaves this summer.

While PSG has continued to consider a move for Victor Osimhen, top Premier League clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool, have begun negotiations with Napoli to sign the Nigeria international. Hence, if Napoli finally decides to sell Osimhen, there could be a fierce bidding war among the player’s suitors in the coming days.

It is a sad day and a sadder period for sports in Nigeria.

A few days ago, Jeremiah Okorodudu, a famous Nigerian boxer, probably the most flamboyant and loquacious boxer in the country’s boxing history, died in a private hospital in the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria.

He was only 64 years of age.

His death attracts special attention. It followed a mostly-silent, 2-year battle with poor health described by some media reports as the product of Stroke and Diabetes. In the past two weeks, the public was drawn to Jerry’s plight through the social media. Pictures of him lying on a bed in a local hospital in Ikorodu, Lagos, with headlines screaming for help for the celebrated former athlete, were very pitiable, a sad commentary on the general life-after-sport of many national sports heroes. There was also a video of Jeremiah gasping, struggling to speak through obvious pain, inaudible mumbling through laboured breath. He was shown crying and appealing to the government and to Nigerians not to let him die, like that.

All that he needed at the time were about the equivalent of $2000:00 to pay for an essential life-saving surgery – amputation of his foot.  This meagre amount was‘change-money’, even for any one of those in the corridors of sports at different levels of government, particularly. Obviously, the era of sports administrators that spent their personal funds to support sports and athletes is a long way back in the dungeons of history. These days, sport is a sector to be milked of any sweet harvests.  That’s why there is a fight-to-the-finish in the scramble for positions of leadership in sports by those with the least stakes in sport.

Jeremiah Okorodudu, needed that paltry sum to save his life. His family could not raise it till he died despite appeals to the public. His painful death reminds me that there is a whole legion in Jerry’s shoes languishing around the country waiting for help that may not come quickly. 

There are: Ngozika Ekwelum, African boxing champion, in his lonely bed in Anambra, suffering for over a decade with a case of urinary incontinence and other depression-related issues that have made his life miserable; Kenneth Abana, mercurial goal-poacher for Rangers International and the Green Eagles, with one foot already amputated, lying critically ill in a hospital in Enugu; Christopher Friday, ex- Shooting Stars and Super Eagles, completely blind and living in perpetual darkness; Dahiru Sadi, former national team football Captain, downed by Stroke  and now confined to the four corners of his room; Siji Lagunju, former Shooting Stars, national football assistant coach and player, downed in the past two years by Stroke; Christian Chukwu, Emmanuel Okala and Charles Bassey who can no longer work or walk unaided for the rest of their lives; an innumerable number of other athletes all around us in 40 other sports, neglected, forgotten, living poorly and in pain, with nothing in place within the Nigerian sports architecture to take care of their welfare when their careers in sport end. 

Jeremiah’s situation is not an isolated one. The Nigerian sports landscape is littered with similar stories of the abject poverty of former athletes, with most ending up victims of neglect and societal amnesia, forced to accept a life in abject poverty and of dying young.

This last aspect struck me when I checked Jeremiah’s age at death again – 64! He is of a common tribe in sport. One that deserves scientific interrogation and study – Do Nigerian athletes die young?

I am in the process of compiling a list of Nigerian athletes that went to represent the country some 47 years ago at the 1976 Olympics. The NIIA and Airpeace Airline are planning an uncommon re-union and celebration for the athletes outside sport. I was a young member of that contingent, a freshly minted graduate at the time.

Even as I look back now, it seems like yesterday. Most of the surviving athletes now in their late 60s and early 70s.

I am looking at the list of the 45 athletes whose action (or inaction) created a diplomatic tsunami that changed the course of history in the world, and I ask: where are they now?

There were 3 registered boxers in that contingent. All three are dead.

All must have died before they turned 60! They all died in Nigeria.

There were 20 football players in that contingent. 9 of them are dead. All died in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. One died in his 60s. Most died in Nigeria.

There were 20 Track and Field athletes. 5 of them died in their 40s and 50s. 3 of the 5 died in Nigeria. Now the observations and questions:

Most of the athletes in track and field that are still alive have lived in the USA.

Do high-performance athletes die so young? Is that really the case? If so, why? Is it the United States general (or sports) welfare system that has kept the Nigerian athletes alive? These should be a subject for intellectual interrogation.

Of those that stayed back in Nigeria, their stories have been pathetic, gory tales of neglect, poverty and early death, afar departure from the promise in the national Anthem that fires up their spirit before and after competitions:‘the labour of our heroes past, shall never be in vain’ -a promise hardly ever delivered!

It is hard to understand why establishing a simple welfare scheme for athletes should become rocket science.

Several welfare schemes that could serve as models exist everywhere on the planet, and, indeed, have been created in Nigeria in the past. They were misused, abused or unused for the purpose. One or two of the Welfare schemes still exist but as private estates of those in the original committees set up to manage them. They may still keep the huge financial contributions made by Nigerians in their vaults, never accounting to anybody for anything, remaining in ‘office’ in perpetuity, their silence like that of the graveyard, their ‘reward’ or ‘punishment reserved for the gates of heaven, or of hell, depending on what use they put the funds contributed by Nigerians for the amelioration of the painful conditions of suffering athletes in need of help. Through the decades, the shallowness of the instruments that set them up did not protect their sustainability and supervision. So, they went into convenient hibernation, resurrecting only occasionally to service personal, narrow interests and purposes. 

Jeremiah fought many battles of neglect and injustice against the sports establishment in the past, always drawing attention to his suffering. He was punished several times for his effrontery to be his own one-man army when fighting his causes.

Those leading the sector, mostly drawn from the political class, with all their good intentions to do well for sports, do not understand enough about what needs to be done to arrest this ugly scourge.

Otherwise, there is no reason on earth why a Jeremiah Okorodudu should spend two whole years in pain and suffering and neglect, and now die needlessly. His corpse, it has been reported, is still held up in a morgue and will not be released to his family because they could not pay outstanding hospital bills of less than $1000 Dollars.

Jeremiah Okorodudu’s death could have been avoided with a little more care and concern.  The sports sector failed him. His colleagues failed him. Government failed him. Those who could have helped but did not, failed him.

As Jeremiah takes his place amongst the saints, amongst resting heroes of Nigerian sports, I pray that the great pugilist who won a Bronze medal for Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games, who narrowly failed to win a medal for Nigeria at the 1984 Olympic games, who graced several rings around Nigeria during his prime, who trained and took several Nigerian boxers to international competitions, who served boxing passionately throughout his life, who died in misery, pain and penury, will find the divine peace of the Creator of us all, to forgive Nigeria.