I CANNOT readily remember the occasion nor the date anymore. But the venue was the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos and I was chatting with friends and colleagues at the VIP lounge following the conclusion of a football match details of which escape me now.

I was deeply engrossed in conversation when, without any warning, I felt someone tug playfully at my shirt from behind, and I heard the person say, in a deep baritone voice: “Mumini, Mumini, you talk too much; you talk too much.”

I turned around to see who it was. Standing before me, escorted by his security details, was the special guest of honour for the match we had just watched: Admiral August Aikhomu, de facto vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the military presidency of General Ibrahim Babangida.

I had never met Aikhomu face to face like that before, so you could imagine my shock and awe at being addressed that way by the second most powerful man in the country. I nearly melted in my shoes.

“Good morning, sir; good afternoon, sir; good evening sir,” I must have blabbed in confused response. Truth is, I can’t remember what my immediate reply was. But I do remember that as I bowed to greet him, he thrust his hand forward for me to shake which I did.

“Keep up the good work,” he finally said to me. “I enjoy your football analysis on television.”

I had wondered how the vice-president could address me by my first name so intimately as if we grew up eating pounded yam together. Now, I knew why. He was an ardent follower of MASTERSPORTS, the (then) popular weekly television sports show on NTA 2, Channel 5 where I was a regular guest analyst.

This personal encounter illustrates how passionately Aikhomu followed Nigerian  sports, especially football. Before then, I had heard–and written–many stories for Complete Football magazine, about how his personal involvement contributed immensely to the successes recorded by the Super Eagles during the Clemens Westerhof years between 1989 and 1994. Now, I had experienced his passion for the game, first hand. The stories had to be true.

When the news about the death of Admiral Augustus Aikhomu on 17th August, 2011 was broken some weeks ago, the first thing that came to my mind was the personal encounter that I narrated above. Also, I had the privilege of visiting him at his Apapa, Lagos home in the company of Chief Segun Odegbami many years later. We talked on a wide range of issues and I was pleasantly surprised by his depth of knowledge of the game as our conversation moved from domestic football to international football. He was no longer in government at the time and he was saddened by the fact that the legacy he helped build in the Super Eagles had not been sustained.

Aikhomu did not throw his enormous weight around or make any noise about the role he played. But it is an incontrovertible fact that he was the major pillar behind the “Golden Generation” Super Eagles of the early 1990s that won the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia ‘94 and qualified Nigeria for the FIFA World Cup for the first time at USA ‘94. Working through his late friend Chief S. B. Williams, Aikhomu facilitated the inspirational appointment of the Dutchman, Clemens Westerhof, as coach of the Super Eagles in 1989 and stood firmly by him to ensure that nobody interfered with his programmes.

Aikhomu also ensured that the Eagles were never starved of funds and Westerhof always boasted about the access he had to the seat of power which had made his job easy. But for Aikhomu’s presence and influence, Westerhof would have been sacked over and over again by an impatient Nigeria Football Association (NFA, now NFF) long before his five-year tenure ended. And the probability is that the successes Nigeria achieved from his long stay on the job might not have been realized.

It is partly because of the absence of such a passionate and steadying influence high up in government hierachy to drive and sustain a vision for Nigerian sports that has led to the confusion and decay engulfing our sports today. Successive vice presidents, under whose watch the sports sector resides, have either been lacking the interest, the vision or the will to champion sustainable and result-oriented sports policies and programmes. And in a country where government remains the biggest financier and player in the sports sector, the consequences have been very dire indeed.

I am not advocating a return to the dictatorial days of the military in government. But even in a civilian government like we have now, you need top officials that are single-minded and committed to achieving set goals and who would not allow bureaucratic and often-corrupt civil servants to stand in their way. Sports has the potential to spin off so many socio-economic benefits for Nigeria that it should be an area of great interest to a any discerning vice-president. Even if the current VP, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, cannot lead a sport-specific personal intervention like Aikhomu did for the Super Eagles, he (Sambo) should head-hunt and appoint genuine patriots who would draw up, execute and monitor a comprehensive sports revival programme for Nigeria.

The National Sports Commission (NSC) cum Ministry of Sports have the statutory responsibility to develop, promote and manage Nigerian sports, but their overall result in the last decade or so has been appalling. One major problem at the NSC is the perennial dance of musical chairs where ministers of sports are changed at random thus not allowing any of them time to design and see any project through. If that is the only problem that Sambo can use his influence to solve, it would be worthwhile in the long run because continuity is a very important ingredient of success as we experienced with Clemens Westerhof and his Super Eagles of yore. Thanks to the steadying influence of Admiral August Aikhomu.

*The foregoing is my tribute to the late former vice-president, Admiral Augustus Akhabue Aikhomu (GCON, FNIM, mni), 20th October, 1939 — 17th August, 2011.
My his soul rest in peace.

10th All-Africa Jokes

IT HAS been difficult following the events of the on-going 10th All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique because no pictures are being shown live on Nigerian television stations, terrestial or cable. That, for me, is the first big joke of these Games: that an event of this magnitude is not on TV.

I do not know the situation in most other African countries. But if fans of Nigeria, Africa’s most-populous nation, are left in the dark, I wonder where and how a potential sponsor of the Games will recoup its investment.

The biggest joke at the Games, however, is the ridiculous freedom enjoyed by host nations to drop from the schedule, sports or events that they feel may hand their rivals some advantage.

 Maputo decided to cancel weighlifting and power-lifting, two sports where Nigeria had been hoping to reap lots of gold medals. The story is that South Africa, major financiers of Mozambique’s infrastructure for the Games, lobbied that the two sports be dropped so that Nigeria will not seize advantage.

As ridiculous as that claim may sound, it could be true because, during the 8th  All-Africa Games hosted by in Abuja in 2003, Nigeria also delibrately excluded some events because we would have stood no chance against South Africa and Egypt. In fact, I remember the chief organizer, Dr. Amos Adamu joking at the time that he would dump crabs and crocodiles into the newly-constructed Abuja swimming pool in order scare the South Africans away from the event!
The Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA), owners of the All-Africa Games, should step in and put a stop to this charade in future games. Otherwise, the event will become the laughing stock of global sports if it isn’t already.

NPL Marathon Palaver

lTHE marathon controversy over elections into the board of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) appears to be reaching a conclusion at last, following the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ultimatum for fresh elections to hold this week unfailingly.

I stopped following or writing about the protracted crisis because I was simply fed up with all the wrangling, and I was just waiting for the matter to be resolved one way or the other.

 Let’s hope that we can soon get back to talking only about the football action, and that the longest league season in Nigerian football history will come to an end soon, very soon.