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In the midst of all the ongoing brouhaha that has held Nigerian football by the jugular for some weeks, there are some cheering news, some bright stars in the darkness!
I can understand why his passion for sport is irrepressible. He was an all-round athlete in his student days at the Federal Government College, Ughelli, and during his undergraduate days at the University of Ibadan, sprinting and playing football for both institutions. He also played at club level in Ibadan before wisely venturing into the world of business where he has excelled and has become the Chairman of the largest private commercial airline in Nigeria’s history, the largest airline in West Africa currently, and, potentially, the largest in the whole of Africa in the next few years at the rate it is growing and expanding.
Allen Onyema’s Passion For Nigerian Sports
Beyond those lofty achievements, it is his humanity, his irrepressible spirit and his undiluted passion for sports that amaze me the most and endear him to me.
He once told me I was his hero. Now, the roles are reversed, I am a devoted fan of Dr. Allen Onyema, the CEO of AirPeace airline.
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This past week, fresh from extending his usual patriotic hand at evacuating hapless Nigerians from the shameful Xenophobic terror of South Africans, and fresh from losing over 2 Billion Naira to last week’s picketing of his airlines by some disgruntled airport staff resulting in cancellation of all flights, he still found the space in his heart to approve the celebration of some Nigerian athletes that were selected by the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, for upliftment and induction into the ‘NIIA Sports Diplomacy Wall of Fame’.
Such occasional induction requires the fulfillment of criteria set by the institute for athletes (and personalities) that promote the tenets of diplomacy in line with Nigeria’s international foreign affairs objectives as a result of their sports activities.
Their names will be inscribed in Gold on the marbled ‘NIIA Sports Diplomacy Wall of Fame’, an edifying monument and destination for tourists and visitors to the institute’s premises in Victoria Island, Lagos.
There shall be a small ceremony to mark the event that will celebrate and honour the legendary athletes when it is finally put together before the end of the year.
Allen Onyema Recommends ‘Dream Team’ For Wall Of Fame
Dr. Allen Onyema recommended and got confirmation that ‘The Dream Team’, Nigeria’s victorious Olympics football team of 1996, be inducted alongside other athletes already selected by the institute.
They are:
Chioma Ajunwa (first Nigerian individual Olympic Gold medalist;
Tobi Amusan (first Nigerian world record holder); and
Late Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (first Nigerian captain and coach to win AFCON), and Nigerian coach to lead a neighbouring country to the World Cup.
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The celebrations will take place before the end of the year at an event that marks Allen Onyema’s consistent identification with excellence, humanity and philanthropy in support of deserving Nigerian athletes.
President-General Worldwide of Nigerian Football!
I am thinking.
Football (and by extension all other sports) is a sport that is ‘owned’ and driven by the fans. Their power is often underestimated and hardly ever appreciated when and where it matters most.
I was writing a tribute the other day. A picture crossed my mind of a particular moment into my career. That moment has been replicated several times in Nigeria’s football history, moments when ceaseless cheers, singing, drumming and dancing of the supporters lifted our spirits and propelled us to play beyond our normal capacities at critical moments.
To members of the Nigerian Football Supporters Clubs of several generations, we owe so much.
In Nigeria’s football history, there have been great leaders with great records of mobilizing and driving the fans – Ralph Beresford Bamidele-Johnston, Deacon Osho, Prince Isidor Oduah, and, the one man that tops it all with his contributions and commitment – the peerless President-General Worldwide, of the Nigerian Football Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Oladipo!
For his contributions to international diplomacy through his fans clubs with chapters all over the world, he deserves a National Honour, and a place on the Wall of Fame.
Why not?
