I am writing this on Tuesday, December 2.
The last days of AMGA 2024 took their toll on me.
For a ‘young boy’ like me, it is not easy to combine sleep for only 3 hrs each night, daylight on the move, three whole meals a day including the best lunch in the world every day, daily night rendezvous topped up with Arabian Tea, and time to script the daily diary just before dawn….on each day!
Something had to give.
I did not check it, but without my daily exercise routine, I believe my BP shot up and I shut down!
So, I kept notes, not able to get around to expanding and posting them to on my social media platforms before dawn.
At last, I gave in to my body, knackered. I shut down and left Abuja on Sunday.
I returned to Wasimi through Lagos. I have been playing a little tennis and sleeping for two days.
Also Read: AMGA 2024 – From Zero To Hero – General Christopher Musa! –Odegbami
There is mounting pressure on me by some folks to complete my Daily Diary.
So, here I am.
It is hard for me to re-capture the mood of Abuja in Wasimi. I took down notes every night in Abuja. I believe those can also tell the rest of the AMGA 2024 story seen through my special lens.
So, the following is a purely academic exercise. Enjoy it if you have the patience to read these NOTES.
DAY ELEVEN
Morning. Nothing happens. Coffee for breakfast.
Lunch at Akisco’s. Getting addicted to ‘Gboko food’. I am ‘infecting’ many friends.
Tired, but today is important.
I am to catch up with the Chief of Defence Staff. This is big o! Whao!
I have never physically met General Musa. We’ve exchanged messages a few times. That’s all. But I like the man.
Many people want me to connect them to the ‘big man’ for one favour or the other. They think we are 5 and 6. It is ridiculous. I have never even met him. Such requests exhaust goodwill very fast.
I go to the Indoor Sports Hall.
Military vehicles everywhere. Tell-tale signs that the Big Boss is here. Hall is almost full.
It is Volleyball. Women. Nigeria versus Ghana. Perennial rivalry.
I enter the hall. My face cap ‘hides’ the face of an old footballer..I am not Jay Jay or Kanu.
I see him from a distance. Security is tight around the CDS. AVM Marquis, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, LOC, sitting next to the Boss sees me. Instructs security aides to let me through.
The CDS sees me. A big smile. He recognises me. His dark face lights up. Welcomes me with firm, friendly handshake and endearing bear hug, like an old friend.
AVM is sitting next to the CDS. He offers me his seat. I refuse. He insists. I take the seat.
The optical illusion of the closeness of my relationship with CDS balloons. Henceforth, I shall be target of contractors and job seekers seeking his favour through me.
We watch the match together. Very exciting. The man knows his Volleyball. He played it at national level. He knows tactics too. It is the best of 5 games. The first two matches end 1 – 1.
Also Read: ‘Owoblow’ – The One-Man Army! –Odegbami
A reporter invites the Chief for a LIVE interview. He invites me to join him. We are followed by an army of aides. We go outside the hall to a cubicle. It is the OB Van of Voice of Nigeria. The Interior can hardly seat two persons. Six of us crowd into it. The interviews are fast and sharp, first with him, and then with me.
Over in 30 mins just as the last of the volleyball match finishes. The Nigerian girls put up a good fight, but the Ghanaians are better with team tactics. So, the Ghanaian girls win.
Interviews over, we chat a little. He invites me to join him the following morning on a popular morning Television show on Arise Television. We part ways.
I hit town with my friends. We end up at Blake’s, a popular club with live band music. Great Fun with Seun and Segun.
DAY TWELVE
I wake up early.
Appearance on TV with CDS on my mind.
I am thinking: The Chief is a brave man for taking up hosting the African Military Olympic Games in Abuja and inside the vandalized MKO National Stadium.
Reviving the National Stadium is a miracle. ‘Impossibility is nothing, if you have a dream, the will, and the belief’. General Musa proves that.
The country’s sports authorities must take lessons from it. It may trigger a national sports revolution, who knows. We wait to see what happens after AMGA 2024.
Arise Television Studios is on the second floor of Transcorp Hilton.
I am fully kitted in the track suits of Team Nigeria. Feeling already like a soldier.
The morning goes very quickly.
The CDS and I meet in the studios. Technical issues affect the show a little, but we survive Dr. Reuben Abati, Rufai Oseni and co in the Lagos Studio.
The CDS is an interviewer’s delight. He knows the subject of sports and the military inside out, plus his own mission with AMGA 2024.
Then it is over.
We walk together to the waiting cars. We promise to connect again at the closing ceremony.
I am now a co-optee of AMGA 2024 organisation.
It is a pleasant feeling – the privilege of being recognized and honored by the top echelon of the Nigerian military establishment.
Back to my hotel room, feeling really tired. Headache. Working (and playing) flat out for two weeks, with only 3/4 hours of sleep every night, not a single day on the tennis court, not good at all. Must watch my BP.
Also Read: The African Military Games – Abuja 2024 –Odegbami
Get into bed. Knock off and get some rest. Seun comes at 10pm. We go out to Farm City for first time. Great place. It is an experience – Plantain chips, grilled fish and Arabian tea.
Lanre Carew, Chairman/CEO of Farm City and his two friends recognize me and we meet. He takes care of all the bills, with a blank cheque any time I visit.
What an honour!
Get back early at 1:00am!
LAST DAY
It is Saturday.
Closing ceremony.
I am not prepared for my own radio show – ‘90 minutes with Mathematical’, even though
I feel a little better in my health status.
Somehow, any how, I do my show – no promo, no guest, no subject..for first time since Eagle7 Sports Radio 103.7 began over 2 years ago.
I spend the rest of the morning in bed.
Lunch, the final one in Abuja. My regular friends at Akisco’s Place. The table is laid out, as usual, like ‘the last Supper’. As usual, also, sumptuous.
A few minutes to 5pm, we leave for the closing ceremony at the MKO Abiola National Stadium.
Busier with human and vehicular traffic.
The main bowl looks beautiful even with its empty seats. This stadium can never be filled to capacity unless there is a radical socio-cultural and commercial alteration to the eco-system.
The event starts very late. Delayed by the lateness of the Special Guests – Politicians are no respecter of time. For an international event, totally unacceptable. Only in Nigeria.
Rundown of the programs changed to accommodate lapse.
The athletics relays start. They restore the spirit and excitement of the crowd in the stadium.
Everyone embraces the numerous shortcomings of the day, and chose to enjoy the moment, the ceremonies that bring to a close, two terrific weeks of a new experience and new respect for the Nigerian military establishment, hope for something new in sport, renewed love for the city of Abuja, great lunches and socials at night, and a longing for more of such festivals celebrating excellence, friendship, unity, and the wonder, beauty and richness of Sports and of Nigeria.
The rest of the night is full – Farm City again.
I get to bed in the wee-hours.
My mind is reeling – early morning flight, another wonderful AirPeace experience, Lagos, the Garden of Eden in Wasimi, Tito, Morenike, Timi…Heaven!
I thank you, Creator of the Universe, for always showing up!
AMGA 2024. I am missing it already. Thank you, all that made it special – General Christopher Gwabin Musa, Alhaji Bashiru Adewale Adeniyi, Air Vice Marshall Marquis, Allen Onyema, Seun Oyefeso, Otunba Déjì Oshibogun, Engineer Tunde Dabiri, Air Commodore Ayuba Buhari, Lanre Carew, and many others in the AMGA 2024 circuit.
