Finally, the Nigerian ‘Olympics’ begin today.
About 12,000 athletes and officials of teams from the 36 States and the FCT, Abuja, have been arriving since Thursday. On the same day, the Game’s Torch arrived Ogun State and was met by the State’s Chief Executive, Governor Dapo Abiodun, at the beautiful Sagamu interchange for its final journey to The MKO Abiola Sports Complex.
Interestingly, old ‘warriors’ of the Games are coming for the Games from all over the world.
Dr. Bruce Ojirigho, one of Nigeria’s greatest 400 meters runners of the early 1970s, a participant at the First National Sports Festival in 1973, leads a number his colleagues from that era in Nigerian sports, Charlton Ehizuelen, Godwin Obasogie, Ruks Bazunu, and others, into town from their various bases in the United States of America, to grace what is being anticipated as another memorable Ogun-standard festival.
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Professor Olatunde Makanju, a friend and former national athlete, a participant at the 1973 Festival, and one of Nigeria’s foremost sports psychologists, is cutting short a vacation in the United Kingdom to join the festival-party that starts this weekend.
All over Ogun State, there is a frenzy of last-minute clearing of the construction sites, cleaning of the environment and beautification of parts of the State that will be centres of the sports events. The hunt for medals and trophies by the States started yesterday, two days ahead of the official opening ceremony that will take place on Sunday, May 18, at the MKO Abiola Sports Complex now glittering in the brightness of fresh paint and new colours.
I am not so sure, but Fatimo Mohammed, Ogun state indigene, former national middle-distance runner and a participant in the sports festival in the 1990s, told me a few days ago how she may be dropping everything she is doing at the other end of the world, in California, USA, in order to honour an invitation by the State government to be a part of the selected torchbearers that will run for a few meters each with the Games Torch, through the streets of Abeokuta, before the Games Torch will be lit at the opening ceremony of the Games.
Many friends are calling to book hotel rooms and to enquire about the social engagements around the Games.
Ogun State is planning to take the Games beyond the venues to the streets in anticipation of a festival of the people and not just of the athletes.
Also Read: My National Sports Festival Experience…And The 2025 Gateway Games! — Odegbami
Will the Games be flawless? No way. No festival has run without hitches and glitches since it started 52 years ago. None.
Every festival has come and gone with its own unique memories for those that choose to be a part of whatever it offered.
The Gateway Games 2024 will not be different in that sense. It will also come and go, and those that choose to experience and partake in its offerings will have their own stories to tell, for good or for ugly, when it’s done and dusted. That’s the nature of the National Sports Festival, usually a jamboree for officials. For the athletes it is a technical event that provides the opportunity to launch their careers into the elite level, add to their chest of medals and earn paltry winning bonuses for survival.
I have been closely observing developments in Ogun State since my appointment last week as Grand Sports Ambassador of Ogun State, and can confidently state that Ogun State is ready for the Games.
The greatest challenge is the complexity of the operations. The Games are a machine with many moving parts, with any flaw in any of the parts hampering the smooth operations of the whole.
The Local Organising Committee is venturing into new territory in organisation with the Games Village located within Babcock University, some 50 kilometers to the centre of sporting activities. It is a big challenge to move the athletes to venues and in time for their events, without hitches. How this will work out is engaging all critical eyes.
Otherwise, all is set for the Gateway Games 2025 to begin officially tomorrow!
Emmanuel Okala turns 74
The tallest goalkeeper in the history of football in Africa, Emmanuel Okala, is my friend. He is one of the most famous goalkeepers in African football history.
He is one person that demonstrably appreciates the fullness of life, the opportunities it offers, and the Grace of God that keeps him alive and kicking from day to day.
Every year, as May 17, the anniversary of the day of his birth, approaches, he calls me up to remind me about it with a glee in his voice, always.
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He likes it when we discuss our lives in football and after it, particularly the moments of adventures, of love and friendship between us. Sharing those moments lifts our spirits as athletes.
We hail each other and share our present gains and pains.
This past month, or so, time, the deaths of three of our colleagues in the 1980 squad (including his closest mutual companion, ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu) weighs us down, remains heavily on our minds, and makes us to stare the reality of the briefness of life and of our mortality.
‘Babuje’, loves the tributes I pay him every year, eulogizing him and recalling his honoured place in Nigeria’s football history as one of the greatest goalkeepers ever, the only goal keeper in Africa’s football history to be named ‘Africa’s best player’ by the African Sports Journalist Union when the organisation had responsibility, very briefly, to name recipients of a version of the award.
‘Tallest’, Emmanuel Okala, MON, turns 74 today. Even as he remains mostly at home these days, slowed by debilitating arthritis and other ailments related to ageing, on behalf of all footballers of all generations, I congratulate him and wish him well.
Happy Birthday ‘Babuje’.
