For some reason his name is ringing again in the information superhighway. On a few platforms in social media, I have been reading tons of comments by Nigerians
I cannot make out why his name has suddenly resurrected at this particular time because the comments reveal nothing about an occasion being celebrated or an event being remembered. The comments are about his work as a commentator and how he impacted the followership of Nigerian football.
For some reason, the elements are influencing a celebration at this time via the Internet by many Nigerians old enough to remember and recount the golden days of radio commentaries in Nigerian football led by the late Ernest Okonkwo.
I am using this medium to join in the conversations and to pay my own little tribute to a man that christened me ‘Mathematical’ a nickname that has become even more popular than the name I was given at birth.
Some 14 years ago, I was at the head of a delegation of 7 persons that went as emissaries of the Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to hand-deliver a letter to the President of Ghana about Nigeria’s proposal to bid, on behalf of 5 neighbouring West African countries, to jointly host the first football World Cup coming to Africa in 2010.
The delegation had included late Patrick Okpomo, late Samson Akiga, Tijani Yusuf, Kunle Raji, Patrick Ekeji and a few others.
A West African World Cup was an idea I had conceived and proposed to the Nigerian government. The government ‘bought’ it and wanted to ‘sell’ it to the other countries – Ghana, Benin, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire or Cameroon! Cameroon came into the picture only because Cote D’Ivoire were at the height of a Civil War ravaging the country at the time.
As we were ushered into his office in Accra, Ghana, President John Kuffour was standing and waiting behind his desk. As he walked towards us with the broadest of smiles on his face, both arms outstretched in anticipation of the traditional African embrace (instead of a handshake) the first words out of his mouth were: ‘Mr. Mathematical, welcome to Ghana’.
He was familiar with my nickname.
At a time in the 1990s (as I am writing this I can’t remember exactly when) I planned to organize, with the help of CAF, a first-of-its-kind conference of African Football Stars as a prelude to mobilizing footballers to demand for more positions and influence in the administration of football in the continent. Through the help of my friend in the BBC, Jenny Horrocks, I got all the telephone numbers of virtually all the great African footballers around the world at the time.
From my home in London, I started to ring them all up one by one, country by country, to share the idea. It turned out to be a test of my own popularity amongst the African footballers.
Until I started making the calls and connecting with them, most for the first time in my life, I had assumed it would take some time to explain to each of them who I was, after all I had stopped playing the game for many years. It turned to be an incredibly humbling experience.
I rang up the man who would soon become the President of Liberia, the only African player to have won the African, European and World’s best player award in the same year, in his base in Italy.
The response after the first hello was a gentle scream of surprise at the mention of my name. The first words out of his mouth were: ‘Mr. Mathematical!’
The great George Opong Weah was also familiar with the nickname ‘Mathematical’.
That name was coined some 41 years ago by a great man, a fantastic journalist, a radio commentator with a unique style that stood him out till this day – Ernest Okonkwo!
I recall how people used to turn down the volume of their television sets in those days and turned up the volume of their radio sets to watch a match at home. I recall also how some spectators would carry small transistor radio sets to match venues and listen to radio commentaries of the same match right inside the venue!
That was how powerful radio commentaries were rendered by great commentators, each with their unique style and strength in delivery.
Despite the brilliance of Ishola Folorunsho, Sebastine Effurum, Kevin Ejiofor, Tolu Fatoyinbo, Yinka Craig, Dele and a few others, Ernest Okonkwo stood slightly apart and ahead, shining just that little bit brighter in that constellation of stars that turned commentating into an art form and made listening irresistible.
Mr. Okonkwo was different. He gave players new names, reflecting certain outstanding or defining characteristics in their lives.
As he ran the commentaries, he would conjure descriptive words delivered in impeccable English and a masterful usage of football lingo. The magic is that wherever he described a particular player and gave him a nick name, it stuck, thereafter, forever.
That’s how he nicknamed Dominic Nwobodo of Enugu Rangers, ‘Alhaji’, after the player sustained a head injury during a match, wrapped his head with a bandage that made him look like a Muslim wearing a turban when he returned to the pitch.
Emmanuel Okala was ’Tallest’ for his towing 6ft 5 inches imposing frame. Christian Chukwu was‘Chairman’ for his commanding and leadership style on the field of play. Alloysius Atuegbu, stocky, short but powerfully built, was ‘Blockbuster’. Adokie Amiesimaka, a law student when he started playing for the national team became ‘Chief Justice’.
There were ‘Slow Poison’ (Idowu Otubusen), ‘Elastic’ (Elahor), ‘Caterpillar’ (Kelechi Emetole),‘Quicksilver’ (Sylvanus Okpala), and so on. All became household nicknames in Nigerian football.
Ernest Okonkwo was a master of descriptive language, always conjuring words easily, effortlessly and aptly like a magician with his bag of tricks.
He had the power in words to give life to the most boring game. He was a flawless master of the English language, often taking listeners to the limits of their imagination.
Why he nicknamed me ‘Mathematical’ I never knew. I wanted to ask him when we met and spent a few days together in 1989 in Scotland for the coverage of the 1989 Under-17 FIFA World Championship, my first football match assignment as a reporter/analyst for the Sports Souvenir newspaper.
I never got to ask him the question because he was an excellent story teller and spent most of the three days regaling me about everything under the sun – his travels around the world; his love for reading books and how he would one day write one about his own experiences; his love for his wife and children, particularly one of his daughters, Amaka, that has now become a mother of three wonderful boys and a very successful practicing lawyer in the city of Lagos.
I met Amaka about three years ago and since then I have been interacting with her. She is working tirelessly trying to revive and keep the memory of her father alive. She is also pained that nothing has been done to immortalize him.
So, I never got around to finding out why he nicknamed me ‘Mathematical’.
Unfortunately, we often take life for granted and assume we can always do tomorrow, the things we should do now!
His death not too long after our meeting in Scotland put paid to that answer. It created a huge vacuum in the field of commentating. That field has never been the same since.
He must be rejoicing in his grave today. From the blues, he is being remembered again by thousands of those that knew and loved his work.
On behalf of all generations of players, I say ‘Thank You’ to Ernest Okonkwo. May he continue to rest peacefully in the beyond!
Copyright © 2022 Completesports.com All rights reserved. The information contained in Completesports.com may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the prior written authority of Completesports.com.
COMMENTS
He was the reason i became a football fanatic. May God rest his soul.
Rest in peace and at the bosom of the lord, Oga Ernest. As a young secondary school student then, I always had the pleasure of listening to your live commentaries. Your words animated actions in the field. Thank you too “Mathematical” Odegbami for remembering the icon, the voice of football on air. Mathematics is a precise art or science and your foot-deals of the round leather on duty was precise and always had one answer- delivery.
One indelible name in Nigerian football commentary. He will forever be remembered as a pacesetter as till date, radio commentators only try to emulate him, imperfectly though. My late brother Umar Faruk Musa tried but didn’t live long enough to be as famous.
Remembered all those Green Eagles’ do or die matches, those saturday and sunday tension soaked matches heightened by the voice or Ernest Okonkwo on the radio. Tuning frantically at the AM and MW bands to get the commentary of those away matches when the radio was the only source of coverage and Television was practically “Dead”. Those good old golden unforgettable days.
Those glorious days in the village when the volume of the black and white tv of my dad would be turned off because of the legendary Ernest Okonkwo running commentary on Radio Nigeria. He was so abreast with the history of football in that era of no internet that you would imagined, where he got those information.
Never Forgotten his commentary in our last game against Tunisia in the world cup qualifier of 1977 that should have qualified us for the 1978 tournament. Ernest Okonkwo voice rang out to no end as he cried “Odiye score against Nigeria!” It was an own goal and that sealed our fate that year. Ernest was simply the best in the trade in those good old days when Nigeria was Nigeria. I long for those days. You go to the stadium with your transistor radio. It was so good.
Ernest Okonkwo was actually a wordsmith in the field of soccer and radio commentary. His descriptive skill was legendary. Always precise in giving moment by moment analysis of the match under his commentary. Anytime we were watching an important match on the television especially the one between the then Green Eagles and another African country,we would still prefer to listen to Ernest Okonkwo from the radio to corroborate the two-and he was always right! On Mathematical Odegbami,
Methinks his decision to call you ‘Mathematical Odegbami’ was your ability to mesmerise and use body movement and selling the dummy against your opponent while fixing your eyes on the goal at the same time. This description was always being used after a goal was scored by Segun Odegbami for those of us who were watching then. There can be no more stuff such as Ernest Okonkwo. Football radio commentary died ‘when the man died’.May the gentle soul of Ernest Okonkwo rest in perfect peace. Amen. By the way sirs,where are the duo of Sebastian Offurum and Tolu Fatoyinbo ? They were also fantastic commentators on the radio. Let Nigeria remember and reward excellence in all facets of life.
I really enjoyed his commentary, though i wasn’t born then. I was told about ernest okonkwo by my school teacher. Continue to RIP ERNEST OKONKWO. YOU WILL FOREVER REMAIN IN THE HEART OF YOUR FANS.