SportsNigeria3

I am formally announcing to readers of this column my intention to run for political office in Nigeria starting from Ogun State. I want to whet the appetite of Nigerians and Ogun State people in particular. They shall be the first (in the ancient tradition that they were renowned for of being the ‘first’ in a lot of things in Nigeria’s history) to translate Nelson Mandela’s vision in 1995, when he walked unto a packed stadium in Johannesburg during the opening ceremony of the World Rugby championships, one year after he was freed from prison, and declared that  ‘Sport has the power to change the world’,  into reality!They should be prepared for an avalanche of new ways and an exciting future. They shall be actively involved in the creation of these new ways and a new life that shall reflect the best parts of Yoruba culture and traditions. Since then, the world has continued to see in glimpses the possibility of what he was referring to that evening. We just saw what...

This is the closing chapter of my 2018 World Cup report. It encapsulates my unique experience. As is wont every 4 years I look at the World Cup through a special lens, the product of all my years covering the greatest event in the world since 1994 when Nigeria first qualified to participate. Nostalgia of the past one month, of a genuine feast of football and friendship, flood my mind in pictures that want to linger forever.It is the same feeling since then when I am about to script the final lines of the last page. Then, I start to wish either for the World Cup not to end, or for it to be repeated all over again. Neither wish sustains beyond that fleeting moment. Reality dawns as the celebrations end and the world returns to its chaotic ways of wars and conflicts. There is no comparable human activity that commands the same level of power as the World Cup and  ‘the beautiful game’ . There is simply no other human activity that attracts that same kind of equalizatio...

Nigerians believe strongly in the efficacy of prayers to impact and even alter fate. So, they love to pray. Confronted with every conceivable challenge they pray and pray and pray. Last Tuesday, they prayed to defeat Argentina. Only Nigerians believed it could happen that their national team of mostly good (not exceptional) players would upset the form books, defy statistics, damn the betting odds, prove expert analysis faulty, and make nonsense of history by defeating Argentina, the team projected by experts (except Nigerians) on the eve of the championship as one of the favoured teams to win the 2018 World Cup. For some inexplicable reason, last Tuesday was not a good day for granting wishful prayers. Nigeria was 10 minutes away from what would have been the country’s greatest moment in football at the highest level when the elements decided to ditch sentiments. Argentina must have been praying fervently too. They too had run into storms in their first two games and needed to ...