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Lessons from the Kokomaster

So, about a month
or two ago, a coalition of musicians led by D’banj, who had sung for
the Goodluck Jonathan campaign; and Psquare, who had sung for the
Ibrahim Babangida campaign; gathered the press to a briefing in Ikeja,
Lagos and announced that they were committed to a series of free
rallies across the geopolitical zones of Nigeria to encourage young
people to register and vote.

Something wasn’t
quite right about it – and not just because, as someone who has been
part of civil society working on elections and youth participation over
the past year, the leading lights for this sudden campaign had been the
most reluctant to engage in any non-partisan process to get young
Nigerians involved.

The response across
social networks shared my surprise when the news hit. “We know those
who will do free shows,” one popular name tweeted. “And they have not
yet been born.”

I agreed – a
little. We know those who can do free shows – and they have been born,
they just weren’t the guys who were now involved in this free show. And
conspiracy theorists soon emerged – who swore that the presidential
candidate with the deepest pocket was using this supposedly
non-partisan platform to drive a deeply partisan agenda.

Nothing was heard about the concerts for weeks after.

In that period, a
group of young people (including me, for purposes of full disclosure)
began to work on the country’s first youth-centred political debate –
fixed for March 25. A debate that President Jonathan (you know, the big
pocket candidate) and Muhammadu Buhari had telegraphed a refusal to
attend.

Then, suddenly, on
the eve of the now famous NN24 national presidential debate, whispers
turned to frenzy: D’banj was going to be interviewing President
Jonathan on Silverbird Television. There’s no need to recount the
‘Dbanjing’ (a new word for nodding mumu-ly) that followed, or the
opprobrium that attended D’banj immediately after the interview – as
well as his cohort and boss, Don Jazzy, who made the mistake of trying
to defend the action on Twitter, against a band of angry young people.

As it is, and
obviously as a post-interview fallout, D’banj has not been seen
anywhere near the president. He is said to now have security due to
threats to his life, and his credibility as a youth advocate is
terribly impaired.

What was the
annoyance? Yes, there were some who would get angry anyway just because
D’banj exercised his constitutional right to endorse Mr. Jonathan – a
point which is really, er, pointless, as there is absolutely nothing so
terrible about the Jonathan candidacy that makes it impossible for him
to have true believers.

The anger was,
first, that D’banj positioned himself – wrongly and inappropriately –
as representing the youth. That was weird. Of course, he was buoyed by
his UN Youth ambassadorship, his The Future Awards for Young Person of
the Year and other such laurels, which he mentioned disingenuously
during the interview. But worse for him, was the advertorial that
followed – announcing one of those suspicious “It’s our time” free
concerts, to hold on the same day as the youth debate! Ah, the danger
of free shows.

The battle line was
drawn. Did D’banj and his sponsors really think young people are so
vacuous that they would choose music over a conversation about their
future?

There and then the concert’s buzz died.

Young celebrities
should be paying attention. Last year, when a host of singers and
actors began to gyrate for the candidates, while they denied that money
change hands, antennae were raised. But, of course, it is alright to
endorse a candidate or even do your job as a singer by entertaining at
his event.

The problem is when you get high on your own supply.

D’banj will yet
recover from this – but the elasticity of that recovery will lie in
whether this kind of, well, mistake becomes a pattern with him or
whether it is a one-off; a mistake to which he is entitled.

The choice he makes
will determine if his image goes the way of Onyeka Onwenu – who has now
sung for and ‘endorsed’ three consecutive PDP presidents, in addition
to that pesky concert for Sani Abacha in 1996 – or whether he will
build a powerful, activist brand, like his colleagues Banky W (who
shunned the concert) and MI, (who promptly returned the performance
fee, according to reports).

You see, folks might like it when you sing about the koko, but when push comes to shove, they know what the real koko is.

DEEPENING DEMOCRACY: The day after

DEEPENING DEMOCRACY: The day after

In September 2010, John Campbell, the former
United States Ambassador to Nigeria, published a sensational article in
Foreign Affairs about the dire consequences of the elections failing.
He argued that “Logistical preparations for the 2011 elections have not
started. There is no voters roll, and despite the president’s signing
of an electoral reform bill, some of these reforms remain unimplemented
four months before the election. The election therefore will almost
certainly lack legitimacy, especially in the eyes of the losers. This
will further drive the country to the brink, especially if winners and
losers are defined by their religious and ethnic backgrounds.” The
response of most Nigerian commentators to Campbell was that the
elections would not be as bad as predicted and that Attahiru Jega and
his team have the capacity to organise an election that is
significantly better than what we have had previously. The day after,
what is our assessment of the elections that took place yesterday? The
three key words that have been repeated over and over again in relation
to the elections are free, fair and credible.

Writing a day before the elections, my feeling is
that in most parts of the country, the elections would be relatively
free. That is to say, most people would be able to go to their polling
unit and cast their vote without impediment. The situation of 2007 in
which, in so many states, voting did not take place and yet results
were declared, is most unlikely to happen. Nigeria, I believe, is on
the path to reclaiming the franchise for its citizens.

The fairness of the elections is maybe the most
problematic element. Fair elections are characterised by a level
playing field for all contestants. It has been clear that candidate
Goodluck Jonathan has had enormous resources to engage in a major media
blitz and run the most elaborate road show Nigeria has ever seen.
Obasanjo’s campaign, which was supported massively by resources raised
for the campaign by “Corporate Nigeria” pales into insignificance
compared to Jonathan’s. The President needs to explain to Nigerians,
the financial sources that are supporting his ongoing campaign.

The credibility of the elections is what we shall
be assessing as from today. In so doing, we are interested in knowing
whether the outcome of the various elections would correspond to the
choices made by a majority of Nigerians. In other words, has the
special procedure developed for the elections produced the desired
result?

To discourage electoral fraud, INEC has developed
a procedure in which accreditation takes place in the morning and
voting in the afternoon. Voters are allowed to stay at the polling
centres to observe the counting and posting of results. Civil society
has encouraged voters to stay, observe the counting, photograph the
results with their cell phones and share the results with their
neighbours to create widespread awareness of polling centre results. It
is unfortunate that the National Security Adviser to the President came
out openly to challenge the procedure. The constitution is clear that
the procedure for voting is determined by INEC. He should have played
the role of a responsible citizen, supporting the decision of the organ
that is constitutionally empowered to act.

Observers and political party agents have been
encouraged to follow the results to the ward, local government and all
other levels of collation of results, so that people know that the
results announced reflect actual results counted at the polling
stations. The day after is the time for reflections and assessment on
the use of the special procedure.

It has been clear since 2003 that the integrity of
Nigeria’s elections would only improve if more and more citizens
protect their mandate. The outcome of this election would depend on
Nigerians taking the opportunity offered by the special procedure to
defend their mandate. This is the path to preventing the fall over the
precipice that Campbell has spoken about.

SECTION 39: ‘De yoot’ vote

SECTION 39: ‘De yoot’ vote

As we wait for the
final results of the first round of voting in our general election
cycle, there’s one trend I’m looking out for.

No, not whether –
if the Peoples Democratic Party returns the majority of legislators
again – that automatically means that their presidential candidate,
Goodluck Jonathan, is going to win. No serious contestant for executive
office (and after he has invested so much of our time, money and other
resources towards being elected, I think we can agree that Jonathan is
a serious candidate) ought to have their own electoral fortunes tied to
a group held in such thorough disregard as the nation’s legislators.

Even their own
party is anxious to get rid of them, having given its flag to only a
third of legislators to return to the National Assembly in June 2011.
That’s an improvement on the 80 per cent that it sacked in 2007, but if
this time the electorate happens to apply a ‘three strikes’ rule and,
deciding that after three attempts (in 1999, 2003 and 2007) that they
really can’t trust the PDP to pick good lawmakers, turn to other
parties to populate the Senate and House of Representatives, it won’t
necessarily mean that they won’t vote for the PDP’s presidential
candidate.

It’s also entirely
possible – even though doing the same thing time after time and
expecting a different result is the classic definition of madness –
that the electorate will again choose PDP candidates, perhaps consoling
themselves that the problem isn’t with the party, but with the people
it presented in past elections.

No, the trend I’ll
be watching for is whether one group that has been loud about its
entitlement (but short on everything else) will have any discernible
impact on the vote. ‘De yoot’ (not to be confused with their English
counterparts, ‘va yoof’) were on the lips of every candidate this
election. Perhaps, having seen what young people claim as their
achievement in the ‘Arab Spring’, our politicians thought that they had
better appear deeply concerned about the condition of our own ‘yoot’.

Even if they
hadn’t, ‘de yoot’ themselves have been insisting that since they are
over 60 per cent of the population, they are entitled. The National
Population Commission classifies only those between 18 and 24 as youth,
but assuming that they are including the under 18s: the 2006 Census
puts the 0-24 years population at 64 per cent of the total.

That’s a bigger
percentage than, for example, Nigerian women, who scraped in with an
anomalous 49.2 per cent of the total population, but who, thanks to the
Beijing Declaration and Platform of action, are supposed to have 35 per
cent of all appointments.

What is more, Mr.
President himself (at the end of a ‘debate’ in which the only woman
participating was the timekeeper whom he resolutely ignored) has
undertaken to keep the promise made at Beijing in 1995. True, he didn’t
explain what stopped him from achieving 35 per cent in the year that
he’s been in power so far, but the all-male panel didn’t ask him.

And his Congress
for Progressive Change challenger, whose military dictatorship started
the ball rolling by insisting that each state must appoint at least one
woman as a commissioner, wasn’t there to trumpet his own credentials …

In an election
when even middle-aged ‘uncles’ of 50 are touting themselves as ‘de yoot
candidate’, it isn’t surprising that young people tried to make
themselves a big story in the ongoing elections. Though it wasn’t quite
clear what they felt their numbers entitled them to.

If as long ago as
1991, the Population Commission recorded that 59 per cent of household
members searching for work were the children of the heads of those
households, the woeful failings in education and employment that have
characterised the intervening 20 years must be at least as worrying to
their parents as they are to ‘de yoot’.

Had numbers alone
justified special recognition, the status of the ‘giant of Africa’ with
its claim to house one fifth of the world’s black population ought to
reflect that. But it doesn’t. Worse still for ‘de yoot’, if the group
classified by the NPC as ‘children’ – the under-18s – are stripped
away, they shrink back to a much less impressive 13 per cent, with the
remaining 51 per cent left to whistle Eddie Cochran’s old Summertime
Blues song: ‘I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote’.

Still, de yoot’s
insistence on their own importance seems to have won at least one
convert: at the end of last month an old-timer who started his own
(unsuccessful) campaign with the flat assertion that young people are
not qualified to run Nigeria, apparently discovered that they are
exactly what the country needs. But will the vote reflect that?

ON WATCH: Electoral violence

ON WATCH: Electoral violence

The youth of Nigeria are too often the tools of
those who seek power and this becomes increasingly obvious as we
approach the elections. These youth are led with false promises and
hopes for a future that will improve their lives and their families’.
Greasing the wheels of violence with a little money to enslave these
youth to the power lust of their godfathers is akin to throwing grain
on the ground to feed chickens.

If the candidates whom these youth support are
elected, then we can expect these same youth to be cut loose after the
elections for their masters have no further use of them. Many of these
youth will be armed, disillusioned and then continue down the road that
leads to a life of crime and violence.

In this context we are seeing more groups than
ever before urging the public to shun violence in the run-up to the
elections. The National Association of Nigeria Students, the Christian
Association of Nigeria and Jama’atu Nasir Islam have each joined the
chorus of public bodies calling on youth not to join in any violent
actions or be unwitting tools of corrupt politicians.

The Sultan of Sokoto has called on all Muslims toa
be on guard against politicians seeking to mislead them. “We should
respect each other in Nigeria. No one should infringe on the religious
rights of the other, in the spirit of unity and respect for one
another.”

Amidst these calls against violence comes what I
can only describe as a thoughtless, foolish and attention-seeking
statement by a person claiming to be a pastor. A “pastor” of a church
in Enugu has declared to reporters that God has told him the elections
will be “bloody”. I do not dismiss the position that God may choose to
interact with us in a variety of ways and provide direction for our
daily lives, nor that we may seek His intervention. But this sort of
comment from the Enugu pastor must be dismissed for the reckless and
misleading statement that it is. It is an encouragement to violence
that it would have been prudent not to have reported.

The leaders of the major Christian denominations
are disappointingly invisible when it comes to dealing with this sort
of situation. In fact, with so many bodies publicly calling for a
peaceful election process and urging youth to shun violence, these same
church leaders are almost undetectable. They must take a lead in such
debate. The Sultan of Sokoto provides an example that the leaders of
the Christian church might care to note.

My comments are not intended to ignore the
potential for violence. Rather they are a plea not to overestimate or
inflate the potential for unrest and election related conflict.

This point was made this week by the National
Security Adviser (NSA) Owoye Azazi, a retired General, when, in a clear
and welcome break with past security practices, he invited local and
international media to a very full and frank security briefing in which
he underscored the need for collaboration between the media and
security agencies to ensure free, fair and credible elections. “The
media have frequently reported pre-election activities in bad light
leading to unnecessary violence and reprisals by the electorates who
feel that their political sympathy has been threatened,” he said.

The NSA acknowledged that, although the conduct of
the elections next week will be an improvement over previous elections,
the nation should strive to ensure that future elections “will even be
better”. “We have a responsibility to show all Nigerians and the
international community that we are capable of conducting free, fair
and credible elections in a secure environment,” he said.

But what weight do we give to the seeming resurgence of MEND and the ongoing even if sporadic attacks of Boko Haram?

The MEND public profile which operates through
media releases lacks the credibility it enjoyed particularly in 2008
and 2009, not least because there are multiple email addresses used by
persons claiming to be the MEND spokesperson. This lack of public
credibility causes the group to try to mount operations to prove that
they continue to exist as a viable militant group capable of causing
destruction and therefore should be taken seriously. But the community
support that MEND enjoyed in past years is now noticeably lacking. The
past MEND agenda of agitating for an improved quality of life for Niger
Deltans seems to have faded. Maybe it will be unnecessary if the next
government aggressively addresses deficiencies in the Niger Delta.

Boko Haram may have its gripes about a secular
government but it is substantially a different dimension of violence
that is not election related and must be addressed in a manner
different to that which seeks to curb political godfathers and their
aspirants recruiting youth to violence for the purpose of influencing
the elections.

The seed of MEND was sown by politicians seeking to retain power by
recruiting Nigeria’s youth to violent behaviour. Every effort must be
made to stand against such action that perverts the youths, the
electoral process and ultimately the nation.

Nigeria needs new breed of legislators

Nigeria needs new breed of legislators

As Nigerians await the legislative election which
was postponed on Saturday and is due to take place tomorrow, it is
important to remind ourselves of the role of the legislature in the
democratic process.

The 1999 Constitution says that “the National
Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good
government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any
matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List…” Without laws, a
democratic society, or any other society for that matter, is doomed.
The 17th century English philosopher, Hobbes, reminds us that without
laws, there can be no justice, and the only life available to citizens
will be a “nasty, brutish, and short” one.

We have in recent weeks been treated to a
semblance of activity from our National Assembly– the passing of the
Freedom of Information Bill, an Anti-Terrorism Bill, and the National
Tobacco Control Bill. We have no idea what spurred this seeming
awakening from a legislature that for most of its tenure has made the
headlines, not for its accomplishments, but instead for how much it has
cost the nation, and how obsessed it has been with self-gratification.

Perhaps the lawmakers realised that time was no
longer on their side, and that if they wanted to be judged kindly by
posterity then they had to start passing laws, which is what they were
elected to do in the first place. If that is the case, then they need
to be told that the realisation (of history’s looming judgement) has
come a little too late.

If only they had shown a dedication to duty from
the beginning. A look at some of the headlines and comments that have
accompanied our stories on the National Assembly in the last two years
will give a better idea of the kind of legislators Nigeria has been
burdened with since 2007 (not that their predecessors were any better):

‘An Assembly for looting’; ‘The luxury cars of our
lawmakers’; ‘National Assembly, the most expensive on earth’; ‘Our
National Assembly is not producing any laws’. In ‘An Assembly for
Looting’ (2009), our correspondents wrote: “If the citizens were to
dismiss the entire membership of the National Assembly and find other
uses for their money, our treasury will have nearly enough money to
fund the N88.5billion that President Umaru Yar’Adua plans to spend this
year on building power plants, so that children can do home work under
electrical lamps and not paraffin.”

With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that
the choice Nigeria made was to keep the profligate legislators and
instead dismiss our vision of a transformed power situation. Late 2010,
the Central Bank Governor disclosed that the National Assembly – made
up of less than 500 elected officials– was taking up 25 per cent of
“total government overhead.” Even for hardworking legislators, that
figure would be unjustifiable.

In June 2009, two years into their tenure, we
reported that the Senate had succeeded in passing only 15 of the 284
bills that came before it. At the state level, the situation is not
much better. Many State Assemblies are either firmly in the pockets of
the state governors, and thus employed for nothing more than
rubber-stamping of the governors’ decisions; or embroiled in a
cat-and-mouse relationship with the executive. There is the tragicomic
case of Ogun State, where the House has been split into two since 2010.
We watched as a minority group of nine senators (sympathetic to the
governor) met and announced the suspension of 15 members. They then
went ahead to elect, from amongst themselves, a new Speaker, who was
immediately recognised by the governor.

We hope that the incoming batch of legislators, at
federal and state levels, will make a clean break with the past. If the
federal legislators want to convince us that they are serious about the
wellbeing of our country, they will have to start by doing something
about the N63 million (senators) and N45 million (representatives) that
they will be ‘entitled to’ per quarter as “constituency allowances”,
and for which they do not have to give account.

Legislators have no business awarding contracts
and managing project funds. Nigerians also have a duty to hold their
legislators accountable. We cannot continue to just complain about
dismal performance. Hopefully there will be an election tomorrow and
the votes cast will prove to be a just verdict on the performance of
the lawmakers. Until politicians get punished – with outright rejection
– by the electorate, there will be no incentive for them to shun
mediocrity and greed.

Unusually wide open feeling at Augusta

Unusually wide open feeling at Augusta

Just as an oddly shaped Christmas gift intrigues a young child before the wrapping comes off, next week’s Masters has whetted the appetite of fans and players because of its rich promise.

As the season’s first major, the Masters is always anticipated with more hope, speculation and hunger than any of the other three, and probably more so this year than ever before.

Former world number one Tiger Woods and defending champion Phil Mickelson, who between them have clinched six of the last 10 Masters titles, are both well short of their best form, leaving the April 7-10 event wide open.

Although neither Woods nor fellow American Mickelson can be discounted as likely contenders, the list of potential winners at Augusta National next week is as long as anyone can recall.

World number two Lee Westwood, third-ranked Luke Donald and big-hitting Dustin Johnson (12th) can all lay claim to being due a maiden major victory and that trio will hold high hopes when they tee off in Thursday’s opening round.

So too will the other reigning major champions; Britain’s Graeme McDowell (US Open), South African Louis Oosthuizen (British Open) and German world number one Martin Kaymer (PGA Championship). And the list does not stop there.

Veterans such as Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen and 2000 champion Vijay Singh, PGA Tour winners like Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, plus a host of younger guns led by Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Ryo Ishikawa, are all capable of flourishing at Augusta National.

Aura of dominance

With Woods having lost the aura of dominance he enjoyed before his stunning fall from grace at the end of the 2009 season, each major now begins with a high proportion of players in the field holding genuine expectations of success.

“With Tiger going through his troubles and whatnot, it’s given the world a chance to view what golf might be like without Tiger,” said Northern Irishman McDowell, who won four tournaments across the globe last year.

“Golf is very healthy and we’ve got some really great, young talent coming through. But getting Tiger Woods back to winning golf tournaments, I think golf needs him back as well.”

Woods, a 14-times major champion who has lifted the prized green jacket on four occasions at Augusta National, has not triumphed anywhere since the 2009 Australian Masters.

His game suffered as he tried unsuccessfully to repair his deteriorating marriage last year while spending less time at practice than usual.

His divorce from his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren, was finalised in August, and that same month he embarked on the fourth swing change of his professional career, with Canadian coach Sean Foley.

“This year, I felt like I’ve played my way into shape,” Woods, 35, said after tying for 24th at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I’ve played, I’ve kept progressing.

“Early in the year was disappointing because the conditions showed some signs of weakness that I had to work on. Now, it’s feeling very, very good.” Comfort factor

While Woods goes into next week’s Masters without his customary swagger following his recent barren run of form, he could hardly pick a venue where he feels more comfortable.

He is ideally suited to the par-72 layout, which was stretched to a formidable 7,445 yards for the 2006 Masters, making it the second-longest course in major golf at the time.

Woods still ranks among the longest hitters, has a superbly creative short game and is arguably the best putter of all time from inside 15 feet. He just needs to regain consistency.

Three-times champion Mickelson also relishes playing at Augusta National where his magical short game is a major factor.

“Coming back to Augusta National is such an incredible feeling, knowing that I’ve won the golf tournament, that I’ve had such success there and that I’m part of the history of the Masters,” the left-hander said.

“One of the reasons why I’ve been successful there is that when I drive through the gates, I have this feeling of confidence; that I know how to play the golf course; that I don’t have to play it perfectly; and that the strength of my game, which is short game, can often save or salvage rounds and pars for me and keep me in contention.”

Experience is always a prized commodity at the Masters and Ireland’s McIlroy expects the “usual suspects” to be lurking in the upper reaches of the leaderboard in the final round.

“It takes a while to learn the golf course and it takes a while to feel 100 percent comfortable on it,” he said. “The Masters is always going to be a tournament that everyone in the field feels that they can win, but I think you’ll still see the usual suspects up there on Sunday.”

Sports

Super Falcons seek goals harvest against Namibia

Super Falcons seek goals harvest against Namibia

The Super Falcons will today take on the Namibian women’s national team, the Brave Gladiators in a 2012 Olympics qualifier at the Abuja National Stadium.

Though victory is the major target, the Falcons will also be seeking to continue the goals harvest currently enjoyed by the country’s other national teams.

Last weekend was a good one for Nigerian football fans as the national teams found their scoring boots again; the U-23 Olympic team defeated their opponents 5-0 and the Super Eagles notched a heartwarming 4-0 and 3-0 victories over Ethiopia and Kenya respectively.

Going for goals

Perpetua Nkwocha, reigning Africa’s Woman Player of the Year is expected to lead the Falcons attack today as the team’s coach, Eucharia Uche, stated that she wasn’t be taking any chances. “We cannot underestimate the team (Namibia), we will approach the game with all seriousness because we want to win and win convincingly,” she said.

“We are ready for the Namibians. They cannot stop us from continuing the good run for Nigeria football. My girls are upbeat and in very high spirit and we will not let the nation down.”

Seven foreign-based players were invited by the coach for today’s match. They are; Effioanwan Ekpo, Emuje Ogbiagbevha, Rita Chikwelu, Onome Ebi, Ulumma Jerome, Helen Ukaonu and Faith Ikidi.

The largesse recently received from the President for their performance at the last African Championships is also expected to motivate the girls and particularly with a ticket to the Olympics up for grabs. The six-time African champions are thus expected to go full throttle against the Gladiators at the Abuja National Stadium pitch today.

The Falcons will also be using the qualifiers to prepare for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup that is scheduled for Germany in June.

In 2008 the Super Falcons hammered the Brave Gladiators 10-1 on aggregate in an African Nations Cup qualifier but that might be a tough score to repeat as the Namibians have improved and have promised to offer a stiffer contest today for the Falcons.

No pushovers

The Namibian coach, Jacqui Shipanga says aside any other thing; she believes the Super Falcons respect her team as it was obvious in their planning to field their best players in today’s first-leg qualifying match.

Shipanga said the fact that Nigeria assembled their strongest possible squad was a testament of her team’s recent rapid progress. Shipanga also added that her players were more than capable of holding their own against the Falcons.

“We are not called the Brave Gladiators for nothing,” said Shipanga. “If we can’t beat them, then we can learn from them.”

Also Queen Manga, captain of the Brave Gladiators said the positive morale in the team will push them to greater heights against their more experienced opponents today.

She told local Namibian reporters before departing for Nigeria that her teammates were in high spirits ahead of the first leg qualifier and the team is looking forward to showing the rest of the continent just how much they have progressed over the last few years.

According to Manga, the Brave Gladiators are feeling confident after comfortably seeing off neighbours Botswana 1-0 in a friendly last Saturday plus their narrow 1-2 loss against the highly rated Banyana Banyana in South Africa a fortnight ago. Manga said the team could even cause an upset against the Super Falcons.

Namibia are ranked 17th in African women’s football while Nigeria has occupied the top spot on the continent for years.

“We are not going there to lose,” said Manga, who is poised for her 34th cap today. Last time we were not well prepared. I feel that Sunday (today) will go very well for us. We are developing into a super team!”

While exuding confidence in their team’s ability to give a tough fight to the Falcons, Shipanga also stated that one of her team’s focuses is to reduce the 10-1 record the Falcons set in their last encounter.

Shipanga however admitted that a win against Nigeria would be difficult by any stretch of the imagination, considering the gulf in class between her youthful squad and the wealth of experience the Super Falcons currently boast of.

“The youngest player in our team is the 16-year old player from Eldorado High School, Albertina ‘Chicken’ Davis. She only started playing last year at the Zone VI (Youth) games. Now Albertina will have to play against Perpetua (Nkwocha), who is 35 years old and has participated in numerous World Cups. There is a 20-year gap between the players.

“The last time we played them we lost 10-1. I want us to improve on this performance if we can,” Shipanga said before leaving Windhoek for Lagos.

Theoretically, the Falcons and the Gladiators are only two stages away from qualifying for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

While the return leg for today’s match is billed for Windhoek in two weeks time, the winning team over the two legs will play the winner of the match between Ghana and Liberia.

Izetta Sombo Wesley from Liberia has been named as match commissioner for today’s game while the centre referee is Fadouma Dia, to be assisted by assistant referees Adia Isseu Cisse and Die Alse Sylla while the fourth official Amina Fall completes the list officials who are all from Senegal.

Sports

Batting into the national team

Batting into the national team

As the cricket national team prepares to compete on two fronts starting from April and then in May, one of the players that will have the burden of turning out a good performance is Femi Oduyebo of Federal Government College Warri Old Students Association (FEGOCOWOSA) cricket team.

Oduyebo came out of a selection process that had two training camps in Lagos before a final list of 16 players was released and the all-rounder was chosen for the team by the board of national selectors. The new captain of the team, Endurance Ofem believes that the selection process was thorough and that any one that made it into that final 16 list merited it.

Ofem said, “The 16 players were arrived at by the Selector’s Board of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) after two hectic training phases which ended in Lagos on February 16, 2011.” “I think the selectors did a good job in arriving at the final list of 14 players and two alternate players,” Ofem continued.

Also the new coach of the team, Sean Philips said, “Though I was not part of the selection process, I am happy about the composition and we will have a chance when the tournaments start in April.”

A new name on the batting list

The inclusion of Oduyebo elicited this response from the new captain, “Oduyebo’s inclusion is a victory for hard work and perseverance.” Ofem also commended the new national invitee for an overall improved display in the season that just ended.

Ofem also used Oduyebo’s case as an example for the players that could not make the team at the moment and advised them to continue to work hard. “I will tell the players that the national door is not closed. Femi (Oduyebo) has worked hard this year and I am happy that he has been chosen for the national team.” Oduyebo started playing the gentleman’s game at 13 years old in Ogun State. “I started when I was in JSS 3 in 1996 in Sagamu, Ogun State”, Oduyebo stated.

Oduyebo who grew up in three states; Lagos, Ogun and Osun States revealed that it was a grassroots coach called Abayomi, who introduced the game to his secondary school, Makun High School. “I was playing football for my school when cricket was introduced. I left football for cricket because it is a gentleman’s game – no fighting and no rough play”, he said.

A problem that most sportsmen and women face in Nigeria is the inability to combine playing sports with a qualitative education, something that Oduyebo has been able to accommodate successfully.

In Oduyebo’s words, “If you are intelligent you will be able to play the game of cricket especially in Nigeria. Cricket is played on weekends and since I do have any classes – I planned my weekends for cricket and weekdays for education.”

Foundation at Rocks Cricket Club

His journey in the game has been a long but ultimately fruitful one. He started playing league cricket when he was in SS1. “I started playing in the league when I was in SS1. I played for Rocks Cricket Club of Abeokuta, I then moved to Foundation Cricket Club (FCC), Lagos, from where I joined my present team.”

After he was named into the national team, Oduyebo expressed his happiness but at the same time announced his ambitions for the green-white-green jersey. He said, “It has always been my ambition to play for the country and when I heard my name, I was the happiest person on earth because I had achieved a dream that seemed unachievable at a point in time.

“But that is the starting point, I hope to help the team win our games so that we can be a part of test-playing nations in the world.”

Nigeria is currently ranked 36th in the world and not listed as a test playing country.

He enjoyed watching the 2011 Cricket World Cup, which ended on Saturday and has been a keen follower of the games and hopes that one day very soon, Nigeria will become a test playing nation. One of the games that really thrilled him was the India vs. Ireland encounter in Mumbai. “It had everything for a one-day international (ODI). There were catches, sixes and drops – there was tension until the conclusion of the second innings.”

Oduyebo is third in a family of seven. He started his primary education in Ikoyi but was later transferred to Makun High School and to Akesan Grammar School Iperu, Ogun State. In 2005 he gained admission into Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife to study Economics and graduated this year.

The motivation for the season

So many followers of the league commended the selectors for choosing the right-hander, saying that it showed that the league was improving and churning out better players. Oduyebo agreed but revealed that the motivation for him at the beginning of the season was to make sure that his team, FEGOCOWOSA, was not relegated. “I prepared purposely for my club this season because there were various jibes from guys that my club will be relegated and I told them it wouldn’t happen.

“It was a challenge that I prepared for not knowing that it would mature as a call to the national team.” Though he has experienced some horror moments on the way to become both a university graduate and a national team player, he will not trade the journey for any other. “It was a different ball game in the university compared to primary and secondary schools; where the love of the game kept you batting and bowling and the pressure of school work was not as intense as in the university,” Oduyebo disclosed.

“One bad experience I had was during this last semester at OAU. As an extra year student, I was maligned by some University of Lagos players and their lecturer, that I was no more a student, whereas I had an extra year to go – I could live with it because I appreciated the fact that they saw me as a threat to their winning the games at NUGA.

“Of course I did not like the attention and the slur it cast on my reputation, thankfully the misunderstanding was cleared up.”

There will be no such misunderstanding as Oduyebo gets ready to bat the opposition into submission in Botswana and then in South Africa. The squad is currently preparing for the Africa Premier League (APL) T-20 Division 2, which was supposed to take place in South Africa from April 22-28, 2011 but has been shifted till after the World Cricket League (WCL) Division 7 holding in Botswana from May 1-8, 2011. The national team players have procured visas for a two-week training camp in Benoni, South Africa and are billed to leave the country on April 13, 2011.

Sports

Charity Shield wins Aficionado award

Charity Shield wins Aficionado award

The Emir of Katsina Charity Shield has been named winner of the prestigious Polo Aficionado Tournament of the Decade award.

The statement, officially posted by Polo Aficionado, a media organisation, which has organised the award for years, is the latest to emerge from the decade 2001-2010 best achievers roll.

This prize surely is a major fillip to Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club, which inaugurated the tournament in 2003 in honour of former Emir of Katsina, Muhammadu Kabir Usman, and Access bank which has sponsored the tournament for the past four years.

Eight years on from that maiden edition, and more than N100m in philanthropy mainly to UNICEF, the Emir of Katsina Charity Shield has decidedly made its mark as the premier polo charity event, which this award has superlatively authenticated.

In a triangular contest with its closest rivals, Lagos and Kaduna tournaments, the choice of the Charity Shield in the end, apparently looked easy for the Polo Aficionado panel. For competition, content and added value to Nigerian and international polo, the Charity Shield at handicap 22 out of a possible 40 has been in a league of its very own as Nigeria’s highest handicap polo tournament in the past decade.

Such dizzying handicap level also means it has consistently attracted the very top players from around the world, including stars of the mighty Argentine Open such as Silvestre Donovan (handicap +8), Diego White (+7) and Alejandro Astrada( +8). In the 2006 edition, superstar Augustin Merlos (+10) became the first ever premium rated player to play on Nigerian soil.

Altogether more than 150 foreign professional and amateur players from more than ten different countries have participated in the Charity Shield since 2003, a number five times greater than those of its rivals combined. About 30 foreign players (male and female) played in the 2008 tournament alone while visitors from more than twenty countries have also attended through the years.

When it comes to projecting Nigeria on the world polo landscape, Charity Shield is top of the bill. The distinction doesn’t end there. With a regular pool of five to six teams the Charity Shield also poleaxes its rivals for entries. Car prizes for Most Valuable Players and cash rewards for winners and runners-up definitely make other tournaments look somewhat inferior but when you consider that the Katsina Charity Shield also commands a N1m entry fee, you begin to understand why it is up there alone, not only as the most prestigious polo event in Nigeria but also as the most exclusive tournament in Africa.

As has been the case in the past, this award is expected to significantly increase the sponsorship value of the Charity Shield. Fifth Chukker polo captain, Babangida Hassan Usman Katsina concurs: “The award is clearly a validation of our efforts through the years in trying to create a world class facility for world standard polo. Nothing has been more gratifying than having all these well travelled players and visitors come to you and say how wonderful their experience at Fifth Chukker has been. I believe our sponsors will also be elated for this tremendous recognition of their support”

Man of the decade

In another development, Polo Aficionado has also posthumously given the Man of the Decade award to the late Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir Usman who passed on in 2008.

Usman was an iconic figure in Nigerian polo for much of his life having played and retired at the highest levels of the domestic game with a +5 handicap. When he succeeded to the Katsina throne in 1981, he also inherited the life presidency of the Nigerian polo Association from his father Usman Nagogo, arguably Nigeria’s greatest polo legend.

His reign and tenure witnessed the biggest ever expansion of polo in the country especially with the establishment of private clubs and the hosting of continental and world polo championships largely by Fifth Chukker.

The last decade of his eventful reign also witnessed his 25th coronation anniversary in 2006. Incidentally, a lifetime achievement award scheduled for 2008 was scuttled by his demise early that year.

In 2009, The Kaduna Polo Club unveiled a massive pavilion named after the late royal father. The Man of the Decade award celebrates the momentous polo career of the emir’s life as well as his last decade during which record milestones were achieved and surpassed mostly at his instance.

The 2011 Emir of Katsina Charity Shield is scheduled to gallop off from May 26 to June 5; again teams and players from Nigeria, Argentina, the United States and South Africa will be matching talents and wits for the different prizes on offer.

But, inevitably, it is the Charity Shield with another scintillating parade of world class professionals that has got polo fans salivating at the guaranteed prospect of yet another high goal extravaganza.

Sports

Fans relish Champions League at the Heineken Planet House

Fans relish Champions League at the Heineken Planet House

In two days time, quarter-final matches of the UEFA Champions League will take place in stadia across Europe.

Excitement is building up in the run up to the games, which will see the remaining eight clubs jostling for places in the last four.

With two English clubs, Manchester United and Chelsea billed to clash on Wednesday at the Stamford Bridge, football fans in Nigeria are bracing themselves up for a delicious fare to be served by two of England’s leading football clubs.

Other matches in the quarter-final fixtures include the encounter between nine-time champions, Real Madrid and flamboyant English side, Tottenham Hotspurs, the clash between defending champions, Inter Milan of Italy and Schalke 04 of Germany and the much anticipated match between Barcelona FC and the irreverent Shakhtar FC of Ukraine, which put highly rated Roma of Italy to the sword in the round of 16.

Viewing centres across Lagos are bracing up for the expected surge of customers. One venue where excitement is expected to reach feverish pitch is the Heineken Planet House located on Victoria Island in Lagos.

The Planet House resumed in February for the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, and presented an opportunity for some lucky fans and consumers of the Heineken brand from various cities across the country to be united with other invited guests to witness sublime football.

The guests, who cut across business leaders and loyal consumers who secured invitation from a multi-city recruitment from in-bar locations in six major cities outside Lagos namely: Abuja, Benin, Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna and Port Harcourt clearly relished the experience.

One such fan was Ihieaka Ikechukwu, an ardent follower of both local and international football. Aside his passion for the round leather game, his leisure period is mostly spent with friends after a busy day’s schedule at pubs where he relaxes with friends to unwind.

It was one of such days late in January in the coal city of Enugu that he had an encounter with the Heineken Champions Planet activation team at the bar location. While other lucky consumers were rewarded with branded souvenirs on that night, Ikechukwu was luckier because, the lucky dip draw earned him the right to watch the UEFA Champions League second round knock out matches at the prestigious Heineken Champions Planet with all an expense paid trip to Lagos on match days.

The real deal

At first, the young man could not see any big deal in this because he and his friends have always watched matches at various viewing centres in the city where they share their passion for their various clubs. However, since the trip to Lagos was not going to cost him anything, he opted for the adventure.

“Initially, I thought the whole thing was a farce because I would have loved to win one of their very attractive souvenirs instead of coming to Lagos to watch football matches that I could have watched at home or with friends at numerous viewing centres located around my area.

“I was reluctant but with both flight and accommodation expense already booked, I opted to have the ‘Planetary’ experience I had read in the papers and watched on television over the years,” he said.

For Ikechukwu and some others from other locations who left their hotel rooms for the Heineken Champions Planet to savour Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over mighty FC Barcelona at the Emirates stadium in February, they have been given an opportunity to feature in the draw for the five lucky consumers that will be selected to watch the final match of the competition live at the Wembley Stadium in London on May 29 this year.

The Heineken Champions Planet is in its fifth season and for the first time last September, ventured into the group stages matches with the aim of creating more exciting viewing experience where football lovers can enjoy all the matches.

The Heineken brand in Nigeria has for the past five years given Nigerian football fans an opportunity to watch and experience the UEFA Champions league in a premium viewing experience.

This is the first time since it began four seasons ago that the Heineken Champions Planet is going into full scale nationwide invitation of consumers in some major cities across the country.