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James
Johnson is a young man in need of help. Until a few years ago, he was
part man, part woman having been born with the genitals of both sexes.

However, for years
James operated as a woman called Iyabo. It was in that state that we
met some years ago precisely in the mid 1990s when as Iyabo, he played
club football for Rivers Angels Football Club of Port Harcourt, the
same club my younger sister, Nkiru, played in.

Iyabo was as good
as they come, simply Sui Generis. There was no striker in the women’s
game in Nigeria that could hold a candle to her. So prolific was she
that every season she accounted for half the number of goals Rivers
Angels recorded.

Such a performance
inevitably raised questions and then finally, tired of being in a
woman’s body Iyabo decided it was time to become a new person. About
four years ago, after struggling to raise money, she went to the United
States of America and underwent a sex change operation, emerging from
the surgeon’s knife as James Johnson. The operation was financed by
Nasir El-Rufai, then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

That operation
however, was not final. Doctors said Johnson needs to return to the USA
for what they termed completion surgery. Without this, he will struggle
with health concerns all his life. Since then, it has been extremely
difficult for him to raise the $3, 500 dollars needed to go and have
the surgery completed. Early this year, a few kind Nigerians managed to
raise some money for him to go to the USA but it fell far below what
was required for his treatment and he was advised by doctors to return
and raise the full amount.

I have been privy
to the efforts he has made to raise the money. Last year, while on
assignment in Abuja, he visited me in my hotel room and when I asked
how he was faring, he merely shrugged and said, “bros, I don tire for
the whole thing”. When I pressed further, he explained how his efforts
to get the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to come to his assistance
had proved futile. When I asked him why he didn’t approach, Sani Lulu,
then NFF President directly to ask for help, he said he had done so and
the NFF boss had asked him to see the Secretary General. He did that
but after a while his file had gone missing! Anyway, leaving the NFF
behind, he had explored and keeps exploring other options. He remains
without a solution. Sometime this year, Olajide Fashikun, a journalist
and former handball and football player, decided to take up his case.
Fashikun went ahead and created a group on Facebook, which he calls
Join 72,000 Nigerians to SAVE IYABO “JAMES JOHNSON” ABADE. The idea is
to get 72,000 Nigerians to donate a minimum of N1000 to the cause and
so raise N7.2million to assist the young man.

Calloused hearts

It is instructive
to note that before Fashikun resorted to the Facebook strategy, he had
written letters to highly influential Nigerians to assist but had hit a
brick wall:

“We wrote 328 letters to Senators, Members of the House of Representatives, the Governor of Delta State,

ministers and even
the Sports Ministry and Sports Minister. No one was going to respond.
Last month, September. The doctor called and said, THIS IS A LAST
OPPORTUNITY. What date? 11th November 2010. Now, I resorted to begging
people directly. We want 72,000 Nigerians to give us N1, 000:00. I
recruited staffers, trained them and saddled them to go without shame
BEGGING FOR A BROTHER,” Fashikun said.

It is sad
commentary on us a people that we could sit by and allow a fellow human
being to waste away without lifting a finger to help. Even more
annoying is the attitude of the NFF under Lulu. These men who would not
come to the aid of a hapless young man could afford to spend public
funds to ferry family and cronies to international competitions at
public expense.

James Johnson needs
help and I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t get it in a country
where people spend public funds lavishly on trifles. For those like
Shuaibu Amodu, former Super Eagles coach who Fashikun says have
contributed to the fund, I say thank you.

Sometimes, it’s not the amount that is contributed that counts, it
the desire to help a fellow human that really matters. I hope our
officials in the NFF and the National Sports commission (NSC) will take
a cue from Amodu and the rest who have shown kindness to this young
man. May God bless them.

The
10th edition of the Governors’ Cup ended on Saturday with a tense match
between Karan Rastogi of India and a higher rated South African, Raven
Klaasen.

In the final match
watched by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, Rastogi, who is
ranked number 451 in the world and fifth in the tournament, upset the
better ranked Raven Klaasen, who is ranked number 361 and fourth in the
tournament, in a gruelling encounter that ended in three close sets of
6-2,6-7 and 7-5.

Rastogi, who also
featured in the final of the first leg of the men’s Singles, described
his victory at the FCMB/Etisalat sponsored championship as a
hard-fought feat.

“I tried the best I
could though it was not easy”. Rastogi, who attributed his first leg
loss to Amir Wentraub to fatigue, said he did not allow that to affect
him this time around.

“When I saw the way
the game was going, I knew I had to get ready to spend a long time on
court. The other guy (Klaasen) was good and I had to keep my
concentration so as not to lose the game,” Rastogi said, adding that
the crowd was a great help.

“The crowd really
spurred me on. I am sure that my opponent also enjoyed the crowd. The
atmosphere here has been very fantastic.”

Rastogi has set his sights on taking part in the upcoming Asian Games.

“Right now I am looking forward to the Asian games. I hope to go there and do the best I can”.

Not a promising start for Klaasen

Klaasen, who was considered the fan-favourite, could not do enough to win the finals.

“I think in the
first set I was distracted but I tried to come back in the second set
but by the third set my game was down again. If I had produced a more
consistent game from the outset, maybe I would have been able win the
tournament. Nonetheless, he [Rastogi] is also a very good player”.

In the women’s
event, tournament favourite, Slovak Zuzana Kucova was stopped from
achieving her dream of back to back titles by Russia’s Nina
Bratchikova, as she was defeated in straight sets of 7-5,6-1.

In the men’s
doubles finals, the pair of Boy Westerhof and Amir Weintraub beat Raven
Klassen and Ruan Roelofse in 5-7,6-4(10-6), while the women’s event was
won by Karolina Kosinka and Melaine Klaffner after they defeated the
pair of Nina Bratchikova and Agnes Szatmari 3-6,7-5(10-7) match.

In keeping up with
their promises, Etisalat Nigeria disbursed phones to about 12 people
who were present as spectators. A number of the phones went to
secondary school students. One of them was Tolu Alakija, a student of
CMS Grammar school, who expressed happiness at the gift.

“I want to say thank you to Etisalat for this phone”.

The final was witnessed by a lot of dignitaries that included the
Asoju Oba of Lagos, Molade Okoya Thomas, the CEO of Etisalat, Steve
Evans, representative of the Managing Director of FCMB, Peter Obaseki,
former chairman of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Chooka Momah, vice
president of the NTF, Yemi Owoseni and the Chairman of the Local
Organising Committee of BRF Wrestlemania 2010, Charles Odugbesi amongst
others.

Briton
Lee Westwood is to take over as world number one when the new rankings
are published after Ryder Cup team mate Martin Kaymer finished down the
field at the Andalucia Masters.

Westwood ended
Tiger Woods’s unprecedented 281-week reign at the top of the rankings
after German Kaymer finished with a closing 75 for a seven-over-par
tally of 291 at Valderrama on Sunday.

Kaymer, who needed
to finish in the top two here to become world number one, was always up
against it after opening his campaign with rounds of 72, 74 and 70.

Westwood did not play in Andalucia because he was at home resting his injured calf.

“Of course I’m
disappointed,” Kaymer said. “I thought if I had a fast weekend I could
still play a role but I missed too many putts.

“You have to accept it isn’t your week. I don’t think trying to get to number one played any part.

“It was in the back
of my mind but I didn’t play differently, any more aggressively or
defensively. I liked the challenge (of trying to get to number one) and
I think I’ll have another chance in the next few weeks,” added Kaymer.

“Lee deserves it; he’s one of the greatest guys on the European
Tour. I played with him in the Ryder Cup (this month) and he showed me
around. I’m very happy for him.”

TP
Mazembe yesterday trounced Michael Eneramo and his club, Esperance of
Tunisia, 5-0 in the first leg of the Africa Champions League final
match played in Lubumbashi, Congo.

The Super Eagles’ striker’s dream of winning Africa’s top prize in club football has thus suffered a huge setback.

When both teams
clashed in the group stage of the competition, Mazembe managed only a
2-1 home win, before they fell apart 3-0 in the reverse fixture in
Tunis.

Presumably with
this result, Mazembe are now on course to becoming the first team to
win the competition back-to-back twice having first successfully
defended the crown in 1968.

Meanwhile,
Esperance now need to score at least six goals with no reply from the
defending champions to win a second African crown; a feat yet to be
achieved by a Tunisian club Nevertheless, Eneramo will still have his
eyes on winning the top goalscorer award as he currently leads the
chart with eight goals.

“I have said many
times that I would like to score 10 goals this year in the competition
and that should be enough for Esperance to win the trophy a second
time,” he said, before the defeat to Mazembe yesterday.

In last year’s final, Mazembe beat Nigerian side, Heartland FC to lift the crown.

The winners of this year’s edition will pocket a prize money of 1.5
million US dollars and will represent Africa in December at the FIFA
Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Clijsters, who won the tournament for a third
time after her victories in 2002 and 2003, pocketed almost $1.5 million
in prize-money for winning the title in the Qatari capital.

The
27-year-old was up against an opponent seven years her junior but did
not look a step off the pace, battling Wozniacki tooth and nail to seal
a 6-3 5-7 6-3 win in a match lasting two hours, 20 minutes at the
Khalifa Tennis Complex.

“I felt like it was never going to end,” the beaming Belgian said in a courtside interview.

“It
was a really tough battle with some great shots, great tennis and great
fitness. I’m glad that I won, obviously it’s disappointing for Caroline
but I don’t know how many more years I’m going to keep doing this so.

“She has a great future ahead of her.”

Playing
in her first tournament since winning the U.S. Open in September
following an operation to remove a mole from her right foot, Clijsters
came out all guns blazing, breaking Wozniacki in the first game before
building a 4-2 lead.

Matching
Wozniacki’s power from the baseline but bringing that little bit of
shot-making imagination the 20-year-old Dane lacks, Clijsters secured
the first set when her opponent sent a forehand far and wide.

Clijsters
looked in complete command at 3-1 up in the second set, but wobbled.
Wozniacki buckled down and battled back to level the match and with a
spring in her step looked favourite to win the decider and cap a
storybook season.

Clearly Clijsters was not reading from the same script.

Leading
3-2 in the deciding set she heaped unbearable pressure on the Wozniacki
serve and won what proved to be a pivotal sixth game with a scorching
forehand that gave the Dane no chance of returning.

Clijsters held serve at 4-2, as did Wozniacki, leaving the Belgian to serve out the match.

Wozniacki paid tribute to Clijsters and said the best player on the day had won.

“It’s been a fantastic week for me,” said the Dane. “Kim just played amazing today and she deserved to win.”

The prestigious tournament moves to Istanbul for the next three years.</