The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ajibola

  • Ajibola savouring Oboabona’s impact

    Last year, Otegbeye Ajibola played fourth level club football in Nigeria, but on Sunday, he played for ABS in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Matchday 11 tie against Sunshine Stars which was live on SuperSport.

    Sharing the points was no mean feat for ABS, but Ajibola left the Akure Stadium satisfied after a rare chance on the field with 2013 African Cup of Nations winner and captain of Sunshine Stars, Godfrey Oboabona.

    Back in 2012, the upcoming forward played amateur football with Nigeria Nationwide Division 2 side, Vela FC based in Oyo town, while Oboabona blossomed with the Super Eagles. And in January, Ajibola watched the defender excel as the Eagles moved from being outsiders to eventual champions.

    Ajibola was one of the numerous Nigerians who admired Oboabona on television and dreamt of a one-on-one encounter with the utility player who is set for a summer move to Europe. Indeed, dreams come true in life and fate brought him to his football hero.

    “It will remain fresh in my mind because I prayed for the chance to come close to him. I didn’t even know it would happen so soon. However, I couldn’t talk to him after the match,” Ajibola told supersport.com.

    It was a fast-tracked journey to the top as he jumped two levels (Nigeria Nationwide Division 1 and Nigeria National League) to the top flight.

    Initially scouted by Kwara United, the forward was unable to make his top flight debut and eventually moved across to the blue side of Ilorin to play for ABS. The former Vela FC forward was determined to make the best of the opportunity.

    Interestingly, Ajibola’s teammate at Vela FC, Emmanuel Onyeka, had made his debut for ABS, while he was struggling to convince Kwara United gaffer, Samson Unuanel, that he can play at the top.

    “I couldn’t resist the chance to join ABS because it’s a chance to achieve my dream of top flight football.

    “My former team played against Kwara United Feeders in the Nationwide League and officials of Kwara United invited me for trials. I passed the test and was registered to play for Kwara United. However, I never got the chance to play for the club,” he said to supersport.com.

    In less than four months, he has gone from preparing for matches in the fourth division, where media coverage is non-existent to assume the mantle of scoring goals with ABS legend, Abdulrahman Bashir, in the top flight.

    Seven goals for Vela FC in the Nationwide Division Three (fifth division) play-offs earned him no plaudits by the sporting media. However, the youngster hugged the headlines for a while when he scored on his debut at El-Kanemi where ABS lost 1-4 and his friends now watch him on SuperSport.

    “It’s a different world in the top flight. I’ve received calls after the Sunshine Stars match from many people who watched me on SuperSport.

    “In fact, my friends had to convince the owner of a viewing centre in Oyo where they were watching the Manchester United versus Swansea match to change one of the television sets to SuperSport 9 for the match in Akure,” he stated.

    Ajibola’s career has moved at such a fast rate and hopefully it can just keep on going as the season progresses.

  • Nigeria not better than countries at war, says Ajibola

    Nigeria not better than countries at war, says Ajibola

    •Ex-Justice Minister speaks at Metropolitan Club lecture

    Nigeria has not fared better than a country at war, former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) said yesterday.

    He said corruption, with insecurity and backwardness as its side effects, is “the singular most cancerous malaise affecting the body-politic of our nation”.

    He spoke while delivering a lecture at a luncheon organised by the Metropolitan Club in Lagos.

    According to him, graft has permeated lives and made it impossible for the government to fix anything.

    “Sometimes, one is forced to wonder how much better we have fared than countries in a state of war,” Ajibola, also a former Judge of the International Court of Justice, said.

    He said Nigeria’s brand of corruption transcended stealing of public funds.

    Threats to national peace, Ajibola said, are fallouts of a festering tradition of greed and “galloping corruption with reckless impunity in high places”.

    Criticising the judiciary, he said plea bargaining encourages massive public funds pilfering.

    He said: “Our pains as a nation are without doubt, self inflicted.

    “It beats my imagination to think that this is the same country where I served as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for more than six years without taking any salary and even employed two legal practitioners to work for the government in my office as minister and paid them from my pocket.”

    Ajibola said Nigeria has sadly remained a net importer of petroleum products despite huge deposits of crude oil.

    “One is sad to see us carrying on as a nation that is bereft of any sense of shame. Indeed, what we are currently experiencing is corruption in absolute terms, and by that I mean the glaring deficit in enviable national character and general moral rectitude,” he said.

    On the way out, Ajibola believes the government should provide for all and be fair to all and ensure that the educational system is made more functional and guided to address national needs and aspirations.

    He said:“We should be done with impunity and government arrogance. No section of the populace should be made to enjoy undue advantage over the others.”

    Among guests were Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, who anchored the event, President of the Metropolitan Club Chief Olu Akinkugbe, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Joseph Sanusi and former Federal Minister of Works Alhaji Femi Okunnu (SAN).