Nigerian Football
FOOTBALL ICON, ODEGBAMI MAKES PASSIONATE APPEAL OVER HIS GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDACY
Former Nigeria national football team captain and a continental icon, Segun Odegbami who has ventured into politics, has sent a passionate appeal to members of the sports community for support.
He is a candidate for governorship seat of Ogun State on the platform of Zenith Labour Party. His appeal in the form of an open letter to the sports constituency reads:
My dear Friends in Sports,
Some months ago, I took a major step that you all are likely to be aware of. I joined the train of Nigerian politics.
I understand the reaction of most of you in keeping a respectable distance from my unilateral decision by not openly associating with it in anyway, or even expressing an opinion, one way or the other. You all may also already have your political interests and affiliation.
I believe that had I informed you, or sought your opinion on the matter, it is most probable that you would have advised me to avoid the temptation, by all means, and not ventured to enter into the Lion’s den of Nigerian politics.
You would probably have correctly reminded me of our past general understanding of the relation between sports and politics. They never worked well together.
Strategically, those were the sentiments I did not want to hear at all at the time I took my decision.
Nigerian politics are not of the sort that, as a sportsman, an Olympian for that matter, I would ordinarily want to be associated with – the graft, the lies, the corruption, the intimidation, the treachery and betrayals, even killings -conducts and tendencies that do not work well with the values that we espouse in competitive sport – merit, transparency, equity, excellence, healthy competitiveness, fair play, clear rules and regulations, winning and losing graciously, friendship, discipline, honesty, equality, and integrity.
On the value scale, Sports and Politics are planets apart from each other.
So, for me to have unilaterally plunged into this obvious murky minefield means there must be more to my decision than meets the ordinary eye. Yes, indeed, there is.
The separation of Sport from politics in Nigeria has been responsible, in the main, for the stunted growth of an industry that should be thriving with the abundance of natural talent available. Sport has the capacity to make Nigeria a global superpower.
Through sport we could have united Nigerian people better, ‘laundered the image of the country better, taken a lot of our young boys and girls off the tracks of illiteracy, joblessness, drugs, prostitution, crime and uncontrolled emigration, and prepared them to pursue happiness through a sector they have a passion for, that engages them, creates global job opportunities for them,makes them healthy, wealthy and wise, empowers them, and imbibes in them the best of human values.
What we do now is deny the entire demography of young people entry into the opportunities to be productive on a global scale because of our myopic optic of the power of sport.
Through the decades, sport has continued to show the world glimpses of its ability to breakdown racial, social and religious barriers, and, through strategic deployment of its power and followership, to drive economic, political and cultural goals that can help in transforming Nigeria.
We have said a great deal through the years but have failed to move from ‘talk’ to ‘walk’.
Sport remains a wasting natural resource in Nigeria.
Previous political leaders have lacked the understanding to use it to drive national goals of development beyond winning athletic medals and trophies.
Intermittently between 1960 and 1980, Nigeria was actually on the right trajectory. The Olympics Games of 1980 was an unfortunate tipping point.
Since then, sport has been getting only the short end of the stick of government’s attention. Successive changes in government and in sports administration left the field with a deficit of human capacity and the vision to advance the cause.
Since then, major experienced and knowledgeable stakeholders have never been in position ofpower to influence, or even implement, their visions and ideas.
Sport,therefore, needs the fuel of political power to be able to burn brightly. Sport needs political power to will facilitate and implement advancement and development of the sector.
Sport is a driver as well as major contributor to the national economy, culture, tourism, diplomacy, infrastructural development, youth engagement and empowerment, and so on.
Since I ended my career as an active sports person, I have experienced the roles that sport can play in all the above sectors. In the eternal words of late Nelson Mandela in 1995, sport has the power to change the world.
There is a glaring disconnect between sport and government in taking advantage of what sport offers Nigeria and its army of youths in every cranny passionate about sport but wasting like beautiful flowers in the desert.
We cannot,therefore, stay away from politics and expect that things will change. Nothing will change unless we go in there and effect the change ourselves.
It is as simple as that. That’s my motivation for daring to break away from the norm and enter the lion’s den.
You all know me and my antecedents in and out of sport.
I have always being the ‘guinea pig’ in my own various ventures in sport, using the results of my work as testimonies of their efficacy, or failure.
Either way, the important thing has always been that I did something rather than prevaricate and play ‘siddon look’.
So, I am venturing again into politics, a new and unfamiliar terrain. I have painfully found out, to my chagrin, that it poses an exciting new kind of challenge that,with the support of my major constituencies (sport and the media), we can,together, surmount, make a difference and possibly change our world.
I assure you I am not motivated by vaulting ambition for power.
Neither is this a quest to amass wealth.
My intention is simple – to use sport, a territory I am very familiar with and for which I am eminently qualified, to drive a national development agenda.
I choose to start ‘small’, to emulate our ‘brother’, George Opong Weah of Liberia, and plant a political seed that will germinate quickly to establish in Ogun State the foundation of a new political paradigm in Nigeria.
My mission is that Ogun State will become the take-off point of a revolution using the power of sports and other related fields of entertainment that includes culture, music, arts, film, dance, drums, literature, hospitality, theatre and leisure, among others to initiate and undertake the fastest national development program driven by youths, in our history.
Starting from Ogun State, we can replicate the model and establish a continent-wide renaissance, an unaccomplished dream of Africa’s founding political fathers atIndependence from colonial rule around 60 years ago.
Their goal was to reclaim the dignity, respect and equality for the Black Race and Africans in the world.
In the general architecture of the world today, those goals can be attained quickly only through a cultural revolution, deploying the energy and passion for the arts, culture and sports to drive productivity and innovation, building an industry in the process that will be the fastest and most effective transformative tool in the world.
That’s why I am attempting, even against all the odds, to become the next governor of Ogun State where I come from.
I intend to use the State as both a laboratory and a launch pad, working with the best brains and talents across the sectors to make this dream become reality.
I shall soon have an interactive session with all members of our sports family in order to share my vision and mission in Ogun State. But until that happens, I am writing this to crave your understanding and support.
This is going o be a very daunting task, but I assure you that Sport has prepared me adequately for the challenges ahead. To me, ‘failure’ does not exist.
The will to win is the essential tonic that drives the spirit of hard work, single-mindedness, commitment, determination, never-say-die attitude, teamwork, humility, fair play, decency, honesty, integrity, discipline and dedication to the cause.
My ‘campaign’ started subtly a few days ago.
I am contesting for governorship of Ogun State. The party platform I am using is Zenith Labour Party. It is a new party, the last to be registered by INEC, the last party logo on the ballot paper, an empty structure waiting to soak in persons that embrace our simple motto – ThePeople, Our Priority.
I did not join any of the other major parties in order to be able to get to this point where I can even contest without carrying any existing or future burdens as result ofGodfather(s), political patrons, political funders and investors, and so on.
We are setting up new structures across the State, populated by disenfranchised people, people living with physical disabilities, civil servants, retirees, restless youths,women, and the elderly.
I humbly invite you to support me in any way, join me, or simply just watch me without shooting me down.
Your compatriot,
Segun Odegbami
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
They have been knocking since Season 2021-2022 when they finished third on the log.
In the following season, they were just a goal short of becoming the Nigerian champions.
Last season, they finished second again. But now, the door has finally opened, and on the club owner’s birthday!
Remo Stars have emerged as the Nigeria Premier Football League champions, even with three matches to spare! After a hard fought battle, they beat Niger Tornadoes 1-0 to attain an unassailable 10-point lead which confer the Nigerian championship to them.
The trailing team, Rivers United can only close the gap with nine points if they win all the remaining three matches and if Remo Stars fail to win theirs.
What a turnaround for a team that had twice been relegated in the past eight years. Perseverance, good planning and good structure have seen them taste the good wine.
What a feat! They become the first Nigerian champion to have come from a small town, the previously sleepy urban village of Ikenne.
Tension all the way!
And so, records come tumbling down. Ikenne is not just known for the production of eminent politicians and jurists, it is staking a claim to be the new destination of not just football, but sports generally.
A large proportion of the events of the 22nd National Sports Festival will be held in the ‘little’ town, which has become the smallest town to produce a Nigerian champion.
Roll out the drums in the 33 towns and settlements that make up Remo. Let the voices sing all over Ogun State, which is producing its first Nigeria League winners since the state was created on February 3, 1976.
Let the celebration start all over the federation as a model club with proper structure has finally emerged as Nigeria’s champions!
History still beckons to them. With nine more points obtainable from their remaining three matches, Remo Stars can still exceed the 77-point mark established by the current worthy runners-up, Rivers United, who in the 2021-22 season set a record of 77 points in a season since the 20-team format was institutionalised 21 years ago.
Remo Stars still have more records to assail. Their 1-0 defeat of Niger Tornadoes is their 21st win this season. They need two more wins to equal the 23 established by Port Harcourt sides, Dolphins in 2009/2010 and Rivers United in the 2021/22 season.
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
“Let the music play; Make the voices sing; Start the celebration; Drums may roll out” is part of the lyrics of the famous song, ‘Barcelona’, composed and sung by Freddie Mercury along with Montserrat Caballé. It was originally to be the theme song for Barcelona 92, but for the demise of Mercury months earlier.
The recording of the song was played over a travelogue of Barcelona at the start of the international broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 1992 Summer Olympics.
The lyrics fit appropriately for Kunle Soname, as he turns 59 this Sunday, a day his club, Remo Stars, may emerge Nigerian champion. If that happens, he becomes the first man to be so blessed, as no other club owner has won major laurels on their birthdays.
A win by his club, Remo Stars, not only confer the Nigerian championship to the club, Soname will become the first sole proprietor to win the Nigerian league since that of Oscar Udoji’s Udoji United in 1996.
Still blazing on records, Soname’s club will become the first in Ogun State to win the Nigerian lead league and the first South West champions of Nigeria since 1998 when Shooting Stars won the Nigerian League.
Quiet, self-effacing, Soname is an Ikenne-born businessman who works silently, but efficiently like a brand-new air conditioner.
His ValueJet had been the career of the national team since 2023.
He has made a success in virtually all endeavours, and is well known for his cheerful disposition, humility and generosity.
On Friday, the Nigerian U17-Women’s team clinched a ticket to the World Cup, great thanks to this gentleman who not only quietly motivated the team financially, he hosted their home matches.
Yet he would not voice out the financial gestures, which only came out through secondary sources of the NFF.
Never since the days of Bashorun MKO Abiola has a man been known to run three football clubs.
Abiola had the famous Abiola Babes, Concord FC and also the ITT football club in Lagos.
Soname’s Remo Stars are getting beyond the blue skies. His Beyond Limits Football Academy has become a model that even CAF is quietly studying.
The club has become the launchpad into a professional football career for many Nigerian youngsters who are now flourishing in European and American leagues.
Soname’s third club, the Remo Stars Ladies, has qualified for the Super 6 of the NWFL. That they are still in the President Federation Cup points to the fact of a possible double title this season.
Soname is a game-changer whose support is not limited to football.
Since 2022, his Bet9ja outfit, which is easily the most popular in the gaming business, has been sponsoring the Southeast Bet9ja Foundation Badminton Championship, where close to 100 players have been featured.
Miracle Ufuasia of Enugu State collects her trophy and medal from Obiageli Solaja, the Africa Women in Badminton Award Winner, 2019.
The championship brought up budding badminton players, some of whom later made marks even at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
In an era where private ownership of football clubs is becoming a high-risk venture, Soname raised the bar with his Remo Stars, which has become a model football club in Nigeria.
Equipped with its own all-covered stadium, the club boasts of easily the best turf in Nigeria.
Those marvelling at the current Remo Stars Stadium will be swept off their feet as Soname is not done yet. A bigger arena is in the offing.
When he piloted Remo Stars to the international level, featuring in the 2022/23 CAF Confederation Cup, it was a landmark.
That was the first time in more than 30 years in Nigeria that a one-man-owned football club featured in a continental competition.
His club structure features a football academy, which is the nursery ground for Nigeria’s football stars. The 1998 Africa Footballer of the Year, Victor Ikpeba, was full of awe when he made a tour of the facilities of the academy where players of Beyond Limits are housed at two per room.
“Oh, I wish these were available in my formative years, the sky would have been my limit”, Ikpeba remarked to Sports Village Square.
The father of Super Eagles’ player Ola Aina, Femi Aina, was pleasantly surprised when he visited the Remo Stars facilities last year.
On getting inside, he exclaimed, saying he never imagined such a facility could exist in Nigeria, let alone his own small town of Ikenne.
This is comparable to what I am used to at the Chelsea academy in London, said Mr. Aina, who also remarked that he never knew there could still be another rich man, outside MKO Abiola in Nigeria, who has tremendous passion for football.
Olufemi Aina (c), father of Ola Aina, is thrilled at what Kunle Soname put up in Ikenne.
“I thought it was only the late MKO Abiola that has the capability of putting together a facility of this nature.
“This man, (Soname), earns my maximum respect.”, said Mr. Aina, who at that point had never met the Remo Stars proprietor.
“I am used to sports facilities, having been the one taking Ola to different academies when he was a teenager. “This place reminds me of Chelsea facilities.”
In the block were a gym, clinic, indoor swimming pool, hydrotherapy chamber, boardrooms and a clinic.
The next point of call was the restaurant being used by the pupils at the Beyond Limits Football Academy. The aroma and ambience were breathtaking. On the walls were messages of inspiration to the pupils and footballers.
The matron later informed Mr. Aina of the daily routine of the players and the level of discipline they are exposed to.
He met some of them at the common room where they were playing computer games. Mr. Aina introduced himself and told them of the tremendous privileges the players are enjoying and admonished them to make the best of the opportunity.
The residential buildings at Kunle Soname’s outfit have 56 rooms for junior and senior players, accommodating 112 footballers.
It has five semi-detached blocks of 10 units, two-bedroom coaches’ accommodation, a restaurant for players and officials, as well as an administrative block comprising offices, a conference room, a training classroom and reception.
The block is equipped with a panoramic lift to the first floor, which is the table tennis centre. A twin basketball court has been added as Soname’s facilities will be the epicentre of next month’s National Sports Festival. It will be the first time facilities owned by one man will play a prominent role in the 52-year-old sports fiesta.
Others are the sports centre block of the Remo Stars Stadium facility, comprising a gym, clinic, swimming pool, hydrotherapy chamber and a 30-room hotel with panoramic lift.
Also at the model arena is a tournament pitch with a 10,000-capacity covered pavilion, three training pitches, 2,000 capacity car parks and a good internal road.
Soname is possibly the only Nigerian who runs four clubs. Three are in Nigeria – Remo Stars, Remo Stars Ladies and Beyond Limits. He is also the owner of Portugal’s Clube Desportivo Feirense, which is commonly known as CD Feirense.
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) gets to its climax this weekend, especially on Sunday, when the title could be won and one of the other two tickets for the continental competition could be confirmed.
Also, one or two other teams may get their visas to the lower league.
Remo Stars will become the Nigerian champions if they win their home match against Niger Tornadoes in their fortress in Ikenne.
History seems about to repeat itself. It was Niger Tornadoes that Remo Stars beat on 17 July 2022 to get their first ever continental ticket to feature in the following season’s CAF Confederation Cup.
This Sunday, Niger Tornadoes may again be Remo Stars’ launchpad into the league title. What a season it has been for the club that has led the Nigerian league for the longest duration.
They were leaders into Christmas 2024. They were leaders at the end of 2024 and leaders into 2025 as they became the first club to have a double after beating Akwa United home and away.
No team won more away matches than Remo Stars this season. They won five matches away from home. At home, they won 15 of their 17 matches, making Ikenne a fortress. Only Rivers United and Katsina United, who drew their matches, escaped defeat in Ikenne.
With 20 wins, no team has won more matches this season than Remo Stars.
With the title almost decided, and the runners-up awaiting confirmation, the battle zone is the contest for the third place where seven teams are in contest.
The most ferocious of the battle will be that of the surprise team of the season, Ikorodu City and rejuvenated Abia Warriors.
They occupy third and fourth positions respectively. Yet at the onset of the season, those positions looked unlikely. Ikorodu City were the punching bag for the other teams, losing home and away and got their first league point only after five matches.
Today, the continental door is invitingly open to them. What about Abia Warriors, who began the season with a 2-0 home loss to Remo Stars?
They looked like going for their pound of flesh when they suddenly went two goals up against Remo Stars in Ikenne. But Remo Stars fought gamely back to snatch a nervy 3-2 win.
Abia Warriors will be hosting the initial top three runners, Shooting Stars who suddenly slumped in fortunes. But a win by the Ibadan team may reignite their continental aspirations.
Also jostling for a possible top-three finish are the quartet of Bendel Insurance, Kano Pillars, Enugu Rangers and Enyimba.
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