AFCON
IT’S 30 YEARS TODAY THAT NIGERIA’S GOLDEN VOICE OF SPORTS, ERNEST OKONKWO DIED
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
Running sports commentaries on electronic media – either radio or television or even any digital platform has not been the same, not just in Nigeria, but Africa generally since 7 August 1990 when Ernest Okonkwo died.
It is 30 years today since the man who is easily the best sports commentator ever died. Undoubtedly he was the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) in running sports commentaries.
The younger generation may not easily know his worth as they probably heard stories about him and may never have heard any of his commentaries before.
He is better appreciated by sports followers who are 50 years and above. His era brought out the golden generations of sports commentators from the country.
They include the pioneer, Ishola Folorunsho, Eddie Fadairo, Sebastian Ofurum, Kelvin Ejiofor , Tolu Fatoyinbo and Yinka Craig, among others.
The voice of Ernest Okonkwo can only be heard by those privileged to have made recordings while the legend was alive.
Incidentally, www.sportsvillagesquare.com gathered that even the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) where Okonkwo worked for 30 years cannot lay hold on most of the graphic commentaries that he ran while he was alive.
Aspiring commentators therefore have no ready-made material to fall back to for inspiration. The same applies to the works of other great commentators such as Ishola Folorunsho, Sebastian Ofurum, Kevin Ejiofor and Tolu Fatoyinbo among others.
That is yet another indication of poor documentation that has been the bane of development in Nigerian sports and other spheres of the country’s national life.
To later generation of sports followers in Nigeria, the name of Okonkwo may ring no bell. But to the older ones, Ernest Okonkwo represented the best in the running of sports commentaries on radio.
He was a master of descriptive language. Like Chief Segun Odegbami once remarked about the late sports commentator, Okonkwo was always conjuring words easily, effortlessly and aptly like a magician with his bag of tricks.
In the 1970s through 1980s, despite the preponderance of world class musicians across the globe, some sports addict considered Ernest Okonkwo’s commentaries more melodious to listen to than the best of music.
His voice was sweet to listen to and his brains were ever alert on issues he articulately commented on. His thoughts were organized and were often leading his listeners to logical conclusions.
The ways he articulated opinions on issues can make a university professor envious. Smart at arraigning similarly sounding words to make melodious logic. A case in point was a radio programme in which he was trying to figure out a possible remote cause of attacks on Nigeria’s Flying Eagles in a World Cup qualifying match in Ethiopia in 1997.
The violent reception of the Nigerian team was traced to an opinionated report in a Nigerian newspaper, which painted the Ethiopian side that earlier visited Nigeria as famished. Hear Okonkwo: “Our sports writers must learn not to incite out of excitement.”
Even his voice was melodious to listen to. His brains were ever alert and he seemed too informed on
So obsessed were some of his addicted followers that his radio commentaries were often recorded on tapes and played back, in place of music. There were lots for one to learn from his power of recall and tiebacks.
An influential sports commentator, Ernest Okonkwo was a wordsmith. His captivating football commentaries were made of simple, but fluent English.
Expert at coining words and new expressions, football commentary listeners on Radio Nigeria will remember his nicknaming of footballers like Segun Odegbami as ‘Mathematical’, Adokiye Amiesimaka as ‘Chief Justice’, Yisa Sofoluwe as ‘Dean of Defence’, Sylvanus Okpala as ‘Quick Silver’ or other expressions like “Christian Chukwu taking an ‘Intercontinental Ballistic Missile’ type of “banana shot”.
Such was the colour he added to football commentaries that spectators on football fields carried their radio sets glued to their ears even as they watched the matches.
Television viewers often switched off the audio volume of their sets preferring Ernest Okonkwo’s graphic description of proceedings on radio.
Often recalled is the rhythm of description of proceedings in an Enugu Rangers versus Raccah Rovers’ duel in the 1980s.
Hear him: “He beats Christian Chukwu; he beats Christian Madu; he beats Christian Nwokocha…he beats three Christians in a row! Who is this man? Oh! It is Shefiu Mohammed sending a diagonal pass to Baba Otu Mohammed”.
Recall his commentary of the proceedings of a Nigeria versus Tunisia World Cup qualifier in Lagos on July 6, 1985: “Okey Isima, with a short pass to Sylvanus Okpala. They both play in Portugal. They can communicate in Igbo; they can communicate in English; they can communicate in Portuguese and they ‘ve just communicated with the ball!”
Such was the power of his description and coinage of expressions that former national team left winger, Adokiye Amiesimaka was quoted in a publication as calling for the naming of the media tribune of the Abuja National Stadium after Ernest Okonkwo.
So much that one can easily conclude that the demise of Ernest Okonkwo on August 7, 1990 marked the death of apt sports radio commentary in Nigeria.
It was the end of a journey he began in 1957 when he joined the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), which he served for 33 years.
Okonkwo joined what is today Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria as programme assistant before being trained at Australian Broadcasting Commission between 1964 and 1965.
The man from Nando in Anambra-East Local Government Area of Anambra State was later made the Head of outside Broadcasts at the corporation.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
With CAF referring the case of the botched Libya-Nigeria match to its
Disciplinary Board, a nine-man panel has the task of deciding which party was at fault.
Possible decision could be forfeiture of the match by the offending party or rescheduling of the fixture. The latter seems unlikely considering the already congested international calendar.
Even if that were to be the decision, the match would likely be taken to a neutral ground.
On the other hand, the board may also take it that it was Nigeria that refused to play the match after having hosted the first leg.
In that case, Article 62 of the competition’s regulations will be enforced. It reads: “Any team that withdraws or refuses to play the return match after having played the first leg on its territory must refund the association of the visiting team a minimum sum of fifteen thousand (15,000) U.S. dollars in reparation for the damage suffered by the host country.”
If the NFF is adjudged as the culprit, the body will be fined $15,000. Chapter 19 of the regulations gives a window to appeal the fine. But judging from the CAF statement of the situation, and the condemnation of the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles, the fine is very unlikely as the weight of evidence tilts against the Libyans who in the x-handle admitted keeping the Super Eagles in captivity with an explanation that episode was largely due to an airport protocol mishap.
A decision lies firstly on the nine-man panel. With the possibility of the losing side not satisfied, another nine-man panel, the Appeals Board will take a possible final decision which can only be contested at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS)
Here are the decision-makers:
Disciplinary Board
- Ousmane Kane, Senegal. – President.
- Jane Njeri Onyango, Kenya – Vice President.
- Norman Arendse, South Africa – member
- Mohamed Mostafa El-Mashta, Egypt. – member
- Djonfoune Golbassia Felix, Chad. – member
- Patrick Shale, Lesotho – member
- Douma Ibrahim Issaka – Niger. -member
- Ruth Kisaakye, Uganda. -member
- Drucil Taylor, Sierra Leone. – member
Appeal Board
Justice Roli Daibo Harriman, Nigeria
Faustino Varela Monteiro, Cape Verde
Moez Ben Tahar Nasri, Tunisia
Moses Ikanqa, Namibia
Hamoud T’feil Bowbe, Mauritania
Mohamed Robleh Djama, Djibouti
Asogbavi Komlan, Togo
Justice Masauko Timothy Msungama, Malawi
Lubamba Ngimbi Hector, DR Congo
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The Libya-Nigeria Group D tie of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled for this Tuesday has been put off owing to the refusal of the Libyan authorities to allow the Nigerian team to enter their territory for the match.
As a result, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has referred the case to its Disciplinary Board to make an appropriate decision. The immediate consequence of this is the delay of the Nigerian team picking an early qualification as has been done by Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Algeria who have all qualified after four matches.
A win by Nigeria on Tuesday would have taken their point haul to 10 while a draw would take their total to eight. That way, irrespective of the result of the Rwanda-Benin Republic corresponding match would have qualified the Super Eagles for Morocco 2025 as they would not have ended below second position in Group D.
They now await the decision of the CAF body. A possible outcome could be Libya’s forfeiture of the match. A case in point is that of USM Alger of Algeria versus Morocco’s RS Berkane in last year’s Confederation Cup semi-final duel when the Moroccans were unjustly delayed at the airport by the Algerians.
In the case of the Super Eagles, it was worse as theirs was not just delayed, they were locked up in a desolate airport in what was a psychologically draining and energy sapping tactics.
Five-time winners Cameroon and 2019 champions Algeria both booked their places at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco after victories in qualifying on Monday, bringing the number of qualified teams to four.
Cameroon defeated Kenya 1-0 when Boris Enow scored the only goal of the game in neutral Kampala, while Ramy Bensebaini netted a first-half spot-kick winner for Algeria against Togo in Lome.
Enow drilled a low free-kick into the goal from just outside the box as Cameroon dominated the contest and did enough to win in the absence of their federation president Samuel Eto’o, who is serving a six-month stadium ban by world governing body FIFA.
The victory takes Cameroon to 10 points from four games in the pool and ensured they cannot finish outside of the top two, which is enough to secure a place at the 24-team finals.
Algeria have a full haul of 12 points from four games after Bensebaini converted a penalty on 18 minutes to give them lead, but they had to weather heavy pressure from their hosts, who created enough chances to get something from the game.
Cameroon and Algeria join the hosts and Burkina Faso as the four teams so far confirmed for the finals.
Zimbabwe moved into a strong position in their pool with a 3-1 win over Namibia in neutral Johannesburg that leaves them on eight points, four ahead of third-placed Kenya with two rounds to play. One of those fixtures is at home to Kenya next month.
Walter Musona scored a brace, one a penalty, to go with a strike from Prince Dube.
Equatorial Guinea are five points clear in second place in their pool after a 2-1 win over Liberia in Monrovia.
Luis Asue had them in front early, but William Gibson equalised for the hosts. Just as it appeared the game would end in a draw, Dorian Hanza netted a 94th minute winner.
Musa Barrow scored the decisive goal for Gambia in their 1-0 victory over Madagascar, making up for a penalty miss earlier in the game
Gambia move into second place in their pool, ahead of Comoros on head-to-head record, but having played a game more.
Mozambique moved to the top of their pool with a 3-0 win over Eswatini in Nelspruit, their first goal scored by 40-year-old winger Domingues.
They are five points clear of third-placed Guinea Bissau, who host Mali on Tuesday.
-Reuters
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