₦airaland Forum

NTA Ban: Order sent to news director not to air any public speech of Nigeria’s 1st lady Dame Patience Jonathan. News editors ordered to use “news-reporting voice over" when telecasting events attended by the 1st lady. This order came out of an emergency meeting held in Abuja headed by Mallam Usman Magawata. The first lady has been a subject of parody and fun in Nigeria and social networks.

MOTHER:Son,I am sorry.I slept with someone that is not your dad 23 years ago and that personis not your real father.

SON:Mum,what rubbish!!How am I to deal wuth this.You should be hanged.

MOTHER:I am very sorry,he is my first love and I could not marry him cos we are of different religion.He is on the phone at the moment and wants to speak with his son for the first time.

SON:No. I am speaking to no one.Mr Alani is the only father I know and so will that be.

MOTHER:Pleae don't be upset.Just talk to him.

SON:Ok,I will give him a piece of my mind.

PHONE:Morning Son,I am Mallam Aliko Dangote.I am your real father .

SON:DADDY,DADDY,DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God!I always knew there was something special about me.Thank you mum.You are the best mother mother in the world.

[quote author=mr.official link=topic=620706.msg7887445#msg7887445 date=1299792549]^^ Shaking My Head.[/quote]Thanks

[quote author=nice.one link=topic=620706.msg7885188#msg7885188 date=1299766681]so MTN is worth over $10b really SMH[/quote]What does that mean?=SMH

A Wife is like a TV

A Girlfriend is like a MOBILE

At home u watch TV, but when u go out u take ur MOBILE

Sometimes u enjoy TV, but most of the time u play with ur MOBILE

TV is free for life, but for the MOBILE, if you don't pay, the services will
be terminated

TV is big, bulky and most of the time old!

But the MOBILE is cute, slim, curvy and very portable



U can have only one TV and be comfortable

but mobile can be packed like 4 at a time in one pocket and they will still be comfortable



We only change our TV only if spoilt(dead)

but we like a newer and a finer mobile unless we don't see or hear about them



Operational costs for TV is often acceptable, but for the MOBILE it is often high and demanding.
TV has a remote, MOBILE doesn't

Most importantly, MOBILE is a two-way communication (u talk and listen),but with the TV you MUST only listen (whether you want to or not)

Last but not least! TVs don't have viruses, but Mobiles' often do so let's love and stick to our TVs and forget about the mobiles,

Kobojunkie:
@Poster, I don't believe Bakare can today try to take back those words, because they were just as true 5 years ago as they are today. Buhari, Obasanjo, PDP, Babangida, Jonathan etc. are all part of the old block that have failed us time and time again. However, since we, "the youths", are not ready to take on the reigns, what option do you think is available to us?

SO, WHILE BUHARI THE OLD IS PASSING AWAY (SAME WITH EVERYONE IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD THAT IS OLD), HE IS STILL RELEVANT TOWARDS THE REBIRTH OF A NEW NIGERIA WITH THE YOUNG WORKING WITH HIM TILL THE TOTAL NEW (INCORRUPTIBLE YOUNG LEADERS) EMERGES IN THE YEARS TO COME !

"Decaying" or "decayed" is God's word? that's just simple English syntax of how tenses are used &understood! talking about the ground being cursed for Adam's sake, you'll find that in Genesis 3:17. About him telling Noah, he will not curse the ground again cos he saw RIGHTeousness in him, you'll find that in Genesis 8:21. Or is it the part of Nehemiah &the old &young people of Israel building a new Jerusalem that you don’t understand ?

IF GOD SAYS SOMETHING LIKE A WARNING IN MOST CASES &SEES A CHANGE OR REPENTANCE, HE CAN AVERT HIS FORTHCOMING JUDGEMENT &THAT DOESNT MEAN HE LACKS INTEGRITY, HE IS KABIYESI! STILL TALKING ABOUT PROPHECY, MAY BE YOU'VE NOT COME ACROSS THE STORY OF HEZEKIAH WHO GOT A PROPHETIC PRONOUNCEMENT OF DEATH BUT HE SPOKE WITH GOD &THE PROPHECY WAS "SUSPENDED",

WHAT ABOUT THE STORY OF JONAH THE PROPHET& NINEVEH, GOD "CHANGED" HIS MIND FROM DESTROYING NINEVEH,FOR A WHILE COS OF SOMETHING HE SAW: CHANGE! CALL IT REPENTANCE!!

IF BAKARE AS A PROPHET UTTERED THAT IN 2006 & THIS IS 2011. WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TRYING TO BRING OUT OF THAT? THAT THE PROPHET LIED? WHEN THE BIBLE SAYS THIS EARTH IS PASSING AWAY &A NEW HEAVEN &NEW EARTH WILL EMERGE, DOES IT MEAN THAT THE EARTH HAS PASSED AWAY/IS OF NO RELEVANCE OR USEFULNESS AGAIN? NO! THE EARTH IS STILL HERE WITH ALL RELEVANCE TO WE THE INHABITANTS TILL THE NEW HEAVEN &EARTH EMERGE S(THE 7TH EARTH).


SO, WHILE BUHARI THE OLD IS PASSING AWAY (SAME WITH EVERYONE IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD THAT IS OLD), HE IS STILL RELEVANT TOWARDS THE REBIRTH OF A NEW NIGERIA WITH THE YOUNG WORKING WITH HIM TILL THE TOTAL NEW (INCORRUPTIBLE YOUNG LEADERS) EMERGES IN THE YEARS TO COME !

"We should have love for our fellow Nigerians,irrespective of their nationality"--

"If they rig, we'll kill them there. We are not going to court". Gov. Adams Oshiomole at an ACN rally in Okada, shortly after welcoming GEJ to Edo State.

topeorekoy:
Fabregas is just a loser. What kind of rubbish pass was that? How cld u do that in this type of game?A wonderful goal by messi. Must he score against us?

May your beloved ARSENAL find MERCY in the boots of MESSI

Messi is from another planet.

[table]Despite receiving an approval to land, the pilot discovered as he descended that the runway of the airport had been taken over by rams and goats. It forced the pilot to force-land, damaging the aircraft. None of the passengers in the plane was seriously hurt.

SAHARA REPORTERS[/table].

Those rams and cows are registered northern voters.Rams and cows are part of the northern population.welcome to Nigeria.

Jarus:
Youthful persons like Dimeji Bankole, Bukola Saraki abi?

LWTMHUD=LAUGH WAN TURN MY HEAD UPSIDE DOWN.

PapaBrowne:
The interesting thing is that over 80% of Nigerians are not proficient in English!! These 80% include market women, wives of Okada riders, farmers, pure water sellers, recharge card sellers and real Nigerians! Funny thing is that these people who cannot speak proficient English constitute the bulk of Nigerians voters!
And you know what?? They find in Patience Jonathan, someone they can relate to!! They love her and they would vote for her husband during the elections!!

Sometimes we think speaking proficient English is a function of elitism! [b]What we fail to realise is that while millions of graduates are roaming the streets speaking proficient English and begging for jobs, street smart entrepreneurs with little or no English proficiency run the Nigerian economy from places like Idumota, Alaba, Nnewi, Ariaria, Onitsha Main market and the likes!![/b]Be there in your mosquito infested environment speaking proficient English, while Dame Jonathan is in the luxury of Aso Rock with maids and servants at her beck and call attending to her in whatever language she speaks! Dame Jonathan has 2 hands, 2 legs, I brain just like you!! If you like no go find better thing to do!!

In your warped and convoluted logic,speaking bad English guarantees economic empowerment

National leader of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday urged those who love Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Bode George, to prevail on him to keep silent and stop embarrassing himself in public.

Tinubu, who was reacting to an interview in Daily Sun in which George claimed that the former Lagos governor was responsible for his imprisonment, described George’s allegation as a product of “post-prison and pre-reintegration dementia.”
In a statement, signed by his chief press secretary, Olakunle Abimbola, Tinubu noted that notwithstanding George’s present misfortunes, the PDP chieftain still owed his fatherland a decent public conduct commensurate to his status as an elder statesman, former military governor and retired naval chief.

The statement said George’s claim of Tinubu’s involvement in his travails was absolutely illogical since the former Lagos governor was already two years out of office when the PDP chieftain ran into trouble. Tinubu wondered how George could claim that he was “convicted by Lagos State Government headed by Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu.”

The statement reads: “In Yoruba tradition, and indeed in the tradition of any decent society, you do not kick who is already down. But what if he who is down viciously kicks you to force just any reaction? That is what Chief George is doing. But if he expects Asiwaju Tinubu to gloat over his misfortune, then Chief George has a long time to wait because he will not,” he said, adding: “But the moral in all of this is simple: those who crave to destroy others often end up destroying themselves.”

“The scandalous statement by Chief George, the indecorous language he deployed (‘It was made by Tinubu and his gang’), the ludicrous living in denial (‘It is a politically motivated conviction’), not to talk of the claim that Lagos State made a law to entrap erring federal officials, would appear to have issued from bitterness. For the sake of what is left of the George Family name and honour, Chief George should be prevailed upon to let himself go so as to earn a second chance. He fell into a prison ditch he, from the way he spoke, would have wished others would fall into. He should learn his lessons and realise that evil thoughts and actions eventually come back to destroy those who harbour or do them.

“Instead of trying to lay ridiculous charges on his perceived enemies, therefore, he should thank God for having saved him from his enemies. It is his so-called friends he must contend with. One of them, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, thought nothing of rubbing the face of a fallen George in the mud. Did Chief George realise how ridiculous he sounded when he said some ‘cabal’ wanted to ‘create fiction between Obasanjo and I’, only to realise that Obasanjo had already gone public with disowning George’s carnival-like reception?

“Another, a nameless collective that simply called themselves ‘Friends of Olabode George,’ launched into a tirade against Justice Joseph Oyewole, who tried the case, referring to the judge as one of Bode George’s ‘persecutors.’ Why a judge doing his work would want to ‘persecute’ a fellow citizen beggars belief. But it would appear a continuation of the dangerous trend by some elements in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to discredit the judiciary, each time a case goes against them. With all their wild allegations, they discredit no one but Chief George himself, after all they are an anonymous group hiding behind his face!
“Let those who dearly love Chief George prevail on him to stop these embarrassing tantrums, warts and all; he is an elder and, but for his prison stain, something close to an aristocrat in the Nigerian establishment, having been a military governor before. He was also not your run-of-the-mill naval officer, having earned a degree in engineering before enlisting in the Nigerian Navy, from which he retired as Air Commodore.

“Despite his current misfortune, he owes his country a lot – least of which is public decency. He can best achieve this by keeping a golden silence. After all, as the Yorubas say, if you crave not to be disgraced and you are, you pray for long life so that you can rectify the disgrace. Golden and dignified silence is what Chief George needs, not wild tantrums.”

http://sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/mar/08/national-08-03-2011-01.htm

PapaBrowne:
Strategic move!!! In the art of war, allowing your opponents the opportunity to underestimate your capacity is the most potent tool for a surprise attack!!!

The opposition have been going on as though they want this debate so badly. How about on that day Jonathan does to them what Fashola did to his opponents? Ribadu, Buhari and the other candidates are all not very good with the use of words, so it would definitely be an interesting debate to watch!

Please desist from juxtaposing death with sleep.

Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, has finally agreed to participate in a televised presidential debate to be hosted by Lagos -based NN24 cable station.

Jonathan had initially refused to participate after the station turned down his request to have the debate questions sent to him in advance.

The station had no option but to suspend the debate until today. A source at NN24 told SaharaReporters today that Mr. Jonathan has agreed to participate in the debate "unconditionally".

The debate is now scheduled to take place on March 18, 2011. All the major presidential candidates had earlier agreed to participate without imposing conditions.

The debate between the vice presidential candidates will take place on March 11, 2011.

In the 1999 election between then Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae, Mr. Obasanjo refused to debate Olu Falae, the opposition candidate, because he was viewed to be ahead in the polls. In 2003, the planned debate with Gen. Buhari did not take place due to poor planning.

Last month, the sitting governor in Abia State, Gov. Chief Theodore Orji, stormed out of a planned debate with his opponents. His reason was that the debate organized by the Catholic Church had a hostile environment.

Despite twelve straight years of democracy, Nigerian politicians have continued to show disdain for its basic tenets. Campaigns are devoid of issues and candidates show little interest in agenda-based campaign aimed at solving the numerous problems confronting Nigeria.


SaharaReporters
http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/finally-jonathan-agrees-television-debate

This old man has no iota shame.I urge Nigerian youths to look elsewhere for role models .

Time2Think:
OH YES. I will.

Better not to speak and be thought of as a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

Time2Think:
At 68? Why is there no age limit for political office contestants if there can be retiring age in every other sectors of Nigeria?

Tell Goodluck Jonathan to propose an executive bill to the National Assembly in respect of your wishful delusion.

Another thread where idiocy contended with absurdity and both emerged triumphant.THE HOOD DOES NOT MAKE THE MONK.

I think Bode George is still a lot better than other big men and women who have been convivted in recent times.He served his jail term like a proud soldier.He didn't opt for plea bargain like some people.He didn't proclaim an emergency sickness that will require him to serve his term in a 5-star hospital.

Pharoh:
Yes he is a public speaker and he has done that in various capacities, conferences and even rallies if you want to factor this election campaigning so there is not doubt about that.  He simply is not interested so why can't you guys get it, listen to the ones who wants to debate and choose who to vote for. Those that will vote for goodluck already know how and when he has communicated his plans to them. It is not by force to debate or what exactly is the issue here. What is the fuse about this debate or did MKO had a debate before the presidential election in 1993? same for shagari and the first republic elections. What is the benefit of a debate that cannot be served by other means, he has communicated with Nigerians on facebook, through his campaign and he thinks that is enough.


Being a Phd holder does not translate to a competent public speaker, you must have gone through the presentations of many lecturers and i doubt if they all performed equally. Being a good public debater does not translate to a better administrator or manager. It is one thing to perform very well at the debate and another thing to perform well when you are actually given the job to do. You guys are just trying to make a mountain out of nothing and i doubt any one of you would even manage a local government if given the job. A good strategist picks the battle he has the highest comparative advantage of winning and he is not driven by impulse or popular opinions.

There was a debate  for the presidential and vice  presidential aspirants in 1993 prior to the June 12 election which was televised.Please be corrected.As for 1983,I was too young then to know.

A few weeks to the presidential election, former Lagos military administrator, Brigadier-General Muhammed Buba Marwa, has said that the combination of ex-head of state, Major General Mohammadu Buhari and Pastor Tunde Bakare is a masterstroke of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to clinch the president.

The retired General, who was chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on the platform he aspired to rule the nation as a president in 2007 and who recently quit his job as Nigeria’s ambassador to South Africa, said that Nigerians would soon know the potency of the Buhari-Bakare team.

In this interview, Marwa explained the changes of CPC in the election as well as why he had to quit the PDP to actualise his dream of becoming governor of Adamawa State. He also spoke on the recent court judgment extending the tenure of five governors, including his home state governor, Murtala Nyako, over rerun elections.

Recently, a court ruled that governors, who got their mandate through rerun should be in office beyond May 29 this year.

How do you react to that?
My views are clear. I disagree with the judgment totally, but certainly not with the judge. We will appeal it. I have respect for the judiciary, but this kind of judgment must not be taking lying low; it just cannot stand.

If you say the tenure started from when a new oath of office is taken, what of the activities taken during the periods before the new oath, the commitment of the state, loans taken and all action taken by the governor? Are we to unwind it and pretend nothing has happened? The people would like to know. These are the issues our lawyers would take up. This week, our lawyers will take it up. We will appeal.

How can somebody spend three and half years committing the states into all manner of things, including debt, spending public fund, then you say he has to start afresh?
Some of us, the affected aspirants are talking and our lawyers are putting heads together. We are all moving in one direction and we may have to consolidate the appeal. All I want to say is that our supporters should remain calm, we have expended efforts; we can’t just allow it go like that. The people desire a change.

Why are you aspiring to be governor after taking a shot at the presidency?
Well, quite a lot of people will be wondering why I am contesting governorship after attempting to contest the presidency, more so, when I had occupied the position before, though in military capacity. I must confess that It was a hard decision to come back to contest a position I occupied 20 years ago. I wanted to contest presidency but for some reasons, I have to go for the governorship.

I want to offer my people real service, as I did as a military administrator of Borno and Lagos states. People are saying Marwa, come and serve your people at home. You have done it before, the terrain will not be strange to you. True, in Borno and Lagos, where I served before, the records are there; we provided amenities that people thought were not easy to come by. I tarred roads; we provided water and renovated public infrastructure. That has been my credential. These are the feats that I want to replicate in Adamawa State.

Though, Adamawa has its own challenges and no matter what those challenges are, they cannot compare to Lagos, where we delivered service. If I say free education, people will believe, because we did it before; it’s not a matter of whether he can. But have they done it before? I was the first military governor to pay WAEC fees for pupils, in 1990. We did 700 road networks in Lagos; 500 communities were linked with public water. All these, we can replicate.

What are your chances in Adamawa, as you would be running against an incumbent governor; that’s if governorship election holds this year?
You need to go to Adamawa to hear from the people themselves. My past records have been greatest weapon. In Adamawa, I can tell you (Murtala) Nyako has lost it already. There is a clear indication that power of incumbency, through rigging, won’t work. The people are wiser and they know that taking money won’t help. That is why they are looking for tenure elongation through other means other than people’s mandate.
We have monitoring units to ensure rigging doesn’t work. The president has promised that votes will count. We believe him, because he is a man of honour and all he has been doing have pointed to the fact that he is on the side of the people that votes must count. So I have bright chances in Adamawa.

Why did you leave PDP when you were appointed ambassador by a government controlled by the party?
I ran for the office of the president. When I ran for the president, it was on the platform of PDP. When I lost, I didn’t leave PDP. When I wanted to be governor, I ran for congress and delegates voted for me, three days after, the congress was cancelled. I consulted my people; those who asked me to come back from South Africa to run, over 300 of them, to ask them if I should go back; they said no. So, they took the decision that we should seek another platform. I have no enemy anywhere. I relate with even other parties and I shake hands with their candidates whenever I see them campaigning, but tell them I’m a better candidate.

We learnt you are close to President Goodluck Jonathan. How did he react to your resigning as ambassador?
I told President Jonathan that I was quitting the job, even before I left South Africa. He accepted my explanations. He was informed. There is no way I would have abandoned the ambassadorial job without first and foremost intimating him.

There were talk among opposition for an alliance against the PDP. Nothing came out of it. what happened?
We all wished the alliance between the CPC and others sailed through, but as you can see, it turned out not to work. As I said, we all wished it worked. But I am in full agreement with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari over his position. CPC is a national party, whatever the party does is to ensure they offer the people credible alternative by winning the election in April.

What is your view about Pastor Tunde Bakare’s choice as running mate to Buhari?
I am in total agreement with General Buhari over the decision to pick Pastor Bakare as his running mate. Many of you are wondering why, but wait and see. The combination is a master stroke; you will know when we get there.

I HAD planned to share this article with SOCCERTALK readers for some time now. It was written by the famous SEBASTINE OFURUM, legendary sports writer and commentator, in the 1979/80 edition of his annual handbook, “NIGERIAN SOCCER ANNUAL REVIEW,” which sold for a cover price of N1 (ONE NAIRA) at the time.

The handbook was published by Sina Idowu and printed by Jacob and Johnson Press in 1980. Design and artwork was done also by Sina Idowu while the cover picture of the then national team, the Green Eagles, was shot by Tam Fiofori. So much for the credits.

I stumbled on this publication at the house of Col. Gary Usman (rtd) when I visited him some time ago in Lekki, Lagos. Col. Usman is a consumate football aficionado and mobile library. Between him and the peerless Fabio Lanipekun, it will be hard to choose who has the sharpest and deepest memory for Nigerian football history. I may have to set them up against each other on a platform some time soon, very soon. Watch out, readers, it will be very interesting: a clash of veteran football historians.

One other interesting thing about Col. Usman, though, is that he is also a supporter of Liverpool FC of England like me. He doesn’t Walk Alone.

Now, for our subject: Former Nigerian goalkeeper Emmanuel Okala. As you will discover shortly, the famous Goalsfather, Rashidi Yekini of the 1994 Super Eagles Golden Generation fame, may not be Nigeria’s first African Footballer of the Year afterall. Yekini won the award in 1993, but Sebastian Ofurum declares in this 1980 report that Okala had earlier been crowned as Africa’s best in 1978. Read on. You will find my comment at the bottom of the article,

EMMANUEL OKALA – 1978 AFRICA’S FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR

Emmanuel Oguajiofor Okala hit the top of African football when he won the “Footballer of the Year” award for 1978. Formal announcement of Okala’s achievement was made in February 1979. The panel which made the award comprised members of the African Sports Journalists Union, ASJU, acting on behalf of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa, SCSA, which itself is the supreme sports governing body set up by the Organisation of African Unity, O.A.U. Nigeria’s mass circulation newspaper, the Daily Times hailed Okala as Africa’s Star No. 1 when it came up with the story in its front page. It said:

“And the gentle giant star of Green Eagles and Rangers International of Enugu is the first to win the coveted award just begun by the most competent panel of them all.”

The ASJU special panel met in Lome, Togo in December 1978, and after deliberations, picked Okala as the Footballer of 1978 in Africa. The Daily Times, in bringing the happy news to its readers, published an enlarged portrait of Emmanuel Okala on the front page - a rare event for sportsmen and women. The story was taken up by Tunde Oshuntolu, the paper’s Sports Editor in his column “Talking Sports” of Friday, 16th February 1979 as follows:

“In being announced as “Africa’s Footballer of the Year 1978,” the national team and Rangers of Enugu “keeper Okala has undeniably made history, in more ways than one, indeed.

“Firstly, he is the first Nigerian to win such an accolade. At last the premier award of the continent’s premier sport is in our hands, by Okala the Great!

“Secondly - and this is professionally important to us here - Okala is the first OFFICIAL winner of such an award. Pointedly, this honour of selecting the heroes and heroines of our continent’s sports was bestowed directly and solely on the ASJU by the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa itself in Accra last March. After years of rows (beginning from the 2nd All Africa Games in Lagos in January 1973) N33,000 gold and ivory trophy donated by President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire was finally accepted by the Nations. The SCSA President, Abraham Ordia, and Secretary-General, Jean Claude Ganga formally received the gigantic, yet elegant trophy from the Zairean Ambassador in Ghana. Later, the SCSA formally mandated Africa’s professional sports journalists–the people who must keep closet links with sports–to do the job annually.

“At the-end-of-the-year-session in Lome, Kenya’s wonder-runner, Henry Rono undisputedly clinched the Mobutu Trophy, and the No. 1 Soccer spot went to our very own Okala, who, however, placed fourth in the race for the overall trophy, Okala’s claim to the singular selection indeed from six out of the nine-nation group.

“That is how it went in December 1978 in Lome, the current headquarters of Africa‘s Sportswriters, not in Paris, France, where ‘a group of African Sports journalists overseas’ have dared to do the job of selecting our top footballers these four years past.”

Esbee, as Tunde Oshuntolu is popularly known went to give other accounts which spoke in lucid terms about goalkeeper Okala. Said he:

“Throughout 1976 (and even some 5 years earlier) throughout the continent, any Nigerian squad which included Okala (be it clubside, Rangers International or national outfit, Green Eagles) was beseiged by eager foreign fans asking:

where is that your Okala? Right now nobody dares deny the dedicated efficiency of the colossus between the soccer goalpost. A man of gigantic courage, too. A foundation of hope to his side, King Okala of Nigeria.

Okala’s goalkeeping career started in 1963 when he was twelve years old. He was then at Holy Cross High School, Umuawulu, Akwa. He played in that wing by a stroke of chance in the very first year of his secondary school career. He once told the story like this:

“I was brought into the first eleven to play at the outside left position. I had the height to cope with the other boys who were older and in the upper classes. At some point during our crucial game, our games-master Mr. C .N. Ukpaka, wanted to change our goalkeeper who, in his judgement, was not pulling his weight. I volunteered to play in his position. It was a good chance to use the height advantage which I had over the forward players. From that day the games-master said I was the School’s goalkeeper. It remained so until I left school in 1966.

After secondary school education, Emmanuel Okala went back to his home town, Onitsha, where he was born on 17th May, 1951. He joined the ‘Onitsha Red Devils’, later renamed ‘Ikepeazu Redoubtables’. In 1970, he travelled to Enugu with the team to play against the ‘Enugu Black Rocks’ in a state soccer duel.

It was there that the late Dan Anyiam spotted Okala’s talents as a goalkeeper and quickly selected him for the then East Central State soccer squad called, at the time, ‘The Spartans’.

In 1971, Okala was in the Enugu Rangers contingent that came to Lagos for the Amachree Cup competition. Later, he took over from the regular Rangers goalie, Cyril Okosieme, who was no longer in much favour with coach Dan Anyiam.

Okala’s fame as Nigeria’s national goalkeeper started in 1973 during the 2nd All Africa Games. Eyo Essien, who was No. 1 goalie at the time, had started to decline, and the mantle fell on Okala. He performed wonderfully, giving a confidence that was unknown before then to his team mates and also to the Nigerian football fans. Since then, Okala has developed into the most feared, the most respected, the most travelled and the longest serving goalie that the 1970-1979 decade had known in Nigeria.

Emmanuel Okala has kept watch of the goal area for Nigeria in several continents. He was in China during the Eagles tour of that country in 1976. He also toured Europe with the Eagles in 1976 before the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada; and again before the 1978 3rd All Africa Games in Algiers.

He has played football in Canada in the North American continent during the pre-Olympic warm-ups, and he has been in more than 20 African countries playing for the Green Eagles and Enugu Rangers.

In 1975, Emmanuel Okala was named Nigeria’s ‘Footballer of the Year’, and now the continent has followed this up by declearing him the ‘1978 African No. 1 Footballer.’

MUMINI SAYS,

lAs a matter of national pride, I want to advocate that the Nigerian sports media should henceforth refer to Emmanuel Okala as the African Footballer of the Year 1978 any time we write about him. And when we are listing the past winners of the continental prize, we should substitute his name for Karim Abdoul Rasak of Ghana whose name has appeared traditionally in the all-time list “handed down” to us by Paris-based France Football magazine.

As related in Sebastine Ofurum’s article above, a “group of African sports journalists overseas” arrogated to themselves the job of picking Africa’s best player since 1970 because there was no body to do it on the African continent then. Now that we have record to prove that the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) mandated a vote by local journalist at least for one year (1978), I think that result should supplant the choice by France Football for that year.

That same principle already applies to the 1993 vote when France Football picked Abedi Pele of Ghana, but the Confederation of African Football (CAF) which had just started its own award that year (sponsored then by Chief M.K.O. Abiola) picked Rashidi Yekini. Pele had earlier won the France Football version in 1991 and 1992 and he likes to be introduced on Super Sport as a three-time African Footballer of the Year. But he was embarrased one day when a viewer phoned in and told Pele to stop parading himself as the 1993 winner since CAF, the continent’s soccer-governing body, had officially selected Yekini. Indeed, the CAF award has supplanted the France Football award ever since although I am aware that some Ghanaian journalists insist, till today, that their son holds the title for 1993,

So, my conclusion: I concur with Ofurum that our Nigerian son, “Man Mountain” Emmanuel Okala was African Footballer of the Year 1978 and I posit that we should henceforth refer to him as such. Coincidentally, Okala will be sixty years in May this year. The only birthday present that I ask the present Super Eagles to get for him is for one of them to emerge as the African Footballer of the Year for 2011.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the sports legends of our present era. Emmanuel Okala, 1978 African Footballer of the Year, is certainly one of them.
Last week, former Super Eagles defender, Uche Okafor, was buried following his sudden death. Let us celebrate Okala while he is alive.

The only daughter and child of the first female editor of a Nigerian newspaper,Doyin Abiola(her mother's namesake) wedding is around the corner and the aso - ebi is an orange and silver lace fabric and sells for N254,000.

SOURCE:ENCOMIUM WEEKLY,TUESDAY MARCH 01 2011

The argument is simple: if your pen no longer writes, what do you do? Of course, you throw it away. If your shoes become too tight and painful, what do you do? You discard them. Similarly, if you have a political party (PDP) that fails to keep its promises, what do you do? Dump it. Vote CPC! Vote Buhari/Bakare in the April 2011 presidential elections.

A nest of killers as described by Prof.Wole Soyinka.

[color=Black]ACTION CONGRESS OF NIGERIA=ASIWAJU CONGRESS OF NIGERIA[/color]

PDP and Bode George can celebrate as much as they like,make an ocean of champagne,sew all the aso ebi they can find. In all the delusion the fact remains that Bode George went to jail and spent time at Kirikiri maximum prison.He will forever remain an EX-JAIL BIRD.

chuks01:
Hi fellow NL, i just got back from a trip to ogbomosho, i can authoritatively tell you thats the dirtiest and backward state in the SW, i thought my governor OHAKIM was the worst governor but AKALA beats him hands down, if AKALA WINS OYO STATE in April, OYO STATE WILL BE DOOMED.

Weep for the entire misnomer called NIGERIA.