WHAT IS WRONG WITH NIGERIAN SPORTS

It is said that whatever you sow you reap. It couldn’t be more true for Nigerian sports.

It’s painful what has become of Nigerian sports. It’s been hijacked by politicians and ‘men whose God is their bellies’. People who have no part of the sports world. For the first time in many years Nigeria has failed to qualify in all three African championships in football at all age levels. That’s just a sample of what is wrong?

It’s like we think that we hit rock bottom in sports and then we hit another bottom.

Asides from the issues of funding and the many other problems facing the nation and its sports, the basic problem with our sport is the structure. If we don’t fix the structure, we will continue along this same woeful part and for a very long time.

Take a look at our football and basketball teams, they are composed of primarily Nigerians who have travelled abroad and have taken advantage of the structures that exist within those countries. It’s been a long time since the Nigerian structure has produced any athletes with names worth mentioning. In the past we had names that we bandied around from our villages and schools, guys whose talents were found even before the world knew them.

We had sports administrators who had the passion for their sports and worked assiduously to ensure that all the athletes and their coaches were able to reach their potentials and provided for.

I remember back in the days when I was in secondary school. I want to salute Mr Adewummi. One of the best sports administrators I have ever met. He was just a PHE teacher but he handled the sports in Federal Government College Ikirun with such aplomb that during our inter-house sports you will think we were hosting the Olympics.

We didn’t need a stadium. All we used was our hands and the little support from the school authorities and we had the best possible inter-house sport competitions. There was hardly any sport we did not have in Ikirun. Football, Basketball, Discuss, Shotput, All the Track Races, High jump, Long Jump. Volleyball and many more.

With all the students Mr Adewummi will work to line the track and we were good to go to have our own excellent mini Olympics. It was here that the talents were found. It was here that we discovered the talents like the “Ladis, Ariels, Labush” and all the other guys who were great at these sports.

Unfortunately, we have lost all that in the country but till we go back to that very form of sports, we’re a long way away from achieving sporting success we can achieve. The reason why the USA is always the most successful team at the Olympics is because they have this same model, the British went back to this structure and it has paid up for them in the last two Olympics.

We need to get the kids back to the track and fields and stop building “omo get inside” schools like we keep building all over the country. Schools without space for sports or recreation. Till we go back to that model. Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be just another blur for Nigeria.

The government alone cannot get this done, individuals and private companies are needed but for them to join in, the structure must be set up all over again.

Schools should have their inter-house sports and from them the inter – regional sports competition to state competitions before we finally have the national competitions where we can have those who can finally represent the country. We need the inter - university games, the secondary school games and so on.The team sports need leagues for them to thrive.

One day, hopefully we will have a sports minister with such vision as to drive this form of sports structure for the country.

God Bless Nigeria.

THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM; PART 2

IN ARETH

In the year 1656 after Areth was created, Areth was in the Hands of the Nams.

By giving heed to Levis, the Nams began to wreck havoc on Areth. Generations after the first nams were deceived, Levis kept with his deception many more times and continued to cause problems, creating chaos and all manner of evil in Areth.

The King could control all things but He would rather have people who were His subjects from their heart rather than remote-controlled robots. He wanted a creation that reverenced Him just as much as they loved Him. Only a few nams were able to walk in love and Emini wanted to restore His relationship with all the nams. One of Such Nams was Necoh, Necoh was born 622 years after the first Nam was created by the King. He was able to walk in love with the King so much so that He was able to cross the Narrow Bridge to Ile-Ife.

Some of the Nams felt the missing link between them and Emini; they saw the evil around them and longed for something better, they saw the chaos and longed for order, they saw the fighting and longed for peace, they saw hatred and murder but longed for love; things only Emini had power to give. In them was something that tugged at their core when they did something wrong.

There was a Nam called Anoh. Anoh was born 69 years after Necoh crossed the Bridge to Ile- Ife. Anoh loved Emini and often communicated with Him because He walked in Love. Overtime, because of their disconnection from the King, many of the Nams had become very evil and Emini decided that it was time to Judge the Nams. But Anoh found favour with the King and the King told Anoh to save some of the treasures on Areth in an Ark. But all the other Nams where judged by the King for their evil because their cup was full. He sent a flood of waters so great, it destroyed all creation on land that was on Areth except the ones saved by Anoh as well as Anoh and His Family. Anoh was 600 years old when this happened.

The King gave Areth to Anoh and His family and told them He will never again judge the Nams the way He did with the waters and from there created a master plan to save the Nams from destruction and from Levis. Anoh is the Father of everyone on Areth. So in the year 1656 because of the evil of the nams, only Anoh and his family inhabited Areth.

Because of Evil, The King decided the Nams will only live for a maximum of 120 years.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE KING’S PLAN

In the year 2021 after the creation of Areth. Emini initiated His plan to restore his relationship with the nams and end all evil in his dominion. The King knew that the only way some of the Nams would be saved (not be evil or influenced by other evil Nams or by Levis) was for Him to separate them from the other Nams and teach them how to walk in love.  He started with a Nam called Marhaba, Marhaba was the father of all those who will be saved from the judgement that will come on all evil and the father of those who walked with Emini. He was born 290 years after the judgement of the first Nams.

When He was 75years old, Marhaba was told to leave his family to a place Emini showed him, Emini showed Marhaba how to walk in love.

LEVIS’ PLAN

On the otherhand, Levis also had a plan, A plan to exalt himself above the King.

Levis was evil, He would do whatever is possible to turn the Nams against Emini including deception, a show of his power, beauty and strength, whatever it took to prevent the Nams from walking in Love. Levis wanted all of Areth and wanted everything in Areth to be under Him, He believed that once He had all of Areth to Himself He will one day be able to wage war against Emini.

THE KING’S PLAN.

The King’s narrow bridge was created so that anyone who would walk in love will walk on that bridge and reach the throne of Ile-Ife from Areth. But the evils committed by the Nams had to be forgiven for them to return to the King’s throne. Forgiveness could only be received when the blood of any Emini’s creation was shed, but this wasn’t enough. The Nams needed a blood that could not only grant forgiveness but would cleanse them from evil totally so that they could walk continuously with the King in love. It was not enough for the Nams to be forgiven, the Nams had to walk in love, only then will they be free, free from evil, free from judgement, that was the only way they could walk with Emini.

The King will eventually destroy all evil, his judgement will come on all evil and everything evil will be destroyed but being a just King He needed a way to save as many as are willing from judgement. He had declared a day when He will judge all His creation and only those without evil will be free from the King's wrath. 

WHY THE BLOOD?

The wages of sin is death, hence the only way to atone for sins was through something just as severe as death itself, the answer was blood. The law was that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.The highest debt a man could pay was with his or her blood. The “very life” of the Nams was in their blood, without their blood, they will be corpses.  The blood of any man would not be able to grant forgiveness and grant grace to walk in love at the same time. For this reason, it was necessary that the whatever blood was shed was “sinless”.

By shedding the blood of animals or nams alone, there will be atonement for sin, but what the nams needed was more than atonement/forgiveness, what they needed was to be totally free from the power of sin in such a way that once this sacrifice was done, there was no need to shed another because the blood will not only atone but redeem from the power of sin.

So the big question on Emini’s mind was who will He send, whose blood was capable of atoning and redeeming a man at the same time. Who will lay down his life so that the nams could be totally free from the curse that sin had brought on them? It was a tough ask.

The answer was that only Emini had both the capacity and ability to do this. No nam could be sinless, no man would sacrifice his blood for the nams, no one would and none could. 

THE FUFILMENT OF THE PLAN

In Ile-Ife, the King asked "who will I send to save the nams, who will go for us?" The answer came from the King’s throne. His son would go, his son would be the sacrifice, his son would be the Redeemer. His Son said "I will go".

WHO IS THIS SON?

The King had a son who was the everything the King was. Everything that belonged to the Father belonged to the Son, the Son was the Father and the Father was the Son.

Everything that ever was made by the father was made for the Son and everything the Son did was done for the Father, they were inseparable, they would not contradict each other, their actions and their thoughts aligned, the authority of the Father was the authority of the Son, they were two persons with one essence.

When you spoke to the Son, you were speaking to the Father.

THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM. PART 1

This is the story of the Greatest King that ever lived. A story of Love, Mercy, Pain, Hope, Betrayal, Justice, Judgement and a Kingdom. A story of the heavens, earth and creation.

There is a King who lived long ago, still lives and will always live. His Name is Emini. King Emini is all a King should be. He had the power to create and recreate, is all knowing, all wise and all powerful. He can do anything but only ruled in love and mercy because His very nature was love. The only thing that will incur his wrath was anything contrary to the way of love, it was called sin. Sin was a show of selfishness and disobedience to the instructions of the King.

Emini ruled over all there was in His Kingdom. He ruled with order and with laws that He himself would not break because to break these laws of love was contrary to His own nature. The Sum of all the laws of His Kingdom was Love. Love was all there was to it, He would not break this principle, in fact, He could not because Love was all He could be. The Kingdom was called Ile -Ife and He ruled in mercy, love and Peace.

All His Subjects called Him the King Who Loves us. Everything was under Him but He ruled in love despite all His power and sovereignty, that was the only way He Knew how to rule.

King Emini had a Friend called Levis. Levis was the best of the best, He was the epitome of Beauty, Strength and Splendour. Levis would walk the streets and He will be regarded just as much as Emini. The King gave Him all the beauty there was to give and He loved Him so much like a brother. Levis was very close to home like family.

Levis had many others like Him, they were great in strength and power but not as beautiful as Levis was. They had different powers and were subjects in Emini’s Kingdom.

One day, Levis began to see Himself in the place of Emini. He began to see himself being above Emini and called the King of Kings. This was the first time a person in Emini’s Kingdom will walk contrary to the principle of Love for to want to take another’s place is not to walk in love, to be proud was against love, Pride was the first Sin of Creation, it happened in the heavens, before the throne of God, in the Throne Room where there was Mercy and Grace. Levis had friends in support of His plot, others like Him. The King will have none of this, it was just a thought in the heart of Levis but will not go unpunished.

Emini being all powerful and all Knowing, knew about this plot by Levis, His closest friend and subject. There was only one way to deal with this. But it will take thousands of years because Emini was quick to love but very slow to Judge. Many did say that to Emini, a day was like a thousand years and a thousand years could be like a day mainly because of His nature of love. Whenever He loved for a thousand years to Him it was like a day and when He had to judge for a day it was like he had been doing it for a thousand years.

Love had to be all that was in Ile – Ife, anything contrary to love will lead to chaos, the Kingdom was at peace because of love. Levis’s actions changed this, Ile-Ife will never be the same, Emini cast Levis and His friends out of Ile – Ife until the day when all sin and evil will be brought to justice. Levis would not repent of breaking the law of love, in him was pride and arrogance like never before, He will do anything to walk above the King. That was the only way he would have it.

Emini knew all this but as his nature was He was slow to judge and Levis with his accomplices will be dealt with when their cup was full.

Somewhere in Ile – Ife were the Nams, the nams were a creation created in the very image of Emini. They had all the attributes of Emini but lacked his physical power, strength, prowess and beauty. They were the meekest in Emini’s Kingdom. The power of the Nams was sitted in their mind and spirit. They were able to accomplish anything they gave their mind to even if it took them a thousand years.

Emini loved them so much and the Nams loved Emini. Their satisfaction was in the fact that Emini was their friend and King. They loved the King and would do whatever He bade them to do because they knew He instructed them from a heart of love. The myth in the Land was that Emini had a secret tube that connected Him to all the Nams and each nam could communicate with Him anytime they wanted.

To show His love for the Nams, Emini created a realm called Areth. Areth was a realm of Ile – Ife. Areth was theirs to have and to use. Areth was a land of milk and Honey, filled with so many treasures. When Emini gave Areth to the Nams. He said to them ‘Be Fruitful, multiply on Areth, Have Dominion over it, take care of it, be creative, enjoy it, it is my gift to you because I love you’

Levis Envied the Nams for this because He thought to himself “how long did we Serve Emini and for once He never gave us a realm but to these nams who are not as great as we are, He gives them Areth?” His hatred for the Nams grew and He would have none of it.

Areth was the Envy of all Realms. No Realm compared to it.

A day came when the love of the Nams for Emini will be tested.

Levis had grown into everything Emini was not. His pride and arrogance had given birth to all manner of evil. He would not repent and spent all his days working towards overthrowing Emini.

Levis would deceive the Nams. He envied their relationship with Emini and He believed that the way to overthrow Emini was to get everyone of His subjects to betray Him. He believed that once Emini had no followers, He will be able to destroy Him and become the King. He also knew that the Nams will not do anything against Emini. Their very existence depended on Emini, without Emini they were nothing. Levis decided the best way to get this done was to deceive the Nams.

He succeeded. He tempted them with one of the treasures of Ile-Ife; Knowledge.

The Kingdom had many treasures Knowledge, Wisdom, Wealth, Riches, Honour, Prestige, Fame and many more pleasures to see, to enjoy and be proud about. However, the law of the land was that you could only get these things by love. By loving another nam or by caring for Emini’s creation will you get these treasures. Love was the currency of the Kingdom and there was nothing given or taken except by Love. To love was to Obey Emini’s laws trusting His Wisdom in every way.

The Nams were deceived and made to walk contrary to the law of love by disobeying an order of the King and that meant that they too will be exiled from the Kingdom just like Levis. However, because Areth was a gift to the Nams, Emini would not take Areth from the Nams. Instead He created a separation between Ile-Ife and Areth that could only be crossed by a very very narrow bridge, History has it that it is the narrowest bridge in all the Kingdom. The bridge was so narrow that it could only take a man at a time and even the man had to be so light, any weight carried by any man will make him fall off the bridge.

Emini was sorry. The King saw the deception of Levis and was desperate to restore His relationship with the Nams but Love was the law, and the moment that law was broken judgement will come but as always Emini was slow to Judge.

WHY WAS EMINI SLOW TO JUDGE?

Emini was slow to judge in the eyes of many. He had all power and authority and could do whatever He wanted but the only way He knows how to act was in love. Emini Knew the End from the beginning and He knew that some of the Nams will repent of their sin and turn to Him, for the sake of these Few who will turn back to Him, He was slow to judge. He will not judge any of his creation until he had given them time to repent of the evil they had done.

He loved his creation so much like a father will love his wayward son or daughter and will wait for as long as it will take for that wayward son to come back to Him once more. The Truth is that ‘His love was even much more than that’.

Besides, He had decided and appointed a day when He will judge all evil.

The fact that He loved did not mean that He will condone evil/sin, He will not condone sin, He showed this to the Nams 1656 years after He gave Areth to them.

Continued in Part 2

THE HYPOCRISY IN THE NIGER DELTA

Seriously, what is really wrong with Nigeria?

Are we running a Jungle?

Why does everyone begin to shiver every time the Niger militants issue comes up? Why do we treat them as if they have the interest of Nigeria or even their people at heart?

There is a lot of hypocrisy in the Niger – Delta Issue.

Recently, we hear there are militants in the south west of Nigeria and we send the Army, Navy and Airforce to nip it in the bud immediately (partly because our south-west leaders won't stand for any of it).

In the past, we hear the North-east has a crisis and we crawl around the issue until finally we realise we need to contain them until it was too late.

We hear of the IPOB in the South East and the government is so swift to deal with it after dancing around it for several days.

Are we a nation of militants? Are we a nation of Gun-carrying Mercenaries? For God’s sake can someone tell them that these gun carrying mercenaries who call themselves MEND, NDA, or whatever their names are, are not Nigerians?

Do we not learn as a people? In the past we have negotiated with militants and all they have done is just enrich themselves, Did Tompolo use the money He got from NIMASSA to develop the Niger Delta Region? Did all the other mercenaries take the monies they got from Government and use them to develop the Niger Delta? They negotiate with government, collect money, go to sleep and when the next government comes they wake up to their vices again.

In the South – West, we do not mince words. Because we know everyone who carries a gun destroying infrastructure is called a thief and a robber and we know what robbers do?

You don’t sit down to negotiate with them except from the position of strength?

We all agreed that they have been short-changed, so we formed the Niger-Delta Ministry and the NDDC to take care of it, and their people where in charge of these ministries for the past six years and we went as far as increasing the derivation to 13%. 

What is wrong with Nigeria?

We begin to think that we will free the Okah brothers and the others who we know are known murderers? Their demands are not even for the Niger-Delta people?

Are we running a jungle?

Can we for once take a stand and say that if you are a murderer and thief, you have no business talking with government?

A word is enough for the wise.

If we don’t deal with this now, we will continue to create problems for our future?

No group can stand the might of the government and the government should develop the Niger-Delta while dealing with all these mercenaries who call themselves freedom fighters?

God bless Nigeria.

ARISE, O COMPATRIOTS

I was watching the speeches at the democratic national convention and It stung something in me and made me think of my country Nigeria.

You Know, there is a sarcastic, joking front when we speak of Nigeria because our pain as a people is so much that only time and God will heal and the only way out for most of us is to talk about it with a form of satire but I believe it’s time to break those bands so we can begin to build a better Nigeria.

There’s no place like home and in Nigeria is our land, Lands that are ours to fight for, Lands and resources that were given to us all by God so that we can prosper as a people, not siphoned by a privileged few who think that Kings rule and not serve. In Nigeria, we can build hope for our children and children’s children and show to the world that we are a great people great (something we have already shown with all the accolades taken by Nigerians all over the world) and are willing to take the reins and make Africa and Africans great again because the prosperity of Africa is tied to Nigeria.

We’ve got from now till Jesus comes to change the story of our nation and build from the ruins of where we find ourselves today as a people.

You Know our founding fathers (not the Awolowos, Azikwes and Balewas) our fathers who fought for the African man, that fought against the tyranny of the British  and for what we have, fought  not seeing what will become of the Kingdoms that they built (they just wanted to leave an inheritance to their children and children’s children), then their sons the Awolowos, Azikwes and Balewas fought so that we will become great and live better lives, what they did not see was that decades later we will still be fighting to be what we can be, they did not see that their efforts will create the most populous black nation, they did not see that their efforts will produce men and women in every nation of the world working hard to leave better lives for their children, they did not see that today we will be fighting the fight of our lives against the evil of corruption and lack of competence in our leadership.

The days seem dark and bleak today but when we look back on humanity’s history we will see that there will always be dark days but the way out has always been to hope. To hope that we will be out of it by putting our hands together to build a country where no one will be left on the side. Hope is what helps us see the light at the end of the tunnel but most of all dealing with the issues that have brought these dark days upon us; the canker-worm of corruption, the locust of ethnicity & bigotry, we must go back to the very values that make us who we are. We must Hope against Hope.

In the midst of our dark days, we still have men and women who are fighting for the good of all but they cannot do it alone, let it be known that no man in any place can rescue us or can build the Nigeria we desire on his or her own (at least till Jesus comes), the Nigeria that we want can be built by us all, every single Nigerian must put his hands together to build what we want.  We build by our decisions every day, we build by our decisions at the polls, we build by how we treat the person next to us.

We should not be carried away. Not carried away by the tyranny of some of our present leaders, their selfishness, their bigotry, their lack of grace and their approach to leadership. They are examples of how not to build a nation, they are examples of what we would not become, they are examples of how a nation can be destroyed and how a nation will not move forward. They are the cancer that we must fight in building Nigeria and making it great like it once was.

But first we must admit our wrongs of the past. We must admit that we have failed to put the weak and oppressed first, that we have not pursued policies that seek to strengthen our bond as a nation. We must admit that we have gone into public office by seeking the gains for ourselves, our families, our tribes, our people and our zones. We must admit that we have shed the blood of the innocent, that we have put innocent men in prison, that we have not risen up to fight for those who have no voice, that we have been greedy of filthy lucre that we have not sowed where we ought to so that our children might reap prosperity and freedom.

Then we must move ahead. Agree together that we will not repeat these same mistakes; that is the only way the labour of our heroes past will be not be in vain. We must push for the values that make a great nation hard work, compassion, diligence, determination and sacrifice by one for all.

We must obey the call to be Nigerians.

The call to be Nigerians is to serve. To do for the good of all instead of the good of ourselves or our group. To make decisions with the least of us in mind. That’s the only way to build a great nation.

The call is that going forward we will despise anyone, whether politician or family or rich man or poor man who steals our resources for himself or a particular group of people like our corrupt politicians have done. That we will only serve out Land with Love for all, strength for the weak and Faith that we will be great.

That the Labour of every Nigerian, dead or alive will not be in vain, that we will not kill another for the interest of ourselves or our people like the Fulani herdsmen are doing today. That we will see every Nigerian as a brother in arms no matter what tribe he or she belongs to. Only then will we be able to protect our unity in the best possible way and uphold the honour and glory that we seek amongst all nations of the world.

That we will uphold the virtues of fairness and justice. That we would not be involved in the politics of name calling instead of addressing the very issues that are fundamental to our becoming great. That we will choose leaders not servants to lead us, men and women who have vision not men who are looking to give stomach infrastructure. Men or women who are looking to serve not those who are position seekers.

That we will sacrifice for the person next to us. That we will uphold the freedom of every one and be bound together in Freedom in Peace and Unity.

That is how we will

That is what we are called to. That is how we will become what we should and can be.

That’s the Call to Every Young Nigerian if we will be NIGERIA.

That's the Call every time it is sung "Arise, O compatriots. Nigeria's Call Obey........"