Sam Emehelu

There is a new page of leadership in sight world over and there is renewed pace by the outgoing ones to etch their names in gold before their time runs out.

The Labour Party in UK has choked Tony Blair enough to agree to step down. And in his words he said he would not be in the office in a year’s time. Gordon Brown is warming up to take over.

In Japan, Shinzo Abe would face a daunting challenge of winning the hearts of the Japanese electorate who seem more now attached to the outgoing Junichiro Koizumi who is also stepping down because of the term limits imposed by his own party constitution.

At the New York office of the UN, Koffi Annan would not be staying longer than December 31st. And in the United States of America the politics to succeed George Bush is hotting up too. Senator John McCain, Senator Hillary Clinton and a few other ‘regulars’ are buying attention with several humanitarian projects like “the theory of curbing the Osamalets”, or “how to save the world’s endangered mosquitoes from extinction” etc.

In Nigeria, the electorate is daily being proved right that president Olusegun Obasanjo needn’t be there at all-he has never won any election in the first place. The race to take over from him is also as fierce as ever.

He has spent his second term trying to dab the wound the PDP riggings inflicted on our national conscience. But no way, he has not been successful and his Public rating has sunk deeper.

The third term trick has failed, public trails of corruption has been more of an anti third term reprisal and of late. The mud slinging between him and Atiku (the VeePee) has left the polity more like a Bolekaja* affair.

But the Nigeria’s president seem to have found a way to make sure his two-term democratic rule does is not erased from the country history. The Defense Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) has been given the go ahead to fabricate local AK-47.

The gun, which is one the presidential measure to ‘check violence’ at next year’s elections will also be nicknamed OBJ006.

It has nothing to do with Hollywood; it was just a way to immortalize the most troubled year of his life. The year that all he stood for in leadership crumbled: including integrity.

Returning to his poultry farm in Otta in 2007 is not negotiable but not without copies of OBJ006 both as souvenir and as companion. We all are watching our back.

Playing at Ikoyi Golf Club in Lagos, for professionals, conjures up an air of consecrated ritual that must be done with every inch of sanctity.

Golf in Nigeria may never have teed off from there, but the volume of hallowed performances that the course has etched into the Nigerian golf history book makes each tee-box a temple to be tread with caution.

World number three Vijay Singh had in 1998 referred his performances (in 1987 and 1988) at Ikoyi club among other as his nursery to capturing his first major that year at Augusta.

Ask other top players like Gordon J. Brand, Bill Longimuir, Ian Woosnam and of course Nick Faldo, they may not be able to pronounce ‘Ikoyi’ right; they all have living memories of what their experience on that course has done to their career.

Coming homewards, living legend, Peter Akakasiaka turned up his best performances here with the Nigerian Open series, where he ended up being the highest paid Nigerian player-cumulatively in the open till date. Another homeboy, Lateef Lasisi holds the highest singular paycheck that the event has dolled out to any black player when he lifted the Nigerian Open trophy in 1993. Of course, at Ikoyi club.

The PGA of Nigeria’s office started there in 1969, Matthew Jacobs and the big five of the professional golf all have their roots at the Ikoyi club.

For the younger generation pros, they looked forward to the playing the course with yearning. One: for the overbearing attachment the course has with professional golf history.

Two: they scantily have a go at the course since the Nigerian Open has been moved to the IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja. And thirdly, the present crop of youngsters believes that they are better at the game than the first Nigerians who charted those records, especially when they compare their international exposure relative to their age.

But on Tuesday, September 26, the top thirty on the PGA (professional Golfers’ Association) of Nigeria order-of-merit would be vying for respect and a chance to have the lion share of the 500,000 (about 4,000US$) staked for the pros at the 2006 Nigeria Cup.

The Nigerian Cup although is a community shield that the executives at the Ikoyi Club holds in marking the independence of the country, the typical seriousness that is expected of the professionals would be bereft of the prize money which they have termed ‘paltry’ and the fact that the challenge is a one-day affair.

Tournament Director of the PGA, Dominic Andrew, says that the best players in the country would definitely converge for the one-day thriller. But he believes increasing the purse and extending the period of play would be more befitting for the kind of expectation and the determination that the players have and would invest into the Nigeria Cup.

That aside, the event may end up recording the best performances by the pros in the on-going 2006 season given the many grudges that the platform in Ikoyi would be presenting to the players to put to rest.

Gentle gizmo, Abdullahi Alli from Kano state who has been away was away in France when South African trained Gift Willy ran away with his first career win at the IBB International Golf and Country Club would be making a statement with his return; “I am the one to be feared no Willy”

Of course, Willy has earned himself a reputation after mounting the podium in Abuja to pick the winning cheque at the Pinancle Championship, undermining the presence of Ochei Odoh who had pocketed three tournaments in a row with ease. And he didn’t hide it then. “Oche knows it would one day be my turn. I have been second to him on too many occasions. This win has made me better and I believe that we are now in it together. I am now the player to beat” he retorted at the Abuja.

Fortunately, the win has pushed Gift Willy forward on the order of merit, though in a distant second position to Oche. That has in return set him up for field rancor with other players who have perambulated the top five spot without a win this season they include;

Gboyega Oyebanji who after his brilliant crash at the regional qualifier for the British Open in UK had stayed back to try his hand on some challenge tour events. His sojourn did not go too well as planned but he would do anything refute the claims that Gift, the one tournament hero, is now the second best player in the country. ‘Teco’ as he is popularly known was the former Nigerian number one. He has stayed longer than Oche at the number one spot and believes his holidaying in Europe had cost him not only his slide to number three but also a chance to retake the number one spot.

Umoh Edet, the former national amateur terror had his playing card delayed by the PGA after his return from South Africa and he has extended his bellicose to his playing mates who has written him off to finish in the top ten because of the late start. Having won the Lagos amateur Open in Ikoyi, Edet would be teeing off the Nigeria cup breathing faster than anybody around.

Christain Godfery and Lateef Lasisi are entwined by fate too. Godfrey rose to Nigeria’s number one three years ago from a win at Ikoyi while Lasisi made his biggest career win there. With new competition both players have a lot to prove with their performance at the 18-hole Nigerian Community Shield.

Caddies, Golf writers and a couple of players are going to line behind the Ikoyi ropes on Tuesday to watch the players do their thing, and one definite request that would be made that day is: “why not have them play for longer days?” And that is going to be a big puzzle for the Barin Epega’s organizing team who would understandably are keeping a larger part of the event’s budget for the presentation ceremony and gala night.

For the pros, no qualms it is another opportunity at rubbishing history and earning respect at golf’s altar in Lagos.

King Sunny Ade is a golfer. At the finals of the 10th Nigeria Cup golf tournament, he was the star of the presentation night. No not for his golfing skills, but for the entertaining golfers from the night of the finals till the following day. And that was what he was paid to do.

Clearly now at the end of the one week golf show, KSA registered in the memory of the every attendee of the final event than the guy that lifted the community shield for the Nigerian cup 2006. It was not an accidental. That is the way the organizing committees of the recent Nigerian Cup golf event has shaped the event to be remembered.

In an event that has the backing of 63 corporate sponsors and individuals the huge resources that went in the way corporate responsibility can better be imagined.

Maybe ‘for the good of the game’ as the United States Golf Association, USGA usually punctuates it programmes, the Nigerian Cup organizers have continues to cut down on the involvement of the professionals in the event. The claim is that the event in the first place is an amateur event and the professional are better invited.

Golf as in most sports ride on the crest of the developments of the professionals. The volume of golf played in Asia is soon catching up with what obtains in America but that would not take the Unites States away as the world’s number one golfing nation. Why? Because the US professionals are still 60% of the world top ten, as it has always been.

For the quantity of golf played, it is the amateur that would determine that but for the quality of golf played the professionals worldwide has always hold the key to that. That is why the attention to developing professional golf is never a matter of compromise, whatever their weaknesses are because the impact tells collectively on the game. American have taken to the game of golf more because they have the best golfers in the world than that they have the most of golfing facilities. This facts holds sway for all sports and for all countries.

However the organizers, came down from offering one million naira (about $8,000) in prize money in 2005 for the best 30 players to half of that in 2006. And the contestants are selected. It is not clear how the respected Jamiu Oyebajo of the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria and his team compromised to that.

Given the grandness of the presentation night that featured the KSA (once a Grammy nominee) that doesn’t appear for nothing less than $8,000 within the country. The Nigeria cup budget must have expended close to 65% (if not more) for the show.

And seated in the crowd are the supposed eggheads of the Nigerian golf community who had come to be recognized and sit on the ‘high’ table for the occasion of waste.

Recently, George W. Bush, incumbent US President clocked 60. And in the spirit of leading the “baby boomers” generation into the three score age, he granted CNN’s Larry King (self acclaimed King of Talk) into the blue office for a Special “Larry King Live”.

Of course, if not that Pyongyang (of North Korea) had just arrogantly flared some missiles (of concern) near the waters of Japan on the eve of the 60th party, one would have taken the 43rd’s oversized confidence for granted.

Trust Larry King, he didn’t let it pass, as he went on to ask him the question that eventually made the discourse a point for this column.

“Mr. President, Pyongyang here, Hezbollah there, Iranian Uranium enrichment, Libya, Syria Afghanistan and Guatanamo Bay. How do you relax amidst this burden of concern?”

“I make sure I find out time to relax and I do that everyday no matter where I am”

Understandably, Mr. President is trying to be economical with his love for golf and the whole of White House staff and those of us on this side knows that.

On the day he launched operation desert storm he kept his routine in amidst fire and he is not just alone it seem to be the inherited attitude for golfers.

Bill Gates is thinking up how to level out the Goggle boys’ competition on one hand, I-pod market share and his foundation on the other hand, guess where he goes for constructive thinking?

Dr. Femi Ogunbekun of Total Health Trust says there is a link between the four-hour trek in the natural environment and the quality of thought you do in the process.

As a golf writer (and I have done that dedicatedly for quite sometime now) Akwa-Ibom rarely comes to mind in my mental sketches of golf destination in the country.

But surprisingly¸ Architect (Obong) Victor Attah and his group down the Niger-Delta are scoring some PR points with golf.

How? check out the state’s advert on the cable stations (it usually interrupts popular World News on CNN) and whoever designed the piece has erred on the path of positive reputation. Because Akwa-Ibom ranks way back in golf from Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Osun, Abuja, Plateau States to name a few.

But who say they shouldn’t if others cant tap from the huge tourism advantage their facility can give them.

Come to think of it, there is actually no national advert that don’t flaunt a golf slide in its shooting. Have you noticed too? That tells how important the game can be as condition for tourism consideration.

If the game of golf has proven anything, it is that fun for executives does not require the excessive sophistication it takes to be an executive itself.

It can be too boring behind those chilly doors. God have mercy if your companion in the floor are machines; your cell phones, laptops, intercoms, pagers, ipods, fax machines, photocopiers and what have you. You would have no better wish than to be with real people. Modern corporate lifestyle is tending away from the interpersonal relationship.

If you are a King Sunny Ade (KSA), a training session on a football field could draw some uncontrolled attention, or imagine other popular citizens trying to unwind like El-Rufai, Professor Charles Soludo or perhaps the VP; Atiku Abubakar.

But in golf it would hardly fetch more than a passing nice shot! Or hey, was that a one-wood? It doesn’t really bother a golfer who the heck you are outside of the golf course. And perhaps that has been the catch these days for most of the new golf converts.

Charles Soludo has filed in application to be a member at the IBB International Golf and country Club Abuja and presently his request is being openly displayed; he needs a Hail Mary pass to sail through that stage else his dream of being a golfer could take longer time.

Same for the minister for Sports and Social development, Honourable Bawa Ka’oje whose form is at the whims of his new trainer at the IBB Club in Abuja on one hand, and his studiousness on the other hand. Not about being a minister!

The Nigerian R&B group; P-Squared told of how they feared the Lagos mob, whenever they are identified. Maybe they need to know that some bigger celebrities are having life cooler out here.

I spoke with KSA’s trainer at Ikeja Golf Club recently in Lagos and he blatantly told me his student needs more seriousness. Its like he has been absent from his classes for too long and I feel he’s got some hell of drilling waiting for him on return (Maybe that’s why he has extended his holiday). But I bet he will be back.

He would be back for the same reason that Sunday Ehindero (the Inspector General of Police), the Head of Service Mr. Yayale >>>>, and other top government top shots are always coming back. They want to be like us, because they are like us. They are just (like the New Yorker said) the overexposed version of us. And deep down in our urban arrogance we know this especially when the burden of measuring up is overbearing on their social life. They need all they can to play down the toga of societal celebrity.

Upper weekend, I had an early afternoon date to keep with the group of Global Golf; the franchise holders for the World (Amateur) Golf Championship (WGC) in Nigeria at Ikoyi club in Lagos. Mr. Obinna Duru their spokesman is a master communicator and I told him just that.

Later that afternoon, we ate lunch at a local dive (Iya Aroso) somewhere by the fairway of the 18th hole. Not that the club sandwich, curry stew and other high-class menu at the club were not there. It was the feeling that we wanted.

The golf course cuts through various class segregations. The players are of a particular class, the caddies and workers belong somewhere else. And somewhere in the arrangement of the settings there were always meeting grounds. Iya Aroso has its version at the IBB International golf and country club Abuja. It serves its class of people. Same for the Minna Cantonement Golf Club in Niger state, while in Abeokuta Golf Club, there is a small community right side of the hilly clubhouse that takes the commerce off this advantage.

Interestingly too, these dives have as long as the list of the clubs celebrities in the customers list. Can you imagine your MD doing the Ewedu and Amala or starch and Afang in a restaurant on the street?

Nobody would come asking for your autograph there and would not be bumped in by reporter and his paparazzi seeking exclusive once you are identified. Nearly everybody around you is making the best out the fun of being himself and you had better do too.

After the four-hour (the average time it takes to complete a round) driller, some folks get baptized in buckets of beer others replenish mildly, but most of the time the activities that goes on with foods and drinks is most times of serious commercial value.

The National Golf Federation, in the United States has food and beverages as one essential part of the economy that the game impacts greatly along with tourism, transportation, clothing and textiles, hospitality and real estates. And this has in no small measure affected the adjunct communities.

Our growing Nigeria Golf Federation or the Golf Union of Nigeria (the union of golf club captains and secretaries) counterpart may not be able to put it in terms of Naira and Kobo. In the Unites states this is valued at some $64billion dollars (the economic impact of golf in the US) this was as at four years ago.

Unfortunately for golf, it still cuts the prodigal picture of a totally pristine crowd that don’t want to have anything to share with the publics including the game and the privacy of its players. In the past it however has been helpful for the game to be viewed this way but it has not been developmental. And golf today has benefited every community that has demystified it to the public.

Truth is, the structure inside the game is just the same that obtains on the outside. It would teeter more when more golf facilities go public. Presently over nine and half out ten of them are owned by private firms and individuals.


Then this Lacuna would be filled especially those that represent improper perception of golf and its players. including that our taste bud is too savvy. Maybe then you can begin to eat your words.

Whoever engineered the meeting of Nduka Obiagbena, the Publisher of Thisday Newspaper and Nelson Mandela of South Africa would be biting his fingers now. The Madiba was the icon of the launch of Thisday South Africa and in no distance time the South African government has sacked the organization from its country after it began owing workers salary-it’s a serious labour offence everywhere in the world except Nigeria.

For many Nigerians, especially journalist and those in the business of writing, the closure of Thisday South Africa was less surprising. In fact the surprising thing there was that the Nigerian labour laws has not seen anything wrong in such management system that Thisday management team has ran its Nigerian office with.

Of course, if it was not wrong to owe Thisday workers over twelve months salary there can never be any serious reasons to prosecute the Thisday team for the kind of disrepute that have put the Nigerian image for having to run such a failed system in a foreign country.

At least if Mandela has learnt anything it is that he should choose carefully the class of Nigerian to honour their invitations to launches, Nigerians loves to launch, books even though plagiarized, homes, cars name it.

Nduka Obiagbena and Nelson Mandela are from planets apart and their ideals are poles away from each other.

How do I know? Take for instance, sometimes this October this ‘ailing’ media house would be putting a musical show that its worth is in the neighbourhood of half a million US dollars in celebration of Nigeria’s forty six, independence anniversaries. This showstopper is arguably going to be more colourful than all the parties and the functions that the federal government of Nigerian (the official celebrant) would be putting up.

Definitely the newspaper doesn’t share the same birthday with Nigeria but the Owners are just trying to explore the commercial aspect of the national day on one side and build a business out of it. It is never because they love the country so much.

In all areas of human endeavours, Nigeria as a people has regressed since 1980,no new rail lines have been laid, the GDP is one of the lowest on earth, infant mortality rates have never been higher, her industries are operating at the lowest capacity ever but then we have made so much from oil sales and we re practicing democracy.

Economists says that the Nigeria’s GDP figures has ebbed and it would take 20 years of even consistent 9% GDP increase before we attain the per capita state of 1980. That’s more like a miracle.

Nigeria has the reputation as the fraud capital of the world, perpetuating over 50% of cyber crimes with only about three million people having access to the web.

On the health level, we still have much to grapple with. 11 out of 100 expectant women die. And if Nigeria is one-fifth of Africa’s population (God help our March census) then malaria kills 600 Nigerian daily.

Add all these to the daily news of lawlessness and name-calling in the presidency of shameful embezzlement of public money, you will agree that the Nigerian 46th independent anniversary should be a quiet and sober one- at least for sane and moral minded citizens.

Predictably, because this is Nigeria and those virtues are scarce, we can expect that people with nose for morality and sanity should be expensive.

A sensible 46th independence anniversary should have the one that recognizes the effort being made at ridding the country of these malaises. There never is a better time to assess our stand as a nation than on the national day and best still a moment when education and virtually all what we stand for as a nation has been challenged by corruption.

It is of course not too surprising that Nduka belong to the generation of Nigerian who has not offered the country too much hope, the ones that inherited the post-independent Nigeria with promise and shattered it. The generation that discovered nothing except oil in Nigeria and contributed nothing to advance the world in their time expect for the superior brand of fraud that has earned Nigeria bad reputation.

American rap star Jay z would lead the team of the Thisday idea of celebration for a nation that is serious with its destiny. Snoop Dogg, Mary J Blige, Ciara and a handful of equally ‘focused’ local crooners. It’s a shame we have not heard of anybody declining to perform on the grounds of personal principle rather the Nigerian entertainment world has even been scrambling to be part of it.

We are not even talking of capital flight here, rather it is the avenue that the Thisday has created to showcase our collective unseriousness to the world.

If the Thisday event was meant to be developmental, why cant we reward the microbiologist or the medical undergrad who has just cooked up a new mix that can take out malaria faster or at least cut down our death rate. For now we would still outsource that to the Pfizer scientists in the US while we dance away our collective destinies.

samosita@gmail.com