AUSTIN ISIKHUEMEN pays tribute to the ace sportsman and intellectual humanist
On March 22, 1980, we listened to the irrepressible Ernest Okonkwo on Radio Nigeria. We were many, mostly secondary school students. We gathered around the radio set listening as if hints about the WAEC examination questions of that year were going to be given! The volume of the radio set was only slightly lowered when it started vibrating and rattling at the maximum volume. We were listening to live commentaries from the Africa Cup of Nations final.
Then he scored. Ernest Okonkwo went berserk, his voice thundering away in ecstasy. We exploded in joy, some jumping up and down while other more ascetic guys called for calm to enable us listen to the continuing analysis by the numero uno sports commentator in English-speaking Africa. He must have mentioned the scorer, Mathematical Odegbami ten times in one minute! The goal had been scored in the second minute of the much-anticipated final at the National Stadium in a place called Surulere in faraway Lagos.
In the 42nd minute, Mathematical doubled our joy. The second goal, from the foot of the same man, sent the nation into a frenzy. The Algerian team was being turn to ball boys by a superior force in Shagari’s Nigeria. By the time the third goal was scored by Muda Lawal in the second half, we knew the match was over and the cup, ours. There was no way Aloysius Atuegbu, the one they called Blockbuster, Khadiri Ikhana, gangling Emmanuel Okala and the other compatriots in the football pitch would let down President Shehu Shagari who was watching intensely with pride in the state box.
The Green Eagles, later renamed Super Eagles by Admiral Augustus Aikhomu years later, had delivered and won the first Africa Nations Cup for their country. Olusegun Odegbami had etched his name in Nigeria Hall of Sports Fame! The national euphoria did not wear out for months. The gifts of a house and Peugeot 504 sedan by the President to each player and coaching team was as unprecedented as the victory itself. I can still recall seeing Khadiri Ikhana in his sparkling white 504 coming to Ekenwan Campus of the University of Benin for light practice when I stayed there in my first year early 1981.
This story is not about that game, but its recall provides a superb prelude to a story about the man, ‘Segun Odegbami. His exploits outside participatory sports are as legendary as the joy he brought to Nigerians on the football pitch. He has gone on to do great things with the same dexterity with which he handled the round leather that earned him the sobriquet that Earnest Okonkwo bestowed on him and which has stuck, many decades on.
My immense respect for the man was re-awakened when our paths crossed at a local eatery called Stomach Care along the railway line on Agege Motor Road near Onipetesi in Lagos. While a manager in Guinness, we frequented Stomach Care which we cherished for the “native touch” to its cooking. The environment was not quite alluring but the atmosphere of unsurpassed bonhomie and convivial camaraderie was irresistible. So were their cuisine that sometimes made us leave the free 3-course meals in the company dinning room to go and spend money at the eatery.
It was at Stomach Care I met Mathematical Odeggbami physically for the first time in the company of my late friend Julius Singerr and ‘Layi Adeyemi, the owner, now late, of Fumman Juice and chemicals business. Unlike most superstars, even those who falsely claim that status, egbon ‘Segun exuded no superiority airs. For someone who was only preparing to write WAEC at the time he was already a household name in the African Continent and beyond, he related as a contemporary.
Even today that we have become friends on social media and relate there frequently and on some WhatsApp platforms, ‘Segun Odegbami never ceases to amaze. Like he did recently when I called him to express appreciation for his efforts in bringing Kadiri Ikhana’s plight to the public space, a call that have already yielded immense positive responses. They were football team-mates 45 years ago, but Mathematical is still in touch and taking Kadiri’s matter as his own!
Who did not see on social media the visit paid by the legends of that golden era of Nigeria football to the Man Mountain, Emmanuel Okala of Enugu Rangers and Green Eagles fame? The man whose spread hands left no space in the goal post for opponents to score through. In the team of sports legends sponsored by Allen Onyeama, owner of Air Peace and a patriot extra-ordinary, they presented Chief Okala in full colour, in his home, cracking jokes. Nigerians were thrilled to see their iconic goal-keeper, after so many years of absence from public glare, ageing gracefully with his wit intact! Watch that video again and see the deference with which Egbon ‘Segun treated his football team mate!
I cannot speak about what his team mates have gone on to do after their football life. None made the millions and billions football went on to provide its players from Stephen Keshi’s time in European club football following his stint in Cote d’Ivoire. Odegbami and his contemporaries played for the fame but money was not in the equation in their time. He has gone on to develop himself and hone business skills that have kept him busy, solvent and healthy.
He has invested in teaching young Nigerians football skills through his Segun Odegbami International College and Sports Academy (SOCA) so that they can go on and make fame and fortune as they grow. This academy, located in Orile-Wasimi, near Abeokuta in Ogun State, is a multi-sport academy offering football, tennis, basketball, track and field sports as well as dance, photography, etc. This educational incubator will hatch several superstars who would make Nigeria proud in the near future.
Mathematical Odegbami has also given voice to sports broadcasting and entertainment through his establishment of Eagle7 Sports Radio, a name that resonates with the Eagle he was and the number he played. That radio station, one of the best there is since its launch three years ago, is available on social media. In its few years on air, Eagle7 has etched its mark in sports, arts and culture. During the build-up to AFCON 2024 in Cote d’Ivoire, you got all you needed to know about the plans, who was playing for which country, coaches, game schedules, interviews and analyses from that station.
The icing on the cake during the AFCON for me was seeing Mathematical Odegbami, the legend himself, on the streets of the towns in which the Super Eagles played, doing grassroots mobilization and enlightenment with local Ivorian folks. Armed with vuvuzelas, trumpets, drums and sekere, wearing Nigerian colours, the proud Nigerian took the AFCON football final from its elitist pedestal to the doorsteps of local traders, butchers, herbalists and street cleaners. He did not do this on estacode. That was ‘Segun Odegbami, working for football and country more than forty years after he played the game at the topmost level and winning laurels for the country he loves.
It is instructive that Odegbami uses his academy and radio station to promote the arts and expose the young to arts and artists through interaction with renowned practitioners. On July 12, he hosted the renowned Cinematographer and culture icon, Tunde Kelani, to a show tagged Conversation with Tunde Kalani on Cordelia, Kelani’s latest movie. It was broadcast on radio and streamed live on several platforms globally. On Saturday 19th July 2025, Dede Mabiaku delivered a Keynote Talk at the 16th convocation ceremony of SOCA at Eagle7 Bamboo Garden at Wasimi, Abeokuta. The iconic Dede, the Afrobeat maestro, dexterous saxophonist, social activist and Abami Eda’s prodigy.
Segun Odegbami, the Mathematical footballer, educationist, ambassador, organiser, art connoisseur and promoter, broadcaster, journalist and sportswriter, entertainment entrepreneur and humanist has been a blessing to his generation. He has got more to do yet. That must be why God keeps him hale and healthy. We will be hearing from him for a long time to come. A legacy of service to fatherland.
Isikhuemen writes from Lagos
Leave a comment