Small world, really small world

I have a little story to tell.

If am boring you, please skip this part.
About three, four years ago or thereabouts, when I was still with KickOff Magazine as Managing Editor, a young man came to my office at Victoria Island.

He had just recovered from a near fatal car crash in Germany (or Austria, not sure any more) and was just putting his football career back on track. He brought pics of the crash, and I have to admit it was difficult to see how anyone could have come out of that alive, or without some permanently crippling injury at best.

He also showed me a pic he had taken with Sunday Oliseh while they were both at Cologne together, although he (not Oliseh) was more a reserve team player.

He then told me his agent was arranging a move for him to a big club (I forget the club now). And even gave me the agent's contacts (I think it was a consortium).

Bottomline (which I had half guessed, from previous experience) is that he wanted me to help give him coverage in KickOff.

I told him very politely that that was something I could not do, for the simple reason that not only was he not playing football yet, he was not a 'known' quantity who could make headlines on his own, and on the basis of his past football exploits.

I gave him the Kanu heart problem as an example. Because of what he had achieved with Nigeria, Kanu's heart problem in 96 was major news and the man himself would have continued to be even if he had stopped playing football then.

I then told him that he should go back to Europe, get into that big club and start playing football and by the time he started doing well, I would be the one chasing him for interviews as his football would do his talking for him.

He left, leaving his contact details and that of his agents. I never heard from nor saw him again.

Until now.

And who was that young man, you may ask. Well, his name is Emeka Ezeala, and he is now Technical Assistant to Super Eagles coach Berti Vogts.

Small world, eh? Better believe it.

I finally saw him again with Berti when they came into Lagos last month, and I recalled that his face looked familiar, but I could not quite place it until a day before the match.

I had somehow got the Ugandan starting line-up from the Ugandan journos in Abeokuta with a good idea of how they were going to play (which turned out correct except for a last minute change at RB) and I wanted to pass it on to Berti.

The reason I was doing that was because the tape of Uganda Berti had requested for, had not arrived (it never did). Idah Peterside had been asked to get the tape on the Monday before the game. He did so and sent it via DHL on Tuesday hoping it would arrive by Wednesday.

When it didnt arrive on Wednesday, Austin Eguavoen called Idah to find out why. Idah called DHL and it turned out that they were only going to send it on Thursday, meaning it wouldnt get to Abeokuta until Friday afternoon, by which time it would be too late.

Idah called me to see what I could do. So I got the line-ups and tactics from the Ugandans, and also went to look at their final training session.

I then stopped by Ezeala's room after seeing some players and passed on everything I had to him and he promptly took it to Berti.

While I was in his room waiting for him, I saw some pics he had left on the bed and decided to take a look. That was when I saw the Oliseh pic and it all came back to me (apologies to Celine Dion).

When he came back, i showed him the pic and asked him if he remembered giving me a copy. It turned out the young man remembered every detail of that visit from when he was talking to me on the fone from Germany!

Well, hope you enjoyed the little story. Will be talking about the story of Ilyasu Ishiaku next. Its kinda interesting, too.

Elections, what elections?

Lagos is a cauldron simmering below the surface. With one day to the election, its a tough call to make about going out.
I have invitations to this week's Idols show--again. But its one hour to the start of the show and I amm still not sure I want to go. Why? Because I wont get back until about 7pm and that may not be a good time to be driving the streets of Lagos, with all the thugs and police and army etc prancing around with fingers hovering over triggers, hands cuddling matchetes and all sorts of dangerous weapons.
Here in the Ajah area where I stay, fighting seems to break out almost on a daily basis. Yesterday, I sent my driver out to get me petrol, as one part of my estate (my side) had no electricity.
He came back to report that people were exchanging bullets with police at Ajah. Not good.
At this rate, how many bodies will we see on the streets before this is all done?

Port Harcourt, our. . sorry, their Port Harcourt

I have been in Port Harcourt these past few days (about four days, I believe) and what I saw of the city churned my heart. Port Harcourt is a dead city, and thats the truth.

For my non-Nigerian readers, Port Harcourt is the biggest city in the Niger Delta region and houses most of the top Oil companies. I arrived on Thursday and made straight for a friend's Stag Night (or Bachelor's Eve as we normally call it).

Unfortunately, we were a bit too early. It was just 10pm afterall, and so I told my friend we should hit the hotspots a bit and get a few drinks in before returning.
I was shocked to the bones to discover that almost every hangout in the Garden City had been shut down. Business was really bad. We couldnt find ANYWHERE to go to!

We did manage to get to a joint called 'Wish', but it was a disappointment. Overcrowded and full of kids. To make matters worse, the service was . . . non existent. We sat there for over half an hour and there was no one to attend to us, and I told my friend we had to leave.

We trolled around the city after that without finding one decent place to have a drink. No whites on the road anywhere. As for the ashis, business has become so bad they have crashed prices to rock bottom, and that is the few left standing.

And 'Charlies' the joint owned by Charles Tabansi has been closed down and the premises sold to a bank, I hear. Sacriledge!

Luckily, by the time we got back to the 'Illusions' nite club where the party was being held, things had heated up a bit. And there I got another shock. People were being frisked before getting in and there was almost half a dozen MOPOL with assault rifles. I later learnt that there had been some shooting there some weeks back, and the owner still had the bandages to show for it.

Shock No 3 was to come when we got inside. Like a third of the guys I saw there, could have started a mini war all on their own, and later on, I saw someone I know to be, well, I'd rather not say it before they come and arrest me o.

And then came Shock No 4. Almost everyone was carrying Nokia 1100s or cheaper fones. I couldnt understand why at first. I mean, this was Port Harcourt where guys show off flashy stuff, but everyone was taking my number on what could pass for disposable fones. And then it hit me: the fones were indeed disposable. If anything were to happen, no-one would miss those fones if they went missing.

Then someone filled in the puzzle. PH guys now carry 'night fones'. Cheap, inexpensive things that mean nothing if they are stolen at gun-point as has become the case. My Nokia N72 was the most expensive fone in the house!

And as for the insecurity, it was palpable. I mean, I was looking at hard, Port Harcourt boys who would pull a piece and use it without blinking. But these guys were being extra careful, and looking over thei shoulder at every turn. I was almost tempted to let a glass drop just to see the reaction. LOL

I had planned to be in town till Monday, but with nothing to do and nowhere of note to go, I had to head back to Lagos early.
The only good thing? I spent my birthday with my mum, the first time in nearly ten, yes TEN years!
And did I mention that I forgot my birthday?
It took someone to remind me.