Exclusive News, Features, Interviews,Politics and Sports: TheTaiwo Ogunjobi I knew….
by Ayo Ademokoya
...: The Taiwo Ogunjobi I knew…. by Ayo Ademokoya Apart from the fact that we both came from Ilesha, I was privileged to see Tai...
Monday 18 March 2019
The
Taiwo Ogunjobi I knew….by Ayo Ademokoya
Apart from the fact that we both came from Ilesha, I was privileged to see Taiwo Ogunjobi played in the colour of IICC Shooting stars when it was glorious in the 1980’s together with my dad who was an ardent fan of Water Corporation.
He was someone I so admired as player and highly
revered as an administrator having watched him a afar of as the secretary to
Chief Femi Olukanmi back then.
I remember his few exploit as the Sole administrator
of Shooting stars in the mid 1990’s before he left for Gabros and became a cult
figure at the Nigerian Football Association where he served as the Secretary
General.
Our path eventually crossed between 2011 and 2012 when
I was working on my book on shooting stars . Of course he recognised me as a
sports analysist and a sport presenter with Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State .
We had a deal
and we met at Kabiru Abubakar aka Zamora’s
office at the Liberty stadium.
I did my part and the rest is history . Since then
He will stop and say ‘Adeeee.. bawo ni?’ in his usual cool, calm and collected
voice.
I won’t want to go in to much details about what transpired
between us but whatever that must have happened I see it as the handiwork of
God and it actually pained me to the
marrow when I heard of his demise on the wee hours of that fatemoful morning in
February , I was shocked beyond marrow
and could not mutter a word wnhe Tunde Shamshudeen confirmed his death and I
promised to do my own part , which I did at his funeral for three days in
Ibadan between the 13th to 15th
of March 2019. Eni to se oju, ko dabi eni to se ehin.
Of course, I was a bit disappointed with the way and
manner the Symposium at the Lekan Salami went last week Wednesday though we
still must give kudos to Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi and the Oyo FA for the
initiative .
Nevertheless, I had thought of a situation where speakers
at the event would focus on the life and times of Ogunjobi both on and off the field instead of
making it a platform to clarify dead issues with one another. It was turning
political so I decided to drop the microphone as co anchor-man of the event and
hear the politics of Nigerian football! Alas it was one sided.
I only hope this piece would inform people about the
Ogunjobi that I knew.
I won’t talk about his tenure as the Secretary
General of NFA because that one has been over-flogged at the seminar which I
later understand to have been organised by the West Nigeria Football Federation
or the NFF led by the Vice chairman of the federation.
How I wish Shooting stars did organise something
independently for the man whose
achievement is only second to that of Chief Lekan Salami,the founder of
Shooting Stars himself but I hope in the next one year players of shooting
stars and those he had actually touched their lives would come together to
eulogise Ogunjobi at his one year memorial lecture.
No club chairman in the history of Chief Taiwo
Ogunjobi could boast of his achievement in making shooting stars the brands everyone
loves to associate with today
I may not know how Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi started his
playing career but all I know back then was that he left African Church Grammar School Ilesa to begin a new life in Ibadan and between 1968 to 1972
1) In
the early 1970’s he was the best player at African church Grammar School, Ilesa doing his O' level
2 ) He was spotted as a good player for African Church Grammar School and was admitted to do Higher School certificate (HSC) at Ibadan Grammar school sometimes in 1973 and from there he
shone like a star playing alongside people like Zion Ogunfeyinmi, stober, Okoro etc…
3) Ibadan
grammar school back then was a football school. And I think from their he
played for Nigeria at the sports festival as a junior international held in
Ghana in 1974 tagged Nigeria Ghana Sports festival together with after
performing brilliantly as an Academicals Adokiye Amesimaka
4) He
played briefly for IICC Shooting stars between 1974- 75 and
5) won
a scholarship to Clemson University in North Carolina that was why he missed out of the victorious
IICC shooting star squad of 1976 .
Let me brief you about Clemson University. Clemson University’s budget on sport is so
huge that every sports talented young men either in America or outside America
wants to attend.
Ogunjobi shone like star as a
midfielder wining laurel for them the top scorer then was Christian
Nwokocha and later his brother joined
him Nnamdi Nwokocha.
Till now if you go to the Hall of
fame Clemson University in North Carolina you will picture of Taiwo Ogunjobi he
was a cult hero there.
The Robable Starters the school team of Clemson
in 1977 were the
ACC Champs and NCAA Quarterfinalist Ranked Fourth in
Final Poll
With players like
G John Bruens, JR (17) 29 Saves B Mark Alphonso, SR
(11) 0g 0a B Damian Odoh, SO (16) 1g 0a B Charles Headlam, SR (16) 0g 0a B Eric
Smith, SR (16) 1g 1a M Benedict Popoola, JR (16) 11g 5a M Taiwo Ogunjobi, JR
(16) 7g 2a M Marwan Kamaruddin, SO (15) 11g 6a M Emmanuel Egede, JR (12) 4g 3a
M Damian Ogunsuyi, JR (12) 6g 5a S Godwin Ogbueze, JR (13) 11g 4a S Christian
Nwokocha, JR (13) 10g
They achieved greatness for Clemson inuversity . In actual
fact there were 6 Nigerians in the line up
6) Another
thing you don’t know was that Taiwo Ogunjobi was a mentor to the current senate Leader in the
United.
The norms in the school was that when a
foreign students arrives they hands them over for integration purposes to the
older Nigerians and Dr Bukola Saraki wthen came to Duke University in North
Carolina before he left for the United kingdom and stayed for a while with Chief
Taiwo Ogunjobi to mentor him.
7) He
came back to Nigeria and rejoined IICC Shooting stars in 1979/ 1980 and because
of his antecedent as a player who had a stint with IICC in 1974 he became the
skipper, a very dedicated skipper till the end of his career as a footballer.
He won the League for IICC Shooting stars in 1980 under the auspices of late coach
Jossy Lad.
8) He
was loyal, so loyal to IICC Shooting stars to the point that when Carpet Royal
owners of Leventist United tempted every Shooting Stars players with cash and
their product, Taiwo Ogunjobi refused to be tempted and rejected all juicy
offers from John Mastroudes the owner of Carpet Royal and founder of Leventis United whose sole. He prefer to stay
loyal to the club that brought him to limelight instead of material incentives.
He told me personally that , ‘ Good name is better than Gold and silver’
9) His
loyalty to the club paid off as he won the league again with Shooting stars in
1983 and went on to play in the finals of the Champions League only for him to
lose to Zamalek of Egypt on the 12 of December 1984
10)
In 1984 when Shooting stars lost to
Zamalek ( the Balun balu ntafin saga), the entire team was disbanded by the Miltary
Governor of Oyo state Colonel Oladayo Popoola, who gave a directive that every
player who so desire to don the jersey of IICC again should re apply, this was
an insult to many players who felt aggrieved for the kind of treatment metted
to them and as professionals moved on to another clubs that desperately needed
their services at that time. Players Best Ogedegbe. Mudashiru lawal, Rashidi
Yekini and host left for Abiola babes while others moved to Inwuanyawun Nationale.
Ogunjobi re,aine loyal to IICC and moved to the office. He was still in Ibadan
when the team got relegated for the first time in 1985 / 86 under the Ademola Adesina who was
the captain of the team
11)
As a football administrator , Chief
Taiwo Ogunjobi was the secretary to
chief olukanmi and recruited beautiful players
like Lateef Yussuf, David Aigbovo, Tarila Okorowanta, Golden Ajeboh,
Isiaka Awoyemi blend them with experienced players like Ogbein Fawole, Dotun Alatishe and of course Chief Felix Owolabi to win the maiden
edition of the Conferderation Cup competition or Abiola Cup
12)
As Sole
administrator between 1994 to 1997 with players like Ajibade Babalade, Lateef
Yusuf, Duke udi Ogaga Agoye, Sanni Abacha, Sam Pam, Kalu Umar, Patrick Mancha,
Gbenga Okunowo, he won the doubles both the FA Cup and the Nigerian
Professional league. As well get to the
final of the champions league in 1996 losing the same Zamalek of Egypt that
denied him the trophy as a player in 1984
In fact he was another great achiever
for Shooting stars next to chief Lekan Salami as an administrator of Shooting
stars
13)
He lost the African Champions Cup as a
player and nearly won it in 1996 losing it as an administrator to the same
Zamalek of Egypt in 1996
14)
He has helped so many footballers and
revived or laid a solid foundation for their coaching career. People like Baba
Amusa Adisa, (goalkeeper trainer of the Nigerian Super Eagle) Duke Udi Osun United , Samson Siasia, Edith Agoye (Ila United) and host of others
owes Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi a lot when it comes to their blossoming coaching
career.
15)
I can go on and on to talk about many
players Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi managed their career right from obscurity to
international stardom.
As I said I deliberately would not
talk about his exploit at the National and international level, Gabros
International, Prime FC now Osun United, Osun state FA and lately Ijesha
Warrior which I was beginning to see as his pet project before his demise.
Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi is gone right
now and we can testify to how much he affected the nation, his states, his
immediate community and lives of people home and abroad.
‘Arise larika , arika ni baba
iregun…
We that are alive today, the
question is, what have would they say about us when we have finally gone to the
world beyond?
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