It all began in 1940 when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe brought Collins Gardiner from the Gold Coast to join the Zik’s Athletics Club[ZAC] Bombers. The Lagos team enjoyed the services of two other goalies, Thomas Adisa [Addis Ababa] and Carl [Gentleman] O’Dwyer before the Ghanaian arrived.
That same year, there was Francis Mensah who played for St. Gregory’s College, Lagos against Christ the King College [CKC], Onitsha in a two-leg friendly at Onikan . Mensah was an attacker while James Lee manned the post for the Lagos school Boys. Much later, the Eko brought -up turned to goal keeping.
The first Ghanaian to join ZAC was indeed Kotei who lived in Lagos. In the St. Greg’s squad of 1940 were two other Ghanaians, Alex Quist and Ankrah. Quist and his elder brother Pius, would later represent Nigeria in soccer. The latter was Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association[NFA] sometime in the 1950s.
From 1963 when the Black Stars of won their first Africa Nations Cup title, Ghana began to produce spectacular keepers. Aggrey- Fynn was in goal that year. Two years later, Naawu, took over and the team retained the Nations Cup in far away Tunisia. Naawu was in goal when the Ghanaians picked silver in 1968.
Robert Mensah and Asante Kotoko won the CAF Champions League in 1970, captained by Nigeria’s Ibrahim Sunday. Another prominent goalie was, John Baker, who snatched the gold medal from the Green Eagles at the First Nigeria/Ghana Sports Festival, Lagos’74. Then came Owusu, as part of the 1982 Nations cup winning team.
The leading Ghanaian goalkeeper in the Nigerian league in the late 1970s was Raymond Quarcoopone of Sharks. In those years, he was difficult to beat. Then came Haruna Wahab in the 1980s. From Insurance, he moved to Iwuanyanwu Nationale in 1987. There was also Rasheed Mohammed of Julius Berger. Up North, we had Aliyu Muzambilu.
Perhaps the most successful Ghanaian keeper in Nigeria was Edward Ansa who crossed over from Asante Kotoko, Kumasi. After winning the league with Leventis United Ibadan in 1987, the club was disbanded. The goalie teamed up with the Naze Millionaires, with fellow country man, John Benson.
In 1988, Iwuanyanwu won the Challenge Cup for the first time as well as the League. They thus emerged double champions. Ansa had displaced Wahab as number one. The Owerri side got to the finals of the CAF Champions League where they lost to Setif of Algeria in cold Constantine.
Iwuanyanwu retained the league title in 1989 and were good in the 1990 Champions League until they met Nkana Red Devils of Zambia in the semi finals. For the first time, the Nigerians lost home and away in the competition. It ended 1-0 in Kitwe and same margin in Lagos. The Copperbelt team had two deadly strikers, Keneth Malitoli and Gibby Mbasela.
That turned out to be Ansa’s last match for a Nigerian side . He went back to Kotoko and much later moved abroad to join Indian club, Churchill Brothers. The goalie retired in 2004 and joined the coaching crew of the Black Stars. That took him to the World Cup. In 2004, he was in Lagos with the Ghanaians for the LG Cup.
Haruna Wahab’s move to Iwuanyanwu in 1987 created a trend that saw Ghanaian keepers falling in love with the team. He met four other Nigerian goal tenders: Christian Obi, Felix Chukwuma, Angus Ikeji and Israel Anuna. He beat them all to the first spot until Ansa arrived in 1988.
When Ansa came, Obi departed. Etta Egbe joined to give the team six goalkeepers. Wahab became reserve and got some first team openings when Ansa was not perfect. Chukwuma, Ikeji and Anuna continued to serve from the bench or as training materials although Ikeji won silver with the Flying Eagles at Saudi ’89.
As Ansa stepped aside, another Ghanaian, Ben Kluvi stepped in. He spent only one season and left after Nakivubo Villa eliminated the team in the semis of the CAF Champions League. The first leg in Kampala ended 3-2. A lone goal victory could have taken Iwuanyanwu to the finals but they bungled it and allowed the visitors to escape with a 1-1 draw in Owerri.
The next season was Wahab’s last, 1987-1992. Six seasons. That same season had yet another Ghanaian, Tanko Abubakar keeping goal for Iwuanyanwu. They were not as good as previous years. Ansah was part of the Black Stars squad that won silver at the Senegal ’92 Nations Cup.
The Black Stars defeated Super Eagles 2-1 in the semi finals, thanks to Prince Opoku Polley. In that game Ansa faced his former Iwuanyanwu mates, Okey Uche and Thompson Oliha. And at their Diarama Hotel in the Ngor area of Dakar, ‘Eddy Murphy’ and ‘Tommy’ remained friends.
More Ghanaians safe hands have continued to find their way to Nigeria. In 2016, Rangers won the Premier League after donkey years of failure. Their goalie was Nana Bonsu who like Ansah moved in from the Kumasi Porcupines.
Enyimba are bouncing with Fatau Dauda in the 2019 CAF Confederations Cup. Like Ansah, he played for the Black Stars in the Nations Cup[2103]. And the interesting aspect is that he has grabbed the Enyimba number one spot ahead of Eagles’ Ikechukwu Ezenwa. Thomas Afelokhai has also been relegated.