Psychology is just one weapon that can crush Ghana Black Stars in the crucial World Cup play off against Super Eagles. Segun Odegbami shook Ghana in 1978. They still dread him in Accra.
Should Odegbami join the Eagles on the trip to the Ghanaian capital, that will be a psychological boost. Black Stars are down but against Nigeria in the field of play, they are ready to die to cancel the shame of the Cameroon 2021 African Nations Cup.
It is so easy to weigh Ghana down mentally. Members of the Supporters Club should drop their suitcases and go for Ghana Must Go (GMG) bags. Carrying such bags to Accra will send a message that Black Stars should forget the World Cup ticket.
The Supporters Club should rehearse Victor Uwaifo’s track, ‘Guitar Boy’. It is another weapon that will jar the Black Stars. Uwaifo was Bini, Austin Eguavoen hails from Benin. This is remarkable.
The Nigerian contingent will touch down at the Kotoka International Airport. The airport is named after Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, Ghana’s Chief of Defence Staff in 1967.
In April 1967, Lt. Samuel Benjamin Arthur led Ghana’s second military coup which was codenamed ‘Operation Guitar Boy’. The subalterns who organised the mutiny chose the name from Uwaifo’s track which was also popular in the country at the time.
Kotoka and his guard were gunned down at the spot where Kotoka Airport stands today. Arthur and Lt. Moses Yeboah were sentenced to death and faced firing squad at Labadi Beach. Second Lieutenant Ebenezer Osei- Poku was lucky to be sent to jail.
Ghanaian leader, Gen. Arthur Ankrah banned Uwaifo’s Guitar Boy. What an irony that Ankrah was Ga. The Ga of Ghana trace their origins to Benin. They migrated from there during the reign of Oba Udegbedo ( 1299-1334).
Eguavoen should go to the Oba of Benin for royal blessings before the trip to Accra. Playing Uwaifo’s Guitar Boy will be remarkable, for Uwaifo was also a sportsman. The late music maestro won silver in High Jump at the 1961 All Nigeria Athletics Championships.
The Bini say, ‘Oba no dey go transfer’. The present Oba could decide to watch the game. He was an Ambassador before becoming a king.
His dad, Oba Erediuwa, then known as Prince Solomon Akenzua, was on the Nigerian delegation to the peace talks between Nigeria and Biafra, at Peduase Lodge, Aburi in 1967. The man who presided was Gen. Ankrah.
If I had my way, Odegbami will be the face of the Super Eagles. He should board same flight with the team, wear same tracksuits but with ‘Mathematical’ boldly written on his own.
Mathematical is more popular than Odegbami in Accra. They have not forgotten the Ghana ’78 African Nations Cup.
The Black Stars and the Green Eagles were drawn in the same Accra Group A, alongside Zambia and Burkina Faso (Upper Volta). Ghana defeated Zambia 2-1. Nigeria beat Upper Volta 4-2.
Odegbami scored twice to become the first to score a brace at Ghana ’78. Two other players, George Alhassan(Ghana) and Ben Aziza (Tunisia) equalled that later. The Black Stars were not comfortable with Mathematical.
Nigeria and Ghana met in the next game. Odegbami dazzled on the right wing and in 33 minutes his goal put Nigeria ahead. The 60, 000 crowd was quiet. The Black Stars struggled until14 minutes to time when Willie Klutse saved them with the equaliser.
Coach Fred Osam- Duodu could not neutralise rampaging Mathematical. That was a strong Black Stars squad of Opoku Afriyie, Karim Abdulrazak, George Alhassan, Mohammed Polo Ahmed, Skipper Awule Quaye, James Kuuku Dadzie, Adolf Armah and keeper Joseph Carr.
Four of them, Abdulrazak, Polo, Dadzie and Armah made CAF Team of the Tournament. Odegbami was the only Nigerian picked. Emma Okala, Christian Chukwu and Adokiye Amiesimaka were not.
The Black Stars ended the championships as champions. Nigeria lost to Uganda in the semi finals to the relief of Ghanaians because they did not want to see the Green Eagles in the grand finale against the hosts.
Odegbami shared the Golden Boot with the duo of Afriyie and Phillip Omondi of Uganda. Each of them scored three goals. Mathematical could have scored more if Tunisia did not abandon the third place match with Nigeria in the 42nd minute.
Afriyie scored only once, in the opening match against Zambia, before scoring the two goals that beat Uganda in the final. Tunisia’s withdrawal did not help Odegbami but he has remained a superstar in Ghana.
I frequented Ghana with ‘Big Sheg’ between 2000 and 2003. He worked out a competition between Nigeria and Ghana Academicals. The Nigerians were sponsored by Shell Petroleum while Volta Aluminium Company sponsored Ghana.
Whenever Odegbami stepped into the Accra Stadium, shouts of ‘ Mathematical, Mathematical’ filled the air. From Kata International Hotel, where fellow Shooting Star, Sam Kofi Asante was waiting, to La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, where we met ex- Green Eagle, John Orlando, all I could hear was ‘ Mathematical’.
This man is still very much around. I am sure his presence in Accra will be significant. Even when the Gen. Mohammed Buhari coup of December 1983 got Odegbami holed up in Ghana with Phillip Boamah, his admirers were still screaming ‘ Mathematical’ not knowing that the man had run out of cash.
In continuation of the Psychological war, the Super Eagles could Lodge at Mensvic Grand Hotel. It is on Second Lagos Avenue, in the East Legon part of Accra. I advise journalists to try Ange Hill Hotel also around Lagos Avenue.
One arm of the Supporters Club should move into Airport West Hotel. The location is Augustus Akiwumi Road, Accra. That road also has something to do with Lagos.
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Justice Augustus Omolade Akinwumi was a Lagosian who became the Second Speaker of the Ghanaian parliament in 1958. He studied in the UK before settling in Accra.
Another band of the Supporters Club should check into La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Labadi. One Ghanaian source whispered to me that the hotel was built with Nigerian oil money.
The story is that a Nigerian dictator who was looking for international support, gifted the wife of a Ghanaian leader more than enough Petro dollars which she used to build the hotel. When tongues started to wag, Madam First Lady sold the hotel.
The supporters are not short of songs. I could teach them some incantations to taunt Black Stars.
When you sing: ‘Alimao Alimao, Shankara Shankara’, the players will understand. It was what they got when they approached a voodoo priestess to help them win a match. They recited it all around Labadi Beach but still lost the game.
I remember that ex- Black Stars keeper, Richard Kingston was embarrassed when his wife came to confess in a Lagos church that she bewitched her husband.
After all these, the Eagles should enter the field bubbling with confidence. To beat the Black Stars in Accra and again in Abuja, is a task that must be done.