At the recently concluded Total African Under 20 Championships, Nouakchott 2021, I got lost when two names, Ivon Asaba and Delton Oyo appeared for Ugandan Hippos in the grand finale against eventual champions Black Satellites of Ghana.
The only Asaba I know is located in the Delta part of Nigeria and the Flying Eagles did not make it to Mauritania. I remembered my friend, Debbie Asagba, who worked at the Nigeria Football Association before death snatched him close to two decades ago. Maybe, this one could be his son.
I got it wrong. Ivon Asaba who wore jersey no.11and was pulled out against the Ghanaians does not have Nigerian background. He plays for Vipers in his country and was one of five players from the team who made it to the continental competition.
Reserve goalkeeper Delton Oyo is neither from Oyo nor related to our own Oyo Orok Oyo, the first Nigerian member of the FIFA Executive Committee. Oyo wore jersey no. 19 and watched from the bench as Skipper Daniel Afriye’s brace settled it 2-0 for the West Africans.
I was about asking my friend Ndubuisi Isima who lives in South Africa if there was another Isima after him and elder brother Okey. It was when I settled down that I realised that I mistook Hippos no. 10, Mugulusi Isma for Isima. He was born in Jinja.
Jinja reminds me of the the the last days of Idi Amin when Tanzanian troops cleared Kagera and Jinja as the self proclaimed Conqueror of the British Empire (CBE) ran away from country and battle and ended up as a fugitive in Saudi Arabia.
Field Marshall Amin was a boxing Heavyweight champion and also loved soccer. He was a staunch supporter of Enugu Rangers. When the Flying Antelopes defeated Express of Uganda on away goals rule in 1976, the team manager locked the losers in the guardroom.
That game turned out to be the last for Rangers striker Kenneth ‘Magician’ Abana. He cropped a serious knee injury that ended his playing career. It ended 2-2 with Kelechi ‘ Caterpillar’ Emeteole and Alex ‘Tempest’ Nwosu netting for the visitors. The duel took place on June 12, 1976.
Amin, killer of opponents and executioner of officers ordered the team manager to release the players. His reason was that they lost to his beloved team, Enugu Rangers. The Coal City Boys returned to Kampala in 1978 to defeat Kampala City Council, again in the Africa Cup of Champion Clubs (today’s CAF Champions League).
Asaba and Oyo are not the only Nigerian sounding names in Uganda. At the Lagos ‘ 73 All African Games, the man who won gold in Hammer Throw was Yaba Ochola, a Ugandan.The Idoma of Benue bear Ochola too and some of them live in the Yaba part of Lagos.
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At the Roma ’60 Olympics there was a Ugandan athlete named Aggrey Awori. The Awori of Lagos -Ogun axis would not know how the name came. At the Ethiopia ’76 African Nations Cup there was a Ugandan Crane called Dennis Obua. Another Obua, David, played in Scotland and was also a member of the Ugandan national team.
Outside soccer, Abubakar Atiku should visit this East African country were some christian brothers bear the name. There is Joel Okuyo Atiku, actor, model, lecturer. He belongs to Ugawood and frequents Nigeria. His father was Lt.col Gabriel Atiku. The younger Atiku was born in Arua. That name is found in the Ohafia area of Nigeria.
Many do not remember that Justice Egbert Udo Udoma once ruled Uganda in acting capacity as Governor General. He was Chief Justice there between 1963 and 1969. When Udoma returned to Lagos he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court.
General Yakubu Gowon would not forget Kampala. He was attending the OAU ( African Union) Summit when Murtala Mohammed sacked him as Head of State in 1975. Idi Amin could do nothing. He was born in Koboko in 1923, ten years before Gowon. It was too late to apply Koboko on those who sacked the Nigerian leader.
Kampala did not favour Gowon. He always had eggs splashed on his face there. It was funny that Nigerians once adored an attire known as Kampala Eggs. During the Civil War, a Nigerian delegate to a Peace Conference went missing and at the end peace remained elusive.
Joe Banjo, a stenographer who served as Confidential Secretary to the Nigerian delegation was abducted from his Apollo hotel( now Sheraton ) abode and was never seen alive again. After a long search, his body was discovered near a river in Kampala. That was in May 1968.
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was at the University of Dar Es Saalam at the time. One of his Political Science lecturers was Prof. Okwudiba Albert Nnoli who captained the Stanford University soccer team between 1962 and 1965.
Nnoli had led Government Secondary School, Owerri to win the Phensic Cup for Eastern Nigerian Secondary Schools in 1960. Another Nigerian, Claude Ake also taught Museveni. So did Walter Rodney, author of ‘ How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’.
Museveni was at the OAU Summit, Abuja ’91. I saw him and he thanked Nigeria for saving Liberia. I was gifted two of his books, I think by someone who.looked like his wife. There were talks that Chief Moshood Abiola helped him become president through the barrel of gun.
I found Asaba, Oyo and Yaba in Uganda. The Asagba of Asaba is an international. I will ask him what happened. The Alafin of Oyo was a boxer like Idi Amin, there will be time to exchange historical blows. Thank Heavens the Yaba in Uganda did not pass through Yaba left.