In his lifetime, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was an influential
figure in almost all spheres of life and his impact in sports cannot be underestimated. Apart from setting up Abiola Babes Football Club, he supported many Nigerians and African athletes with his wealth and global connections and was first to be named the Pillar of Sports in Africa by the African Sports Journalists Union (ASJU). More than two decades after his death, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 renamed the Abuja National Stadium after the late winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. That gesture was followed with a facelift of the near moribund edifice, under the Sunday Dare-led Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and its subsequent unveiling last week to the admiration of sports aficionados, write SEGUN OGUNJIMIand OLALEKAN OKUSAN.
IT was an eyesore. For years, attention was called to it but it all fell on deaf ears. All that has changed and the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja has now taken its rightful place as Nigeria’s pre-eminent stadium. The Abuja edifice has staged several sporting events particularly when it hosted the Abuja 2003 African Games.
The late Bashorun MKO Abiola contributed N11 million when the stadium was launched in 1989 was documented and while the sports philanthropist impact on sports cannot be quantified so much so that sports enthusiasts were pleasantly pleased when the Federal Government decided to rename the Abuja National Stadium after the late business mogul who spared little to the growth and development of sports in Nigeria.
Apart from hosting the 2003 African Games, the stadium has hosted major matches involving the national football team – Super Eagles but since August 2016 when it hosted the CAF U-17 qualifiers between Nigeria and the Niger Republic, no major matches have been staged there.
Following the renaming of the edifice as Moshood Abiola Stadium by President Muhammad Buhari in 2019 and since the assumption of office as Minister of Youth and Sports Development by Sunday Dare, some sanity has been restored with hosting of some significant events at the once-moribund gigantic structure.
Starting with ceremonial events like hosting the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach alongside Presidents of National Olympic Committees from 25 African countries. Remarkably, the stadium was also visited by the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
The minister has also been using the stadia as his official office where he operates from while the edifice had also hosted several key meetings. It has equally witnessed a lot of facility improvements; live has returned to the Velodrome which recently hosted the African Cycling Championship.
The multipurpose indoor hall which hosts events like basketball, badminton and other sporting activities have come alive. The tennis courts are now back to use while some amenities are now functioning well at the stadium.
Stakeholders in sports believe that apart from renaming the stadium after MKO Abiola, there must be conscious efforts from the government to restore the glory of the stadium.
From the former Director-General of the defunct National Sports Commission (NSC), Patrick Ekeji, the move by the government is commendable but the edifice must be maintained to be in tandem with Abiola’s ideal.
“The late Bashorun MKO Abiola name was synonymous with sports in Nigeria and he was a bigwig politician; he made a name in business and politics while his philanthropic gesture was commendable,” the former Nigerian international said in an interview with The Nation. He was a great sports lover and enthusiast. He has done so much for sports when he was alive and he deserved renaming of the stadium after him.”
Ekeji’s successor as DG, Alhassan Yakmut narrated how the late MKO Abiola helped sports and indeed football across the African continent:
“Chief Abiola did well for Nigeria and Africa in sports and by naming the Abuja Stadium after he is not only apt but befitting because his passion after the business was sports,” Yakmut said.
Former Super Eagles coach Adegboye Onigbinde said the naming of the edifice after Chief Abiola was equally in order even as he recalled his encounter with the late media mogul:
“The first time I handled the national team the Green Eagles in 1983, I was faced with a lot of problems the major being finance and no help was coming from anywhere when Chief MKO Abiola got a hint of it he sent John Zakari who played for Abiola Babes then to tell me to come and see him,” recalled the Octogenarian .“Before then, I’d never met him but I only read about him on the pages of newspapers.
“I went to see him, I had to join the queue of the people that wanted to see him but once he had seen me through the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, he ordered his aides to bring me indirectly and we talked for about two hours.
“He then told me that he heard all the maltreatment we were passing through in camp; he said where I came from they don’t run away from wars so whatever I need to have successful preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations I should always ask him henceforth. “But I did not go back to ask for a kobo; what he said that time renewed my vigour and it was a huge encouragement from him. That was the genesis of our relationship.
“In 1984, when we played the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in Abidjan, I didn’t know that Chief Abiola was around then. We were very close during his lifetime and he was very passionate about sports, especially football.
“He severally sponsored the national teams, be it football and others whenever the National Sports Commission was stranded financially.
“So it was a good decision by the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari to rename Abuja National Stadium after late Chief MKO Abiola,” Onigbinde added.
Gbenga Elegbeleye, another Ex-DG of NSC, described the move by the government to rename the Abuja National Stadium after MKO Abiola as laudable: “The fact remains that he (Abiola) was the Pillar of Sports in Africa when he was alive. He was a sports enthusiast and was so passionate about football.
“His former club Abiola Babes produced a lot of football stars for Nigeria; he sponsored a lot of athletes like Faliat Ogunkoya and others. He did a lot for sports during his lifetime.
“Renaming the Abuja National Stadium after him has given him a posthumous prominence and it’s the right thing for the government to do and I am 100 per cent in support of the decision.
“Abiola worked for it when he was alive. He was fully involved in everything that has to do with sports in Nigeria and even in Africa too. He pulled a lot of resources to promote sports in his days. So I am in full support of President Muhammadu Buhari naming the stadium after the late Chief MKO Abiola,” noted Elegbeleye.
Erstwhile President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Galadima, also hailed the decision of the government: “I think it’s the right decision for the Federal Government of Nigeria to rename the Abuja National Stadium after late Chief MKO Abiola.
“Anybody who has followed sports in the last 40 years will confirm that Chief MKO Abiola took a big role in sports development in Nigeria and he has sacrificed so much for sports when he was alive so we should appreciate him.
“He did so much for sports during his time and therefore, he deserves it and all of us should appreciate it.
“My only prayer is that we should maintain the stadium so that it should continue to enjoy the high ratings. It shouldn’t be left to deteriorate to the level that people would think that the place has been abandoned.
“The stadium should be given a priority and continue to maintain its befitting status of being one of the best in the world which would be good to the name of the late MKO Abiola,” added Galadima.
One of the direct beneficiaries of MKO Abiola’s milk of kindness and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bronze medalist, Falilat Ogunkoya, was emotional in her submission.
“I think Chief MKO Abiola surely deserved Abuja Stadium to be named after him,” the legendary quarter miller told The Nation.
“He did so much when it comes to Nigerian sports. He was the Pillar of Sports in Africa. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Chief MKO Abiola came to visit us in camp and despite the fact that Nigeria had a large continent; he gave all the athletes 200 dollars each.
“He was so much worried then why was it that we were there and did not win a single medal? That motivated us at the next Olympic Games in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 that we worked so hard to make Nigeria proud.
“I also remember we had another competition in 1989 in Barcelona, Spain, it was the World Cup for athletics, and he came and gave all the winners Kenyans, Ethiopians, Nigerians and all the medalists’ scholarships.
“He treated everybody like his family. Nigeria missed him especially in the area of sports. I hope one day we will find somebody like that in Nigerian sport. I mean somebody that will do something for his nation and mankind without looking back or expecting anything in return,” Ogunkoya said.
By the same token, Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games medalist, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi also spoke glowingly about the impact Abiola made on Nigerian sports.
“As a matter of fact, Chief MKO Abiola is still very fresh in the memories of a lot of Nigerian and African athletes precisely,” explained the former sprinter who represented Nigeria at the Olympic Games between 1988 and 2004. “I’m yet to see another sports-loving father, philanthropist, businessman cum politician and a freedom fighter like MKO Abiola.
“He meant so much to us in Nigeria, Africa and globally because of his love for sports; philanthropist gestures to all and sundry.
“I can never forget how many times I received a lot of cash awards, certificates and a lot of VIP treatments from MKO Abiola during my heyday.
“He visited us during major championships and games where he encouraged us to do our best and topped it up with mouth-watering packages instantly. I really don’t know where to start or stop acknowledging and giving him all the respect that is due to him.
“What Nigeria has done by renaming the stadium after him is just a tip of the iceberg and if there is much to be done for such a noble person, it has to be MKO Abiola.
“We are still waiting and praying for the next messiah that would come after him and most likely and hopefully surpass what he did to support the growth and development of sports in Nigeria and Africa,” Onyali said.
The sports minister has called on the private sector to partner the government in restoring the glory of the stadium, admitting that the edifice would require over $1.5m being in top shape to stage several sporting events.
Dare, speaking at the Moshood Abiola Stadium unveiling on June 12, 2020, said: “Abiola was a consummate sports lover. He invested his time and resources in sports development, particularly football. Not many sports administrators will forget Abiola in a hurry.
“It is, therefore, fitting and proper for President Buhari to have named our national stadium, an iconic monument after such an illustrious citizen and a lover of sports.
“This renaming beyond its symbolism will remain a reminder through the time of the indelible footprints Chief Abiola left in our political and sports development as a nation.
“The naming of this stadium will serve to beckon to other Nigerians with ways and means like Abiola to emulate him and embrace, support and invest in sports development.”
He, however, used the opportunity to tell Nigerians the progress made so far on the renovation of the Moshood Abiola Stadium most importantly the re-grassing of the stadium: “Processes and procedures have gone up (as regards the renovation of Abuja Stadium). It’s a normal standard of the vetting procedure. We are at the final stage in which the contractor would be mobilised to start (work).
“So I call on all Nigerians just to be patient. We are looking at almost $1.5m private funds. You can also see that this stadium is functional, I mean 75- 80 per cent functional. The grass does not represent functionality in a stadium. The swimming pool is working; the indoor sports hall is working, the 60,000 seats in the stadium are FIFA compliant, the chairs are okay, so we will get there very soon,” declared Dare. (The Nation)
