My Meeting With Nigerian-British Athlete At Train Station
By Jude Idada
He stood there tall.
His legs well formed.
Feet in luminescent green trainers.
His torso housed in a smorgasbord of foreign brand names.
Face as hirsute as the hair on his head.
I looked at him from where I stood in the ticketing hall of the train station at Yaba.
All of us pinning to buy tickets to Abeokuta from a ticketing booth, in which the ticket agent was insisting on collecting only cash.
I noticed the huge bag he had on the ground upon which was boldly printed.
Great Britain.
Complete with the Union Jack.
There was a petite lady in a boubou, with an expensive camera hanging from her neck standing beside him.
They both looked ruffled and a trifle upset.
I knew instantly from my observation what he did for a living.
An athlete.
So, I walked over and with a warm smile on my face said to him.
“You shouldn’t have left us to run for another country.”
He turned to me.
Aghast.
There was a sudden angry light in his eyes.
A startling irritation.
His come back was swift.
“Blame your country, not me.”
I held my tongue.
Instinctively realizing that I had touched a raw nerve.
His nose flared.
As though disappointed that I didn’t say anything more.
It was apparent he was ready to tear into me with an avalanche of angry words.
I just stood there and kept smiling.
He promptly left.
My friend who I was traveling with decided to go look for a POS to get cash from and hurried off.
Leaving me too, like the petite lady to stand there and wait.
So, I opened up a conversation with the lady.
I found out that unlike him, she was a youth-corper who had just finished her service year in Abeokuta and was preparing to leave.
And that we had some things in common, one being that we both attended one of the only two universities in Nigeria.
University of Ibadan.
The rest universities standing under one umbrella called – ‘The rest’.
We spoke about life and the all that it entailed as time ticked on.
Knowing that the train was to leave at 8 a.m and it was 7.30 a.m, I excused myself and walked over to the ticketing booth to ask if there was anyway we could purchase the tickets pending when our friends returned with the cash.
The ticketing agent said there was nothing she could do.
So, I asked for the manager or supervisor.
He came over and I explained our predicament.
Giving him a puppy face to enforce the nature of our desperation.
He agreed to help and asked how many tickets I needed.
I told him the number.
Including the petite lady and the hirsute athlete in the count.
In less than ten minutes.
Both of them arrived with cash, laughter and short breath.
They had somehow bonded as they searched for money.
With stories of them having to go into an I-Face-You-You-Face-Me, to rouse the POS operator from her sleep.
We paid for the tickets promptly.
And him now smiling, exchanged his hand for a handshake.
“Thank you, bro.”
“You are welcome, my brother.”
With that we all ran towards the train being that it was near 8a.m already and it was about to leave.
It was while we were seated in the train that he told me his story.
“… I used to run for this state. And trust me, I suffered so much. When I say to you that the disorganisation and utter neglect was phenomenal, you will not believe it. I mean the sports people were left to fend for themselves completely. Nothing, I mean no support. Even in competitions it continued and that is the reason why you see most of the athletes do so poorly at the events. You will see them fighting for refunds of the money they spent to get there from the government the night before their event. How do you expect them to do well when their mind is not settled, their is anger in their hearts and their body is not relaxed? It is not rocket science.”
You could see it in his eyes.
The pain of recollection.
He continued.
“Do you know that when I finally gave up and left this country to Great Britain, being where I was born. I started running for that country three days after I arrived. Three days! Can you believe that? Three days! Everything was fast and smooth. Top notch organisation and support. They made you feel wanted and loved. They took care of your every need. I cried for Nigeria. Ahhh, trust me, I cried. Why do we need to suffer so much to represent our own country? Why? Why will the officials be using the sportsmen as pawns for their power and money games? Why can’t we just make the simplest things work?”
He bit his lower lip.
Then sighed.
“I am from Delta state. Even as I speak to you now, my father has no idea that I am in the country. If he knows, he will be alarmed and will beg me to go back. He has totally lost hope in the country. This is my father who was a fearless patriot o. A man who believed completely in the potential of this country.”
Again he bit his lips.
Shook his head and sighed.
“My father was the first microwave engineer in the country. A brilliant man who was desired by many countries. They begged him to stay back in the UK when he finished his studies, but he refused and insisted he would come back and use his skills and intellect to build Nigeria. He returned all those years ago. And what they used his eye to see in this country only God can attest to. He was totally rubbished. The man has now returned back to our hometown in retirement with complete disillusionment. Telling everybody who dares to listen to him that his greatest mistake was returning to Nigeria. All of us his children he insists we should make the best use of our talents in countries that values it. He practically begs us not to make the mistake he made.”
He exhaled loudly.
And laughed sadly.
Before he continued.
“But this country is in my heart. Right here in my heart. I run for Great Britain but I support Nigeria. In every meet I am always rooting for the Nigerian athletes and teams. I am always hanging out with them. They are my naija people forever. I was one of them for long. I know what they go through so I trip for their resilience and celebrate their toughness.”
He leaned forward.
“Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume are my people. My friends. We all hustled this athletics together. If you know what those ladies have gone through to get to where they are now, you will respect and celebrate them even the more. I am telling you. They are self made. Don’t let anyone steal their shine or belittle their achievements. Even Tobi was supposed to have broken the world record years before she finally broke it but for the lack of support from this country. There was a world meet where the night before her event, she was chasing Nigerian officials to find out details of her event, hotel etc. Can you believe it? An athlete that was to run for her country the very next day was struggling for support and information from officials of her own country. It is like your own country is your enemy. You have to not only beat your competitors on the race track, you also have to beat the officials of your country that are sabotaging you with their inefficiency and corruption.”
I looked over at the petite lady.
Her face was set as though at a funeral.
The sadness was palpable.
My friend who was sitting by me kept on sighing and sighing.
The train trudged on.
So slowly, if you had killer stamina, you could run faster than it to Abeokuta.
He continued.
“I support these athletes. As many of them as I can. Ese Brume for instance. We are close. I am always there for her with all I can. A lot of other athletes, I sent them equipment, shoes and the likes. I do training workshops and all of that for them. Because for me, I know that I am lucky to have a country I could transfer my talents to, but they don’t. so what I can do with material resources is what I do.”
Again he sighed loudly.
Before he continued.
“What will you say if I tell you that I use my sports to teach mathematics and STEM to children in the UK. And when I do it. I do it as a sports man from Nigeria who is teaching and giving back by using sports to push the study of mathematics and the sciences. I wear tracksuits with Nigeria boldly written on it. I want them to know that my allegiances are also to Nigeria as it is to Great Britain.”
“Wooow!”
“Yes, wooow. So, please don’t think I am a traitor to this country or anything like that because I run for Great Britain instead of Nigeria. I had no choice. That is the truth. I want to excel. I want to rise to the top and with Nigeria I wasn’t able to do it. But now I am doing it. Winning races as I transverse the world. Improving by the day. It is all about support. See how well Tobi and Ese are doing now because they have support. Imagine how well other Nigerian athletes can do if they have support? I promise you they will conquer the world. I can bet you on that.”
I cut in there.
“I totally feel your angst and I understand what you are saying. I only said what I had said to you because I am a patriot and want to choose Nigeria first in everything I do.”
“I am a patriot too. This is my country. I will always support it with what I can do. But first I have to become something in other to get the wherewithal to support it. If I didn’t leave to run for Great Britain and get all that I have got in terms of money and connections, how would I have been able to support all the Nigerian athletes that I support? How would I have been able to do what I do?”
This time I am the one who sighed.
He continued.
“Please look at me as a living sacrifice. The one who had to go, so that others can thrive because of what he has been able to send back by going. Look at my running for the country of my birth as what I had to do because the country of my heritage didn’t think what I am and what I have was of any value to them. It is not a betrayal, it is just a decision that anyone with wisdom will make.”
I stared at him.
Captured by his words and his passion.
This guy who had introduced himself as Sylvester Emeka Juwe
This guy who had told me before that he holds a bachelors and masters degree in Data sciences and Artificial Intelligence.
This guy who told me that he is currently doing his Ph.D in the United Kingdom.
This guy who works in a top tier global firm in that country yet finds the time and space to run at events around the world.
He smiled.
It was bright and happy.
And said with equal enthusiasm.
“But my guy, be that as it may, I still believe that Nigeria is great and will be even greater. Because even the Great Britain that I am in is not perfect. Isn’t that why I have to come to Nigeria, and travel all the way to Abeokuta to see a doctor, who is one of the best practitioners of sports medicine, to treat an injury I got while running.”
My eyes opened in surprise
He laughed.
“You see! Even you are shocked. Yes, there are jewels in this country. People whose worth is not celebrated or appreciated. Even then, this country is still a great country. It is just the people that are their own enemies of progress. When I say people, I mean from top to bottom. Leadership and followership inclusive. Each one turning a blind eye to the effects of their actions and refusing to acknowledge how it contributes in small and big ways to the bringing down of the country on different levels and in different ways. Everyone pointing fingers at another person but themselves and laying the blame at other doors but their door. Leader and follower in willful and intentional denial of their culpability in the sorry state of the country. All of them sabotaging the country and sabotaging themselves and giving the ones amongst them who truly have genius no option but run to other countries. Who would think that one of the best doctors in sports medicine is in Abeokuta and an athlete who is running for Great Britain and has access to free medical services in that country will come all the way to Abeokuta to treat his injury. One day soon, this doctor I am going to see will leave this country to practice somewhere else, and someone like you will walk up to him and accuse him of betraying this country by choosing another country over Nigeria…”
Cotonou
Jude Idada
April 18, 2023
