By Kunle Solaja.

Football, as a universal language, occasionally weaves poetic coincidences into its grand narrative — moments that transcend generations and geography. One such connection exists between Brazil’s immortal Pelé and Nigeria’s legendary Rashidi Yekini, two men who shared not only a striker’s instinct for goals but also a birth date: October 23.

It was perhaps destiny that their paths crossed memorably at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final in Tunis.

Pelé, the global icon and guest of honour, stood before the Nigerian and Zambian teams during the pre-match handshake. Observers that afternoon noticed something striking — the way Pelé lingered when he reached Yekini.

What began as a formal handshake turned into a warm embrace. The Brazilian maestro patted the Nigerian’s head, as if recognising a kindred spirit — another man who understood what it meant to live for goals, to lift a nation’s spirit with every strike.

Pelé and Yekini were, in many ways, mirror images across continents. Both were symbols of joy and national pride, embodiments of raw power and precision in front of goal.

Pelé, born in 1940 in Três Corações, Brazil, became the first global football superstar, lifting three FIFA World Cups and scoring over a thousand goals.

Yekini, born 23 years later in Kaduna, Nigeria, was Africa’s own colossus — the country’s all-time top scorer whose roar after netting Nigeria’s first-ever World Cup goal at USA ’94 remains one of the sport’s most iconic celebrations.

Today, both men are gone — Yekini passed away in Ibadan on 4 May 2012, while Pelé departed on 29 December 2022 in São Paulo. Yet, their birthdays — and their intertwined legacies — continue to echo through the corridors of football history.

If they were alive, Yekini would have turned 62 today, and Pelé, 85. But somewhere in football’s celestial fields, perhaps the two are still trading smiles, talking goals, and reminding the world that greatness — true greatness — never dies.

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By GBENGA GBADESIRE

It’s been an incredible 21 years since one of Nigeria’s foremost football technocrats, Patrick Okpomo, who was a former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), died in Lagos.

‘Sekito’, as yours sincerely fondly called him, was a panache of sports administration with a panacea for its challenges to the envy of his colleagues who couldn’t match his suave administrative attributes.

No wonder CAF and FIFA quickly grabbed him the moment the Nigeria factor dumped him. And like the star that he was locally, he soared globally so much that Nigeria had to shamefully recall him in 1999 to head the Technical Committee of the U-20 World Cup, which the country hosted.

Okpomo’s showcase of international football competence was courtesy of CAF President, Issa Hayatou who saw at close quarters the immense administrative expertise in him, having learned soccer administration under him when his Cameroonian government seconded him to Nigeria for training years earlier before his CAF presidency, and it was Hayatou who God thereafter used to elevate him to CAF and FIFA platform the moment Nigeria dumped him.

Leveraging on Hayatou’s goodwill and magnanimity, the rejected soccer technocrat suddenly became Nigeria’s unofficial soccer ambassador as he quietly climbed the CAF hierarchy.

And with grit and benevolence, he single-handedly got CAF to name Chief MKO Abiola the Pillar of Sports in Africa, a novelty title unheard of in the annals of sports diplomacy to the envy of his detractors.

 An award which was to herald MKO’s popularity to an international level, which even his Abiola Babes FC couldn’t fetch him in their heyday.

But in all of this, the unassuming facilitator of this momentous award remained humbled, modest, humane and germane to all and sundry.

Remaining in the background, unseen or heard, in line with the civil service ethos that moulded him outside of his academic attainment at the University of Lagos and later the University of Alberta, Canada, Okpomo valued his integrity to the admiration of those close to him.

Though he was NFA Secretary General at three different times, namely 1984-1987,1989-1990 & 2001- 2002, our paths never really crossed until 1989 in Bauchi during that year’s FA cup final between BCC Lions and Iwuanyanwu Nationale.

Earlier in Lagos yours sincerely had written a story in Prime People/ Vintage People which he took offence to, and the moment I ran unto him at Hamdala Hotel Bauchi in company of NFA chairman, then Group Captain Anthony Ikazoboh with then Captain Emmanuel Okaro, he told Ikazoboh “Oga be careful with Gbenga “, to which the once provost marshal of the Nigeria AirForce replied as he came to stand by my side “Pat dis one no fit do me anything”.

With that Bauchi meeting resolving our differences, the stage was set for a robust and brotherly relationship with the trio of Okpomo, Okaro and Ikazoboh, so much that Ikazoboh was chairman at my wedding in Ibadan and to date, General Okaro, rtd and I are still friends.

‘Sekito’ and I became so close that I could order his wife, who shares the same Mary name with my Iya Eleja mom, to cook for me in their house, and whenever he was packing from one house to another, I was always around to help move items.

In continuation of our relationship, it wasn’t long before he started inviting me to join him at Ikoyi Club 1938 and Sagamu Golf Club to play golf, walking the length and breadth of the courses, teeing and putting.

The club became my relaxing point after my Unipetrol hustle so much that each time Emmanuel Maradas, publisher of African Soccer Magazine and I met at the office of my benefactor: former NFA chairman cum MD of Unipetrol, Alhaji Yusuf Garba Ali, and I needed to savour him with the touch of Lagos hospitality, our port of call was Ikoyi Club to the admiration of the Chadian- journalist who later offered me the editorship of his London based magazine twice with tempting pays which my village boy self-turned down.

As a buoy of our relationship, Okpomo, who had seen how comfortable I was doing in my logistics and petroleum marketing business, courtesy of my godfather, Alhaji Yusuf Garba Ali, swayed me to become an Ikoyi Club member rather than being his guest always, since I could afford it.

Though a lot of people didn’t know, I joined the Club in 1998 as a golfer, contrary to the misconception some people had when I won the election to become the Entertainment Chairman of the Club in 2006.

One remarkable thing happened at my induction date when Okpomo and I didn’t know that I ought to wear a complete agbada or corporate suit that night, and not the Senegalese guinea brocade that I wore.

Right on the queue, when he realised it, he dashed to his then Obanikoro area house from Ikoyi (a drive of 40minutes) to get me a suit only for the induction ceremony to be over by the time he got back, and I had to be rescheduled.

 He was such a jolly good fellow/brother from another mother who wished for the progress of all and sundry, giving to the needy and quietly paying school fees for so many people that I knew.

You could then imagine my quandary when on the 1st of August 2004 I learnt that ‘Sekito’ was no more and not even my converging at his hometown in Inland Kokori, Delta State with the likes of Kola Abiola, Fanny Amun and Amaju Pinnick in November later that year could make yours sincerely believe in the farewell gathering that forlorn afternoon in the sea side town.

But alas, it’s been 21 years of witty Okpomo’s journey of no return since he went for a pile operation at St Nicholas hospital.

Gbenga Gbadesire is Publisher of The Session   

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By KUNLE SOLAJA.

Twenty-one years ago today, Nigerian and African football lost one of its most admired and influential figures, Patrick Okpomo.

Aged 60 at the time of his passing, Okpomo’s legacy remains etched in the fabric of Nigerian sports administration and continental football governance.

Widely regarded as perhaps the most amiable sports administrator Nigeria has ever produced, Okpomo combined integrity, humour, and deep knowledge of the game in a way that endeared him to players, officials, and fans alike.

A three-time General Secretary of the then Nigeria Football Association (NFA)—serving from 1984 to 1987, again from 1989 to 1990, and finally from 2001 until he died in 2002—Okpomo’s steady leadership and quiet brilliance helped steer Nigerian football through critical phases of its evolution.

Beyond national borders, he was a towering figure on the African football scene. Okpomo served for over a decade on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Inter-Clubs Committee, played key roles on the Cup of Nations Organising Committee, and functioned as a CAF General Co-ordinator. His work also extended globally as a FIFA instructor, where he helped groom a generation of football officials across the continent.

In the wake of his passing, tributes flowed in from far and wide. Mustapha Fahmy, then Secretary General of CAF, described Okpomo as “one of CAF’s faithful members” and “a talented administrator whose sense of humour made him admired and respected at both continental and international levels.”

 He concluded with a sentiment many shared: “The vacuum he leaves behind will be difficult to fill.”

Today, the most visible monument to Okpomo’s legacy stands in Asaba—the Patrick Okpomo Football House, which serves as the secretariat of the Delta State Football Association. It’s a fitting tribute to a man whose entire life was dedicated to nurturing the game and building solid administrative structures.

Yet Okpomo’s most enduring legacy may not lie in buildings or titles, but in the example he set: a football technocrat who married professionalism with personal grace, and whose memory continues to inspire sports administrators across Africa.

Perhaps in a poetic nod to his lasting influence, it was on his 15th memorial anniversary that CAF took a bold new direction in its internal reforms—a move many saw as symbolically aligned with Okpomo’s vision for excellence in football governance.

Two decades on, Patrick Okpomo remains not just a name in Nigerian football history, but a benchmark for what a sports administrator can be: principled, passionate, and profoundly human.

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