10022018 - 2019 : How we'll stop Buhari - Opposition parties

I was better in
football than in
athletics — Urhobo
•How they chased us out of our
father's church
Toni Urhobo is a name that needs very little introduction
to followers of athletics in the country. He was an athlete
of repute who was to become a coach, a period he
produced some of the best athletes Nigeria has ever known
in track and field. He also became the Chairman of Athletics
Association as it was known then. He spoke with Jacob Ajom
on his early days as a school boy all-round sports star.
Excerpts.
How did you start your sporting
career?
I come from a home of a father
who was an evangelist and at the
same time he was sports loving. He
loved sports. My father was one of
the earliest Pentecostal founders in
Warri, that was in the 30s. He founded
a Christian church called GKS,
God's Kingdom Society, in Warri
with branches all over Lagos, Benin,
Port Harcourt. I was the 5th son of
my father. He was also into
education. He used to be a
headmaster. When God called him,
he resigned from teaching and
formed the church. He had a big
battle with his family because they
thought he was crazy; how could he
leave government job for preaching
the Gospel. It was a very serious
battle with his family, which they
regretted at a latter date. When I
confronted my uncle upon the death
of my father, several years after, he
told me they never knew that the
church thing was a lucrative business
and so they didn't support him
because how could he have resigned
from government work and started
carrying microphones and
loudspeakers and saying I want to
preach the word of God. But my dad
was very popular.
He was first a Roman Catholic,
very knowledgeable in the Bible, then
later in Jehovah Witness. When he
got the vision, when the Holy Spirit
spoke to him to go out and preach
the Gospel, he had serious battle with
his former Jehovah Witness
members. Although I was a kid then
in Port Harcourt, I wouldn't know
much, some members of the Jehovah
Witness came and fought him
seriously, that he was preaching
against their doctrine. He was
almost killed in Port Harcourt. And
so he faced a lot of trials and
tribulations. Even the Catholic
Church community saw him as a
child of the devil, that he was being
used to attack the church. He was a
very brave man.
How did this influence your
sports background?
At that time,he built the church in
such a way that he introduced sports
into the church. I remember, there
used to be a football competition
among the various branches of the
church. It was a fanfare, a week-long
event called 'the Feast of Tabernacle.'
Delegates from Lagos would come
with their football team, the ones
from from Port Harcourt would
come up with their own football
team. It was like a gala. He loved
sports and participated in it. He sent
his children to school. My elder
brothers, two of them attended
Government College Ugheli and I,
too, attended Government College
Ugheli. It was one of the best schools
in those early days. My father died, I
would say mysteriously, abruptly.
Because he was sick for just about
three days. I was just seven when my
father passed on at the age of 49. I
really missed him because after his
death, everything fell apart in my
family.
We, our father's children suffered
a lot of persecution from the man
who took over the church. The man
who took over the church married
my mother and started maltreating
us. He stopped us from going to
school. He stopped my elder brother
from going to school. I was in class
2 in the secondary school in 1961.
Our step father, had a problem with
my elder brother. The year my father
died was the year my elder brother
was going to the UK to study. That
was in 1952. He was on his way out.
He had already moved to Lagos to
take his flight to the UK when my
father passed on. He had to postpone
his flight, he returned to Warri for
the burial.
While abroad, they stopped
sending his school fees and asked
him to stop schooling and return to
Nigeria. But he refused to come
back. As we were growing up, we
were made to understand that they
saw him as a threat; that as the eldest
son of my father, he would one day
want to take over his father's church
and so they made things difficult for
him. He also went and married a
white woman, that was the woman
who helped him throughout his stay
there. By the time he came back, they
summoned him to a meeting and
asked why he refused to return when
they asked him to do so. They broke
out with him, and he left them. The
executive of the church sat and
suspended him,and told the whole
church that nobody should have
anything to do with him. They went
FG treats sports people with disdain, Semitoje cries out
Former Super Eagles
defender, Isaac Semitoje has
accused the Federal
Government of treating sports
men and women who brought
honour to the country with
disdain, adding that he will never
advise his friend, son or relation
to play for Nigeria because the
country was not worth dying for.
Semitoje who played for the
Super Eagles as a player of then
Iwuanyanwu Nationale Football
Club of Owerri in the 1990s, said
in a chat with newsmen that
football in particular will never
get it right because politicians
have taken over and advised that
and dislodged the tires of the car that
they bought for him. He was
excommunicated from the church.
Few months after that they stopped
us from going to school. For one and
a half years I was virtually at home,
with the explanation then that
education was not good for children;
just like what Boko Haram stands
for; that western education makes
children to go away from God. The
man who took over the church was
doing all that because his own
children had not grown up to school
age yet. But when his children became
of school age, they sat again and
changed the rule to favour those ones
to now go to school. It caused a lot of
problems in the church. Eventually, I
left the church, my sister left and
everybody in my family left the
church our father started. In the
process, two of my brothers died
mysteriously.
When I was home, after they asked
me to stop schooling, my Games
Master -- because I was an
outstanding sportsman – made way
for me. As a matter of fact, I was
admitted into Warri Township
School, Primary 5. I was in a private
school and for one to get your First
School Leaving Certificate one had
to go to a government school so I
decided to go to Township school
Warri. I was to go into primary six
but they said there was no space so I
had to repeat primary 5. I passed to
primary 6 the next year and sat and
passed my standard 6 exam. There
was something significant about my
admission into that school because
they said there was no space. The
Headmaster asked me, who was then
an uncle of mine but I didn't know.
He asked me if I had any talent
because the class was full. "Can you
run?" he asked. I asked him to bring
his best runners in the school so I
could compete with them. He went
and brought them. They timed us,
and I beat all their best sprinters.
Then he asked if I could play football.
During the break we played and I
was an instant hit. I was offered
admission immediately. And I
became popular in the school
because I was outstanding in sports.
I was not among the best
academically, but I was the only one
offered admission into Government
College. They were other brilliant
boys all over the place. But I believe
it was God, because two of my
brothers had already attended Govt.
College Ugheli. When I went in for
the interview, the Principal, a white
the country must return to the
basics if it must grow.
“I cannot advise any of my
friend, son or relation to play for
Nigeria because they are not
worth dying for. Can you believe
that the Nigerian government is
still indebted to us? Just look at
how ex- Internationals in the
country are being treated. If some
of us had not travelled out of
Nigeria to work out something
for ourselves, only God knows
what would have happened to us.
Football in Nigeria has been
taken over by politicians, we can
never get it right until the right
thing is done.”
•Toni Urhobo
SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 10, 2018 — 47
man, only asked me, David, how is
your brother Edmund? And what
about Victor, and I said both were
fine. I was given an automatic
admission based on what my
brothers did there while they were in
school. But before then, they took us
out for sports. During the interview
they tried you in all sports - athletics,
football and all. I scored very high
marks that after the interview, it was
the Principal that went to drop me.
As things turned out, I learnt some
of the sports through my elder
brothers. Each time they were home
on holiday, I saw how they played
and I observed with keen interest. I
was the best poll vaulter in all the
schools in the mid west then. When I
got into Government College, from
my class 2, I started breaking all
records. I had that natural talent as
all I needed from you was for you to
demonstrate what you wanted me to
do and that was it.
Our school had HSC and it was
almost impossible for junior students
to break into the school's senior team.
I was one of the few who broke into
the school team from my class three
or four. I played alongside HSC
students and they used to call me one
name: Odeshu. When you are so
good, they call you son of the devil.
Like Messi is sometimes addressed
“It is very disgusting and
surprising that after serving this
country with the whole of your
heart as an ex- International
player, you get nothing in return.
I’m not too happy with the way
the government of this country
do treat us. I thank God that
some of us struggled to find our
way out of the shores of this
country may be we won’t have
been able to survive it,” he
lamented.
Speaking about the Super
Eagles World Cup campaign,
Semitoje said, “I’m not against
the national team, I want them
to do very well at the World Cup
as an alien. I was so fast, so athletic
and they never got me. I was never
injured. My talent was so special that
after my class five, my brother who
was paying my fees said he did not
have money to pay for my Higher
School education. I said okay. I
returned to Warri.
One of the best schools then was
Hussy College owned by two private
individuals O. N. Rewane, the elder
brother to the popular Alfred Rewane
who was a lawyer. His children were
my friends and when they came to
our house they said to me, Toni, we
want you to come to our school. I
told them I had no money for further
studies. They assured me not to worry,
they would talk to their father. The
next day they came to our house they
informed me that their father
wanted to see me. When I met their
father, he told me if I wanted to come
to his school, he would offer me
scholarship. I just kept quiet because
I never believed it could happen. But
when I summoned courage to speak,
I told him that if he wanted me to go
to his school I would go on one
condition: and that was if my friend
would also be offered admission and
a scholarship. I told him I could not
leave Government College and leave
him(my friend) behind. He asked me,
is he also a sportsman? I said yes,
because he threw javelin and also
played football. Rewane then said he
would give him a scholarship as well.
This my friend was Temi Ejoor, who
later became the Military
Administrator of Enugu and Abia
States.
That was how I ended up at Hussy
College. After that I was invited to
the Midwest Academicals. When we
were preparing for the National
Sports Festival, they now removed
me from the football camp to
athletics. The argument was that
football has just one medal and there
were always substitutes, while
athletics had multiple medals. I was
an all rounder in the sprints, long
jump, high jump, pole vault etc. So
they removed me from football and
it pained me because I was better in
football than in athletics. I was a top
striker, I wore No 9. As they removed
me, that marked the end to my
secondary school football career.
When we were through with that,
we went to All Nigeria Secondary
Schools competition. I set a national
record in Long Jump and eventually
I became the number one athlete in
the whole country. I set numerous
records.
To be continued
but our players must bear in
mind that to play at the World
Cup, you must
h a v e
something to
offer. We must
go back to the
basics if we
want our
football to
grow.”
•Semitoje
C
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