By Patrick Omorodion

If you describe someone as a dynamite, that means he is explosive. That is the moniker of Dr. Daniel Igali, the president of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation. I asked him how he came about that sobriquet and he said it was a Canadian compère that started it all. 

That when he won the Canadian National Championship in 1997 and climbed the podium to receive his medal, the announcer said his style of wrestling was explosive and thus introduced him as Dynamite Daniel Igali. He added that the name became more pronounced when he went on to become a world champion later.

That explosive style of wrestling he has now transformed into the works he is doing for Nigeria through wrestling. The story of the Eniwari-born wrestling legend is like that of a raw natural mineral resource that went through a burning furnace to become a precious gold. As a young wrestler in the late 80s and early 90s, Nigerian sports administrators had him in their team but either didn’t appreciate his value or didn’t know he had potential to be great in the sport.

Though he was in the country’s wrestling contingent to the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada in 1994, he didn’t win any medal. However, it took the eyes of a Canadian professional to identify the great talent the young Igali possessed. He was advised to stay back with a promise that they will make him a wrestling champion. And it took a well-planned six years programme for that target to be realized as Igali won the 69kg wrestling gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

In between 1995 and 2000, he won so many championships which prepared him for the Olympic glory in 2000. He knew exactly what the Canadians did to turn him, a raw talent into, not only a national, Commonwealth and world Champion but an Olympic gold medalist. After retiring from active sports, he returned home to also help turn the raw talent here into African, Commonwealth and world champions. Even though he was initially frustrated by officials of the sports ministry, he forged ahead because he had a vision for the sport in the country.

Knowing how difficult it could be to make serious contributions from outside, he fought, not desperately though, to get into the board of the wrestling Federation. His contributions were minimal as a board member but became more noticeable when he eventually sat in the driver’s seat. He is one of the few Federation presidents who does not wait for the sports ministry to give him allocations before taking initiative.
He realizes how difficult it is for the scarce resources allocated to sports by the government to be released to the Federations. Thinking out of the box, and realizing that the bulk of Nigerian wrestlers are Bayelsans and the state also has a rich reservoir of raw talents, he approached the state government which equally has sports-loving governors to key into his dream of building a standard wrestling gymnasium in the state.

The gymnasium was applauded by the governing body of the sport in Africa which approved continental championships to be held in the state thereafter. Knowing how he grew into a world-beater through constant training and participating in competitions, Igali ensured his wrestlers were constantly training and participating in competitions regularly too.

When money was not forthcoming from the sports ministry, his state was always there for him and the wrestling team. That is why even though Igali eulogises the sports ministry for the support he gets doing his job, he specially thanks the Bayelsa state governor and government for “always being there for me”. When you talk about having a square peg in a square hole in today’s sports administration in Nigeria, Dr. Daniel Igali is a great testimony to that fact.

One thing going for Igali is the fact that as a former wrestler, he knows what the wrestlers need to get results. His passion drives his goals and he sees to it that coaches implement his plans to achieve his set targets. So if the coaches are not delivering the message the way it is supposed to be, he removes the toga of president and assumes that of a coach. That is why more often than not, he is seen on the mat practicing with his wrestlers.

At the 13th African Games which concluded yesterday in Ghana, Team Nigeria wrestlers garnered a total of six gold medals from the women and a couple of silver and bronze from the men. They left from Accra, Ghana to Alexandria in Egypt to participate in the African Wrestling Championships which is prerequisite to participating in the Olympic qualifiers which holds in the same city. And to prove that their feat in Ghana was no fluke, the women beat all to the gold medals in their respective categories again. The men also proved their mettle, winning a couple of silver and bronze medals.

An excited Igali, told yours truly from Alexandria that five of his female wrestlers were in the semi finals of their categories late evening yesterday and a win for them is a ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympics. He sure has his eyes on leading his wrestlers, especially the women who have conquered both Africa and the Commonwealth, to add an Olympic medal to their basket of trophies. Many stakeholders are already asking, what happens to wrestling and wrestlers in Nigeria if Igali quits the stage.

My colleague, Tony Ubani jocularly told me, “we will insist he is retained because he is doing a good job”. I see reasons with him but will want to see Igali move up the ladder, to become the next Sports Minister of Nigeria to do for Sports generally what he has succeeded in doing for wrestling. Politics aside, the person who the cap really fits now is Daniel the Dynamite Igali.