By Ikeddy Isiguzo
ONE chilly December night, 27 years ago, Emmanuel Chagu, former national basketball coach and I were reviewing Nigeria’s basketball over drinks at the Bauchi Sports Club.  Chagu, he passed on some years back, charged my anticipation as he kept telling me he had a surprise for me.

Ever so often, he made a survey of the parking lot. I had no idea what he was planning. I stopped taking him serious as the harmattan peppered me. I wondered why I agreed to cover the African Handball Championships in Bauchi by that time of the year.

Chagu must have forgotten about surprises when a lanky man slipped into the room and started pumping hands. He must have been well known for his arrival stopped brought a lull to activities with people falling over themselves to greet him.

He walked across to our table and Chagu introduced him as Mallam Babayo Shehu, Director of Sports Bauchi State, who was to resume as the Director of the National Sports Commission, NSC, in the new year. He had just returned from a foreign trip related to the handball event.

This was my introduction to the “mystery man” who a panel of interviewers rated above others who wanted the job. Babayo refused to grant an interview.

My visit to his office, where his secretary made no effort to stop visitors from reaching him (the door to his office was open most of the time, and you could see him without entering the office) did not produce a change of mind. Sani Toro, former Secretary General of Nigeria Football Association, NFA, was that Babayo secretary.

Babayo’s appointment, in 1985, marked the first time a Director General of the NSC was in office since the departure of Isaac Akioye (late) in 1981. Babayo’s selection was controversial, but he made friends easily with his humility and ability to work with others.

My meeting with Babayo was a victory of sorts for me. Another friend Maharajah Mamud, who as a Major was Executive Secretary of the NSC, was one of those who interviewed Babayo. He had refused to tell who was selected. I had found Babayo on my own.

When Aisha Falode informed me of his death on last week Thursday, I still felt sad. I had not seen him for a while and I missed what should have been the final chance last August when Toro suggested that we see him. I excused myself; I was hurrying back to Lagos.

I lost a friend who never brought his status to the relationship. We related as if we were age mates and he took advice serious though he was the typical civil servant. He freely accepted blames for other people’s failings, they never bothered him.

Some claim that our chummy relationship made me to save him from the acerbic criticisms that dominated sports reporting then. They were unfair to the man and me. There were instances Jimmy Omagabemi (Mary Onyali’s father-in-law), former internationally rated sensational sprinter, and one of the assistant directors of sports under Babayo, took me to Babayo, offering to apologise for reports he thought were too critical. Babayo told him we were friends.

Vanguard once published his telephone numbers and asked the public to keep calling him on some issues. The calls were so many that he complained. It was too late, the public had the numbers.

He was humane beyond the call of duty. He gave, not only materially, but himself. When I was moving house, he came from his Ikoyi home to see where I would stay. He told me later he wanted to know how safe the place looked. On the Sunday our daughter Chidalu was dedicated, he made it to the reception, clutching a pocketful of anti-malaria tablets.

He was that type of friend. He belonged to a vanishing breed that valued friendship.

In the past three years he has been ill and out of circulation. The last time we saw, he was frail, but insisted on seeing me to his gate. It took some effort for him to make it down the steps, yet he persisted.

My condolences to his family and friends and all those who this humble man impacted their lives. May he find peace in the Almighty.

Too late, Mr. President

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan held an overdue reception for some national teams, including the controversial Eaglets who finished second at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Hear the President, “The 2011 All African Games in Maputo, Mozambique, and the 2012 Olympics in London, England are around the corner.

Now is the time for our sports administrators, the various technical teams and our gallant sportsmen and women to do all that is necessary to ensure that Nigeria not only come tops at the All African Games but also emerge among the top nations at the London Olympics.”

There is hardly much the administrators can do to meet your expectations from Games other nations spend years in preparations.