Bodyweapon Coach Mourns Late NUGA Champion, As Taekwondo Academy Marks 10th Anniversary

IKPO IGBINOBA

What started off as a boisterous end of year and anniversary celebration of Bodyweapon Taekwondo Academy at the weekend turned sombre when chief instructor, Emmanuel Banjo recalled the events that led to the death of former Nigeria Universities Games (NUGA) 2014 gold medallist, Miss Ayomide Esho.

Before her death, Miss Esho was one of the stars of the club and winner of several national laurels.After the usual training session at the Frontliners Primary School in the Agbado area of Lagos State, the double-barreled celebration got underway.

The Bodyweapon Academy, founded in May 2010 was celebrating its tenth anniversary which it couldn’t mark in May  due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

The club was also drawing the curtain on  its activities for the year.In his remarks, Coach Banjo gave a brief history of the club from its humble beginnings.

According to him “We started this in the Kola area of Lagos state. From Kola, we moved to St. Paul’s African Anglican Primary in Ayinla area of Alagbado in Ogun State. We had to relocate from there to Ebenezer Comprehensive Secondary School, Ojokoro because of the presence of miscreants in the area. From Ojokoro, we moved to Frontliners Primary School which is our present abode.

Banjo noted that in the ten years of its existence, the club has achieved a lot. He said “Between 2010 and today, we have come a long way and achieved a lot in terms of raising champions and future leaders who live by the five tenets of taekwondo, namely etiquette, modesty, perseverance, indomitable spirit and self control.

“Unfortunately”, Banjo continued “We have also had our fair share of tragedies. We have lost two members of this academy. “In 2018, we lost Ayomide Esho and this year we lost Mr. Abdulkarim Mustapha who was not just a student of the academy but also the father of the youngest black belt to be produced by the academy, Abdulbasit Mustapha”.

The cheerful atmosphere became gloomy as the recalled the events which led to the death of Ayomide who was a student of Osun State University.

According to the coach “On September 6, 2018, Ayomide and I were involved in an accident. We were rushed to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi. 

“She had a fractured leg and I had multiple fractures on my leg, my hand and internal injuries.  On the day I went for my surgery she was even the one who encouraged me to be strong. 

“I got a lot of strength from her encouraging words and my surgery was successful.

“When it was time for her surgery, there were issues. At first, it was a case of wrong equipment and when that was addressed, then there was a strike action by the doctors. 

“She was moved to a private facility, where she had the surgery. Unfortunately, few days later she died from complications arising from the surgery”.

“Mr. Mustapha died in an accident on August 13 this year.” 

The coach craved the indulgence of the guests and students to observe a minute’s silence for the deceased.

Father of the occasion, Dr. Oludemiloye Gbenupo and mother of the day, Mrs. Adetola Oluwaseyi were full of praise for coach Banjo for his resilience in keeping the flag of the academy flying in spite of the accident.