IKPO IGBINOBA
Dr. Musa Oshodi
Former Vice President of the Nigeria Judo Federation, NJF, Dr. Musa Oshodi was on hand at the weekend in Lagos to avert what could have been a national disgrace.
Oshodi, who is the chairman of the Oyo State Judo Association delivered the master stroke which saved the national judo trials for the 12th All Africa Games scheduled for Rabat, Morocco from August 19 to August 31, this year.
With all set for the weekend trials billed for the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, the judokas at the last minute decided to boycott the event.
Through their representative on the federation board, Amos Ilya, the judokas drawn from all over the country raised three pertinent issues to which they sought immediate answers.
First, they dismissed the trials as a fraud since according to them, the NJF had already submitted a list of judokas for the All Africa Games to the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The second issue was about the federation’s ranking of judokas which they claimed was a fraud since it was done by an individual.
The third issue was what the aggrieved judokas called preferential treatment of some judokas as regards their weight categories.
The judokas insisted that until the questions were satisfactorily answered, they were not going to be part of the trials.
Secretary of the federation, Abimbola Adesiyan addressed the three issues raised but his explanation didn’t cut the ice with the judokas. Some elders of the sport also joined in the appeal but the martial artists stuck to their guns.
Judo enthusiasts who had thronged the venue to witness the event started leaving in droves. For an event scheduled to commence at noon, the judokas were still adamant by 3pm.
All hopes of having the trials had vanished when Dr. Oshodi who was a member of a four-man jury for the trials arrived.
Other members of the jury were Suleiman Damisa, former national coach Edokpolor Ihaza and Obed Ogunedo.
Upon arrival, Dr. Oshodi went into a closed-door meeting with the judokas.
One of the judokas who was at the meeting in a chat with P.M. EXPRESS revealed how Dr. Oshodi convinced them to participate in the trials.
According to the judoka “After listening to our grievances, Dr Oshodi said we had done well by complaining.
“But he said boycott of the trials was taking our case to the extreme.
“Dr. Oshodi assured us that all our complaints would be addressed by the appropriate authorities in due course.
“He said boycott of the trials would give a wrong impression about Nigerian judokas as a bunch of undisciplined athletes.”
“Dr Oshodi said boycott would also deny Nigerian judo the opportunity to be on the big stage in the upcoming All Africa Games.
“You all came from different states, far and near to participate in these trials and now you are backing out after all the stress you went through to arrive here,” Dr. Oshodi was quoted as saying.
At this point, the judokas yielded to Dr. Oshodi’s appeal and the trial eventually commenced at 7. pm, seven hours behind schedule.
The judoka revealed that it was easy for Dr. Oshodi to convince them because he is a mentor to many judokas in the country.
The trials which ended on Sunday afternoon was sponsored by the chairman of the Lagos State Judo Association, Mr. Olaunji Disu, a Deputy Commissioner of Police and Commander of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police command.
DCP Olatunji Dish, sponsored the Lagos trials