Obaba Museum

Have you heard about the legendary football match, between Nigeria and India where the latter allegedly beat Nigeria 99 to 1. No one however knows for sure, the year
this game was played or where exactly it happened, just the legend. I wouldn’t want to spend too much time narrating the story but the version I heard as a child was that the Indians scored with every shot on target
because the Nigerians could not see the Indian players on the pitch
and when they shot, the ball either transformed into a lion or multiplied into seven with the
Nigerian keeper going for the one he thought was the real one thereby catching
air or diving towards the opposite direction of the ball.

At other times, (just like in the legendary movie ‘Shaolin Soccer’) the ball transformed into a fire and the keeper had to run for cover to save himself from being burnt. This humiliation continued till Samuel Okwaraji (or Teslim Balogun) risked his life to score a goal for Nigeria. It was said that while other players were already terrified by the Indian players who were using voodoo on the field, Okwaraji manned up and decided to give Nigeria its first and only goal in the game which cost him his life. When he got the ball, it mysteriously transformed into a big stone but he kicked it in however just to secure a goal for his country. The goal created wide jubilation as the Indians had agreed to concede defeat if Nigeria was able to score a goal. Consequently, FIFA banned India from soccer.
Many of you reading this would agree with me that this story, despite being mythical, held sway for a very long time partly due to the fact that access to information was not as widespread as it is today. And since evidence/fact is central to history, this event can only qualify as a common Nigerian Folktale. In fact the common question many of us kept asking for was the evidence in videos and pictures, but at least you have the popular ‘Shaolin Soccer’to watch lol🤣.

The only element of truth in this story is the painful death of Sam Okwaraji and it occurred on a Saturday, 12th August 1989, during a 1990 World Cup qualifier match, between the Green Eagles and the Angolans. The tragic event occurred at the National Stadium, in Surulere, Lagos. Okwaraji collapsed in the 77th minute of that match and later died at age 25 of congestive heart failure.‎ An autopsy showed that he had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.

How come this myth circulated so much that it became a National tale?

Well the issue is not really about it’s spread but it’s origin. It’s still difficult to trace the origin of this story but there are numerous factors which obviously contributed to the spread of this story which, I must confess, was a masterpiece of folktale. The major actors were carefully chosen to sustain the spread of the rumour, lol, I know you’re probably trying to understand what I just said, let me explain. Sam Okwaraji, the player who was said to have died for example generated a lot of controversy among the Nigerian populace especially since he collapsed on the football pitch during a qualifying match. The fact that he could not be resuscitated quickly due to the faulty ambulance that won’t start, in fact a lot of people who were viewing from home had more questions as the TV went off for a while, so my best guess is that some mischievous tale bearers who were present physically at the stadium decided to contort some exaggerated stories to explain what happened after the Television went off. Well that’s just a speculation, I’m not establishing another rumour o.

Another controversial actor in this story is India, I mean the Indian soccer team. Many of us would agree that they have not really featured in world cup tournaments for a very long time, in fact, you rarely hear anything about them in the world of international soccer but this isn’t because of the match against Nigeria but because their team has not really been able to qualify for the world cup as they do not often meet the criteria.

Since the first World Cup Tournament was held in Uruguay 1930, India only qualified for the World Cup Tournament once in 1950 and this was because, the slots available from Asia, just like Africa, were limited. The Philippines, Indonesia and Burma who also got the invites withdrew before the qualification round, leading to India automatically earning a spot. After a while, India also backed out and this exit has been a subject of controversy. While some have said it was because FIFA has refused India to contest barefooted, others believed that the Indian team backed out because the nation couldn’t afford to take its team to Brazil where the I950 Cup was hosted.

Another reason this lie could thrive for long was the fact that credible information was not readily available at our finger tips. It not like every Emeka, Audu and Ojo could visit Google in a matter of minutes and tell our ominous fabricators that they should stop spreading toxic lies.
Honestly I feel that this lie was concocted by an elder of a community because, let’s be honest who questions the words of the elders in Nigeria you know, what an adult sees sitting down a child will never see even if he consults Google, lol.

Thank God today affords us the avenue to reach and verify information in nanoseconds, even with the prevalence of rumours and fake news, it’s much easier today to demystify such tales. Hope you enjoyed the story, thanks for reading through. Let’s know what you think in the comment section.