Meet this remarkable Nigerian sports journalist who can do with a lift — right now
By Taiwo Obe
VICTOR AKHIDENOR, a sports journalist, had shown me a letter from the estate of late iconic Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti, granting him permission to do a short documentary he had proposed on the making of one of the hit songs of the Bohemian singer, “Expensive Shit”. It is the story of Fela, weed, the Nigerian police and all that. It should be fascinating, if done well.
“You are sitting on a treasure, young man,” was all I could find to say as I returned the letter to him.
Just a few minutes earlier, we had been discussing what we could do to find him financial assistance to solve his loads (as in pile, sundry, myriad, several…) of challenges, including sorting out his children’s school fees.
But it wasn’t until he was leaving that he brought out the letter, and it was more in passing than anything else.
He then brought out something else: a board game (which he created) with many tracks of Fela’s albums and snippets of his amazing life criss-crossing snakes and ladders, which he also has the estate’s permission to produce.
Can you imagine what this Felaphile has in his trove?
I was finally dumbfounded when he excused himself to use the toilet and he left a bulky book on my visitor’s chair. Out of curiosity, I picked the book and I couldn’t believe what I beheld. This book, if well-produced, should yield tons of bucks, contains thousands of quotes neatly arranged with pictures of Nigerian football stars and non-stars, dead and alive.
I am so sure that he didn’t leave the book there for me to see. He just needed to carry nothing into the toilet.
I quickly took the pictures of the cover and the back cover. As if I knew I would be doing this piece.
I was beyond shocked.
But, this guy wasn’t through with making me nonplussed.
As he made to leave, he handed me two books, his books, one published in 2013, with the title, Our Daily Mask. and the other, in 2014, entitled Papa Goose Rhyme.
Oh my, Victor.
Our paths crossed in 2015. He was one of the participants at a workshop organised by The Journalism Clinic. There was something excitingly different about him. I think he was almost always the first to arrive. He not also expressed delight, without any sense of guilt, about the sumptuous meals served during the tea and lunch breaks, he also relished eating them with gusto. Yet, he didn’t miss the instructions.
He was then on The Cable, one of the better online newspapers out of Nigeria. Then, one day, he called to tell me he had started his own sports website.
Oh.
OK, why not write about it on The Journalism Clinic’s Facebook page, I implored him.
He did — and the style got me. I confess that I hadn’t before then taken notice of his writings. I now had to.
My name is Victor Akhidenor and I am a “graduate” of The Journalism Clinic. After winning the Diamond Award for Media Excellence in the sports reporting category in 2015, I decided to start my own sports website www.sportsng.com.That’s a summary. Here’s the “full” story. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria and attended two nursery schools — Tender Age and Mount Carmel; two primary schools — Saint Paul and Our Lady of Apostle; two secondary schools — Edo State University Staff School and Saint Gregory’s College; two universities (for now) — Ambrose Alli and Pan-Atlantic. I have a Bachelor degree in Economics and a Master degree in Media and Communication. I also have a certificate in Media Enterprise from Pan-Atlantic University as well an E Diploma in football coaching. I have work experience in insurance claims processing, marketing, credit analysis, and corporate communications in the banking sector. I started my journalism career in 2011 at Complete Communications Limited publishers of Complete Sports. I joined TheCable in April 2014.
One day, 7 June precisely, I saw his Facebook status update and I sensed that he was in some trouble.
It reads: “The voice of a 42-year-old habitual school fees offender does not carry much weight. Did I just say ‘much’?”
I called him and, just as I guessed, he was having difficulties paying his children’s fees. I did what I could.
We needed to talk…
Which was one of the reasons he visited me….
So, he has this website which has some exciting content but not one single ad.
So, he has these permissions to do the documentary and board game on Fela without the wherewithal for much else.
So, he has this fantastic book on Nigerian football which is in need of a publisher, who could possibly pay him an advance fee.
But, there are bills to be paid.
If you got up to here and want to help, one way or the other, please get in touch with me via [email protected].
Yes, this is an SOS.
Victor, I just had to do this….for your, er, sanity.
