MATHEMATICAL SEGUN ODEGBAMI: A Sportsman and Intellectual Humanist By Austin Isikhuemen
Austin Isikhuemen | Contributor on politics and business-related topics
On March 22, 1980, we listened to the irrepressible Ernest Okonkwo on Radio Nigeria. We were many. Mostly secondary school students. We gathered around the radio set listening as if hints about the WAEC examination questions of that year were going to be given! The volume of the radio set was only slightly lowered when it started vibrating at the maximum volume. We were listening to live commentaries from the Africa Cup of Nations final.
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Then he scored. Ernest Okonkwo went berserk, his voice thundering away in ecstasy. We exploded in joy, some jumping up and down while others, more ascetic guys, called for calm to enable us to listen to the continuing analysis by the numero uno sports commentator in English-speaking Africa.
He must have mentioned the Mathematical Odegbami ten times. The goal had been scored in the second minute of the much-anticipated final at the National Stadium in a place called Surulere in faraway Lagos.
In the 42nd minute, Mathematical doubled our joy. The second goal, from the foot of the same man, sent the nation into a frenzy. The Algerian team was being turned into ball boys by a superior force in Shagari’s Nigeria. By the time the third goal was scored by Muda Lawal in the second half, we knew the match was over.
There was no way Aloysius Atuegbu, the one they called Blockbuster, Khadiri Ikhana, gangling Emmanuel Okala, and other compatriots on the football pitch would let down President Shehu Shagari, watching intensely with pride in the state box.
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The Green Eagles, later renamed Super Eagles by Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, had delivered and won the first Africa Nations Cup for their country. Olusegun Odegbami had etched his name in Nigeria Hall of Sports Fame! The national euphoria did not wear out for months. The gifts of a house and Peugeot 504 given by the President to each player and coaching team were as unprecedented as the victory itself. I can still recall seeing Khadiri Ikhana in his sparkling white 504 coming to Ekenwan Campus of the University of Benin for light practice when I stayed there in my first year, early 1981.
This story is not about that game, although its recall provides a superb prelude to a story about the man, ‘Segun Odegbami. His exploits outside participatory sports are as legendary as the joy he brought to Nigerians on the football pitch. He has gone on to great things with the same dexterity with which he handled the round leather that earned him the sobriquet that Earnest Okonkwo bestowed on him and which has stuck, many decades on.
My immense respect for the man was re-awakened when our paths crossed at a local eatery called Stomach Care along the railway line on Agege Motor Road near Onipetesi in Lagos. While a manager in Guinness, we frequented Stomach Care, which we cherished for the “native touch” to its cooking.
The environment was not quite alluring, but the atmosphere of unsurpassed bonhomie and convivial camaraderie was irresistible. So was their cuisine that sometimes made us leave the free 3-course meals in the company dining room to go and spend money at the eatery.
It was at Stomach Care that I met Mathematical Odeggbami physically for the first time in the company of my late friend Julius Singerr and ‘Layi Adeyemi, the owner, now late, of Fumman Juice and chemicals business. Unlike most superstars, even those who falsely claim that status, Egbon ‘Segun exuded no superiority airs.
For someone who was preparing to write WAEC at the time, he was already a household name in the African Continent and beyond, he related as a contemporary.
Even today, that we have become friends on social media and relate there frequently and on some WhatsApp platforms, ‘Segun Odegbami never ceases to amaze. Like he did yesterday when I called him to express appreciation for his efforts in bringing Kadiri Ikhana’s plight to the public space, a call that has already yielded immense positive responses.
They were football teammates forty-five years ago, but Mathematical is still in touch and taking Kadiri’s matter as his own!
Lafiaji, Lagos. 17th July 2025.
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