ODUFFA: Football game elections pitch two villages together in Aninri

Elections of new leaders of Oduma Football Federated Association (ODUFFA) would hold on January 1, 2026. Already – like always – tempers are rising, as the contestants and their supporters draw swords and are beginning to fight dirty on social media.

At the centre of the contention lies crucial assumption that the association’s presidency is, in fact, the only serious position. Although football usually bring the 18 Oduma villages together, contest for ODUFFA presidency always divide them.

Two men has stepped out, vying for the all-important spot in Oduma football community. Mr Augustine Uwanekwu is from Amagu community while Mr Samson Okechukwu is from Amorji Oduma.

The little we know about the ODUFFA presidencial candidates

Augustine Uwanekwu (alias Mbe Kwuoto), about 37 years old, schooled at Central School Oduma between 1994 and 2000. An avid sports lover, Uwanekwu has participated in all sports activities during his primary school days, representing his school more than once in Aninri and around Enugu State.

At Community Secondary School Oduma, where he furthered his education, Mbe – as he is popularly known – left even bigger imprints. Again, he was in sports and also made marks in Man-O-War society.

His aspiration to join the army after his graduation, however, suffered setback. So Mbe returned to Oduma and resumed his passions: sports and politics.

He won the ODUFFA’s best goalkeeper of the year four consecutive times. Retiring from playing Amagu team, Mbe was appointed it’s coach. In matter of months he had beat it to shape and won ODUFFA trophy two consecutive times, making him the only coach to achieve such a feat in Amagu football history.

Mbe kwoto has served several administrations in different capacities in Amagu autonomous community. Currently the Treasurer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oduma ward 2, Mbe gets around a lot.

His leadership skills and his boundless energy are behind his mass following and popularity in Oduma and beyond.

In the other hand, Samson Okechukwu is from Amorji. Much is not known about his childhood as some alleged he had lived and schooled in the North until his adolescence age.

One time president of defunct National Association of Oduma Undergraduates – the association he helped to destroy – Samson is a moderately successful builder by local standard. Although a lover of football, he never play for his Amorji community in ODUFFA tournaments. Sometimes, he is tapped to officiate matches.

But Samson Okechukwu – popularly called Sammy – is allegedly an irredeemable gambler, literally living in bets houses and playing Visuals irresponsibly.

In his first campaign speech before Oduma online communities recently, he proposed to convert ODUFFA to women league where men’s participation would be abysmally minimal.

“We know why he said that,” Ekene Nwachukwu from Ukete village told Info Wars, adding that Sammy is a first-class womaniser.

How Amorji and Amagu are reacting to the elections

Nearly every person in Amagu is “fully supporting” Augustine Uwanekwu for ODUFFA presidency, several informal surveys show. According to sources from Amorji, there are reasons – apart from competence question – why Sammy is not enjoying such acceptance in his own place.

“He impregnated three village girls across Oduma and denied all of them,” a man from Amorji said in anonymity.

“Second, our people (Amorji) fielded a great candidate, a man who could have given ODUFFA noble job. That young man is the people’s choice; he is loved among Oduma sports community.

“Sammy is no match to this man. But it was Sammy who vowed that ‘over his dead body’ should he step down for the man whom Amorji as a community had nominated. The man has since withdrawn from the race.

“Amorji can’t afford to bring shame to its name before Oduma by supporting a man we’re sure would disappoint ODUFFA. We can’t send a third-rate candidate while we have some excellent men in Amorji. Sammy must withdraw or he can go ahead, alone to the polls,” the source concluded.

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Breaking: Bayelsa deputy gov collapses in Govt House

Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has collapsed this afternoon at the Government House in Yenagoa.

He was rushed to the Federal Medical Center, Yenagoa for immediate treatment.

At the time of filing this report, there is no official statement about the incident. But Deputy Governor’s media aide, Doubara Atasi, has confirmed the development although he refused to give details, Punch reported.

It appears that Ewhrudjakpo, 60, has been sick for sometimes. He was conspicuously absent when Governor Douye Diri defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last month.

Governor Diri decamped alongside all members of the state House of Assembly. But Ewhrudjakpo’s position in the matter, until now, isn’t known.

Details later

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EFCC arrest Chris Ngige, former Anambra Governor

Chris Ngige is facing yet another tough time this Yuletide season. Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), armed to the teeth, stormed his residence at Justice Mohammed Bello Road in Abuja.

Rumours first flew around that the former Anambra State governor was kidnapped. But his media aide, Fred Chukwuelobe, has cleared the air.

Ngige’s route to power has been unusually uphill and filled with thorns. During his brief reign as the governor of Anambra State, he was kidnapped inside Government House by gunmen, constantly humiliated by Ubah family, and finally sacked by Court of Appeal.

Even as he later became senator and minister for Labour and Productivity, Ngige had continued to suffer in the system.

Weeks ago, his convoy was attacked. Although Ngige was not in it, the assailants succeeded in killing one of the Senator’s guard while injuring several others.

EFCC was yet to make public statement but it’s clear that Ngige is in for trouble.

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“Lekki Tollgate killings wasn’t up to level we can call massacre” – Lai Mohammed

For many Nigerians, Lai Mohammed has reopened the wound of Lekki Tollgate massacre.

Appearing on Arise TV yesterday night, Mohammed said it was misleading for international and local media to brand the incident as massacre.

Recall that Nigerians, frustrated over the brutality of the defunct SARS, arose in nationwide protests in 2020. The government’s response was again unusually brutal, especially at Lekki Tollgate. That fateful day – October 20, 2020 – heavily armed law enforcement agents and soldiers opened fire on harmless protesters and murdered countless number of people in cold blood.

In his characteristic hyperbole and shameless lying, Lai Mohammed said in a national TV that no Nigerian was killed at Lekki Tollgate.

“If a man has a goat and the goat does not come home one night, he will go out to look for that goat. Five years on, nobody has come forward to say, ‘My son went to the toll gate and didn’t return,” Lai Mohammed lied.

According to the former minister, it were policemen and soldiers, not protesters, who were killed.

“Massacre is fake news. Thirty-seven policemen were killed, six soldiers were k!lled. This is what I kept saying,” he continue.

Notorious for his habitual lying habit throughout his days in Buhari’s cabinet, Lai Mohammed was deeply hated. And it didn’t help that he was serving under an administration which thrived in errors. He needed to lie many times everyday.

His fresh interest in the Lekki Tollgate incident may be part of the broad campaign for President Bola Tinubu’s second-term bid in 2027. Nobody knows. Or it could be part of covert actions to right the country’s image before the international community at the time when US President Donald Trump is highlighting the Nigerian politicians’ alleged complicit in the ongoing atrocities in the country.

Tinubu is still widely believed to have used Federal Government to orchestrate the massacre.

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