Oliseh made Bonfrere drop me for Dosu at Atlanta ’96 —Babayaro

Emmanuel Babayaro

Atlanta ’96 Olympic gold medalist, Emmanuel Babayaro, talks about his time as a footballer and his sojourn into the entertainment industry in this interview with ’TANA AIYEJINA

Not much has been heard about you in the football sector since you retired from the game. What are you doing now?

I have always been around but I guess because I am not a noisemaker, I probably have not been heard. I am now an actor, producer and music recording artiste. But I can never leave football; it made me who I am today. Right now, I own one of the most successful football academies in the country. Between 2006 and now, we have produced 12 national team players. So, I am actually involved in football. If they don’t hear about me in football, they definitely do in the entertainment world.

Which do you enjoy better, your time as a footballer or as an entertainer?

To be quite honest with you, I am enjoying my time in entertainment more than football. Entertainment was in me even before I became a footballer.  But God gave me the game to climb up the ladder. While I was about 12 years old, I and my younger sibling Celestine, then about eight, used to entertain people during wedding ceremonies and public occasions. I also performed individually and I got paid for that. My teammates in the national teams will tell you that I got into trouble because I was always singing and dancing while in camp. In fact, that was why I had problems with Fanny Amun, my coach in the Golden Eaglets. I will say I am in love with what I am doing now than when I was playing football, but the game brought me the success, on which I am riding on now in the entertainment industry.

Would you say you have made the desired impact in your new field?

I don’t think my impact is strong yet but I can say it is enviable. It’s actually not where I want it to be. The reason is because if you were a footballer before, people find it difficult to identify you as an actor. It’s enviable because I have received love from people in the industry and I have been able to discover talents that I am nurturing. I am not coming to the industry because I like it but because I have something to offer. It’s a slow movement but I am gaining grounds gradually, especially in the film industry. The acclaim has been as good as I would like it to be although the music aspect is slower but moving steadily.

You once released an album. Did it sell to your expectations?

I didn’t sell it; it was a deliberate act not to put it in the market. I remember my first video and how a TV station didn’t want to air it because they thought it was a one off thing. So, it was deliberate not to put it in the market and we distributed copies to friends and families. I wanted people to know that it was about the music first; what I have got to give to the world and not the money. And that is why it was never sold. The response I have received has been awesome especially the track I did with Cobhams titled Role Model. People say it could have won a Grammy. I am working on a new project and doing collaboration with notable Nigerian artistes. I am systematically trying to break that impression of what can a footballer do in music?

Did your parents support you and Celestine’s involvement in entertainment and football at very tender ages?

Don’t forget that we come from a ghetto; after school at 1pm, we got home and knocked ourselves around. We went play acting but we were also very good in school. And that had to do with our upbringing. In the ghetto, there is abundance of talent. So, ours was a case of talents being discovered.

When did you actually switch to football?

Even though we (with Celestine) were entertaining, we were still playing football but it wasn’t at a professional level. Football has always been an attraction for kids in the ghetto. I was a Mass Servant, a member of the Legion of Mary and several other groups in the Catholic Church. My mother was responsible for this. Due to this, I worked towards becoming a Catholic priest but football got the better of me. My mother used to sell bread in a small kiosk and every morning, I had to get to the bakery early or there would be a long queue of buyers. So, I always got to the bakery around 6am before people came.

The bakery was not actually opened then, so I would go to Highlanders Academy, owned by Babayaro, to watch those playing. I used to stand behind the goalkeeper but I was active even though I was not part of the action. Whenever the keeper missed a ball, I caught it and they clapped for me. One day, when one of the keepers was absent, Babayaro simply said, “Come enter net.”  That was how it began but I was actually discovered by Alhaji Sani Kotangora; he saw my talent and took me to Prof. Ajakaiye, who was then head of the Nigerian Agricultural and Co-operative Bank. The bank owned a club but he didn’t take me to the club because he said the coaches would say I am too young. So, he told Ajakaiye to sign me immediately and there in his office, I was given an employment letter. My first salary was N200. Next day, I reported to the team as a player and not someone who came for trials. That’s how everything started.

Then why did you adopt Babayaro as your surname instead of Kotangora?

I lived with Babayaro like a son and younger brother. We were about 12 kids living with him and he took care of us without discrimination. He had his biological brothers among us but you won’t know. I will never forget when I signed for NACB. I had an interview with a New Nigeria journalist and I spoke about how Bababyaro helped me. Because of that I told the reporter that I had adopted Babayaro as my trademark surname. He (Babayaro) didn’t even know about it until the newspaper was published. Babayaro is actually not his real name. He is Mohammed Sabo but Babayaro was a nickname given to him because he was always in the midst of young people. Any other Babayaro was after I started. Celestine took it up when we were invited to the U-17 national team. I told him, “How would they know we are brothers if we used different surnames. So, he agreed.

In 1993, you were part of the Golden Eaglets that won the U-17 World Cup. What was the preparation like on the way to the competition in Japan?

It’s funny how things turn out especially when you are much younger. We thought about horrible things because of the way things were going. Now we are older and now realise that was the best training we had. It was long term. Coach Fanny Amun sent my name as far back as 1991. He saw me doing amazing things in training with NACB during the Bankers Cup in Owerri and he told me he would invite me when he became U-17 coach. Amun is one personality I respect so much but the truth must be told; he lacked the coaching expertise at the time but what he lacked in expertise, he covered up with hard work. I know I may get a few knocks for this from him when we meet again but that’s the truth. He was more mechanical; we did more of running and running and little tactics. Musa Abdullahi took care of that aspect. But give it to him, Amun went everywhere in the country to get talents and we were together for close to two years before the competition. So, we were like brothers. Our success was due to more of planning and recruitment exercise than expertise.

How did you feel winning the U-17 World Cup?

We had officials giving us pep talk. A day before we left for Japan, I remember I and Celestine sat together after we had our medicals. We didn’t know we were thinking about the same thing and then we uttered, “So by tomorrow, we would be made for life? All those babes wey dey show, we go show dem when we come back.” That is how amazing it was. Then sports minister, Alex Akinyele, was a motivational speaker and he said we would be ‘made’ if we win the competition. After he spoke to us, we just wanted the competition to start so that we could just go there and pick up the trophy. We were all from the ghetto and wanted to be ‘made’. Winning the U-17 World Cup was even more thrilling than winning the Olympic gold medal.

You were first choice for the U-23 team ahead of the 1996 Olympics but coach Bonfrere Jo dropped you for Dosu Joseph when the competition began in Atlanta. What happened?

Dosu is my brother and whatever I say now won’t change anything. A problem I had with Bonfrere caused it. There are certain actions you take as a youngster and you are not guided. I will speak as I felt at that time based on my maturity and intelligence. I had been the first choice all through; I kept all the games we played before the Olympics. I’ll say what I thought happened. Sunday Oliseh was very influential in the team and Bonfrere had a lot of respect for him. Oliseh is like a brother to Dosu; Dosu was influential in making Julius Berger sign Oliseh before he moved to Europe. At the time, Dosu was to sign for Reggiana and what stopped him was a national cap. Everybody in the team was very good. So, when Oliseh tried to influence Bonfrere (to use Dosu), it was easy because whoever was in goal, would do well. Before our first match, Bonfrere called me to his room; Musa Abdullahi and Willy Bazuaye were there. You can enquire from them what I am about to tell you. This is what he told me and I quote, “Due to reasons best known to me, I’ll prefer to use Dosu. I don’t owe any player for inclusion and exclusion from the team.” He said he owed me that much because I was mentally and physically prepared. I felt slighted as a young man and I asked him, “If performance is criteria for being in the first team, have I failed in this regard?” He said, “No.” I am not going to lie to you, I started insulting him.

I told him to go to hell. Tijani Babangida got wind of what happened and he said it was for team interest. He was privy to what was happening. I called Dosu to my room and told him, “I want you to know that I will never hate you and undermine you in any way. I want you to know that I am human but my anger won’t be directed at you but Bonfrere. If I were in your shoes, I will take the chance too but I have everything against the coach.” He was okay with my explanation and we sat together after every game to analyse his performance. He told me to help him out in areas of improvement. After the Olympics, Sani Toro told me that Bonfrere told him that I was the best keeper but he kept me out because I was not disciplined. There are no hard feelings. I did what I did because of what I was at the time. If it was now, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did then. I use these experiences to train my players now.

What are your best and worst moments as a footballer?

I have several but I will choose an incident at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. I wanted to board a flight to Kaduna and a woman with an infant less than a year old, said, “Emmanuel Babayaro, place a hand on my child and bless him.” I said I wasn’t the Pope, how could I do that? After that, I went inside the toilet to shed tears. Another incident was when someone drove on top speed along Ogunlana Drive in Surulere. The car drove past and there was a loud screech. The driver reversed, sighted me and said, “Emmanuel Babayaro, God bless.” And he drove off. I never knew him.  I wouldn’t really say I had worst moments but I would have loved to feature at the Olympics after doing so well in preparation. Two days before the Olympics, I was in goal for the team, so it was a little bit disappointing.