Nigeria: Olympics – Ogba in Holy Land for Divine Grace
About 50 percent of the Nigerian delegation to the London Olympics will be from track and field. Athletics offers Nigeria the brightest prospect of medals and the man who pilots the affairs of this sport, Solomon Ogba, has been in the holy land of Israel for four days now to pray for Nigeria’s success.
To him, prayers are part of the preparation. Ogba has committed so much to the preparation of the athletes, raising funds where the National Sports Commission failed and sometimes motivating athletes from his personal purse.DeltaState, where he served as commissioner for sports for eight years, has been handy in many ways.
If Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan was not approving training grants for athletes of Delta origin, he was hosting some sports events meant to prepare the athletes.
And having gone through the rigours of preparations in spite of the disappointments from the federal Governent, Ogba felt that the best step now was to hand over Nigeria’s team to God.
“Ogba has gone to pray forNigeria’s success. He went fromLondonafter watching Blessing Okagbare beat the best in the world at the Crystal Palace Samsung Diamond League,” said a member of the Athletics Federation. He has repeatedly said that God would complement his efforts and those of the athletes.
Ogba formally became an Evangelist three years ago, about two years after declaring that he was a born-again christian.
“One thing is to pray, another is to do the right thing for who does the wrong thing and relies on God to right his wrongs may not be blessed at the expense of those who have done the right thing,” said one Nigerian sports official who commended the efforts of Ogba but regretted that the National Sports Commission did not adequately help the Athletics Federation in their preparation. That has become a tradition inNigeria.
Category: Sports
