Presents real President Cup
Do you know we have three kinds of lies? Lies, damned lies and statistics. And when the three lies play out at same time, you get faces coming out like the color of Manchester United shirts... and you hear people turning the air blue with various expletives.
Just years back, a drama played out at the fast developing golf course in Abeokuta, host of that year’s President Cup. If you must know, the President Cup is a worldwide golf game where a sitting President gets a dose of honor. Even though Nigeria in those years was sitting on its head and then maximum ruler, Aremu Obasanjo, could not even pin point a pitching wedge from the golf bag, a golf honor must still get to him. Abeokuta provided the stage.
Weeks before the event, the nation’s golf professionals were unduly on a trip to cloud nine. Why? They read in a poster that the President Cup would carry a hefty purse of N5 million. Then on air in Abeokuta, a jingle was running over and over like a mantra that the pros’ purse would be N4 million. So, it was with great hope that the pros left their various base and headed for Abeokuta. A day to the event, a then record of 90 professionals from across the nation had arrived Abeokuta to do battle for the better part of N5 million. But then, aren’t we all entitled to some moment of dreams? The problem here is when we get awake, usually the rocket motor must have failed and everyone plunging back to earth. It was like this in Abeokuta. There was no N5 million...not even N4 million. All on the table for the pros was N2 million. Rather than hit the tee, the pros simply melted out of Abeokuta.
“But who told the pros that we were going to pay them N5 million?” the man who put the whole event together, the late Chief Oluwole Olumide, the Apagun Pote of Egbaland, retorted. “I must tell you that I am thoroughly disappointed in the pros. Everyone dumped them and I decided to pick them up. But see the mess they have caused now. I have not seen a bunch of such rude people in my life. They came around and we told them we had N2 million for them. They just went berserk. They refused to play. Even their executives were begging them and they still refused to play. They were just shouting OBJ brought this and that. Who told them the President gave us money? They are just rude and careless people. But I don’t want to blame them. I’m blaming myself. A lot of people are now blaming me for trying to raise those pros from the dust. Anyway, I’ve learnt .my lesson. Some of them are really calling to beg, but I will surely watch my steps next time.”
Too true, going by events just of recent, a Nigerian pro is the poster child for grimness. But the heck, who told them they were going to swim in seas of gold in Abeokuta?
“We are no kids”, Europe based pro, Morgan Atako raged. “We knew beforehand what we were coming to play for in Abeokuta. I saw the poster which mentioned N5 million. Besides, I arrived Abeokuta three days to the event. And all the days I stayed around, the radio was always coming with the news of N4 million. So how this came to N2 million, I can’t really say. You see, we have a problem in this country. We just refuse to come to terms with issues. We maltreat each other a lot. I am a member of the Euro Tour. I know the way things are done. At least a week before any event, the pros’ purse is already deposited at the Secretariat. Why should we be haggling over price on a tournament day? I mean are we sane at all in this country? And the shame, the event is named after the President and the Nigeria Golf Federation is not aware of it. Let me tell you the simple truth... the President of this country, OBJ, may not be in the good book of majority of Nigerians but for God’s sake, the man deserves some respect. I mean how can you play a whole President Cup without the pros? How on earth could the President Cup be reduced to a kitty? It is sad”.
Well, sad echoes of some 15 years ago. But the Daily Trust newspapers have now picked up the gauntlet to present to Nigerians what a real President Golf Cup event should look like by showcasing President Muhammadu Buhari in a rare golf event that will shake the whole of West Africa region.
Tentatively fixed for the middle of December, the Daily Trust President Buhari Golf Cup will have in attendance some 300 professionals and 500 Amateurs from across West Africa. The event will hold at the Kaduna Golf Club and the IBB Club in Abuja. The purse of the pros could be likened to some on the Euro Tour.
As we speak, respected corporate bodies are all set to do great honor to President Buhari who is systematically building a new Nigeria, through the game of golf. And the good thing here is numerous golfers who witnessed the great manner Daily Trust partnered the Plateau Government to showcase the biggest golf tournament in the year 2017 are already showing their beliefs that this one event could be golf mother of all tourneys. It is generally believed that this event could be the one golfers especially professionals, will cherish for a long time to come.