1st Afrika Times International

13/12/2025

Mathematical Genius or Generational Memory? Why Segun Odegbami Still Stands as the greatest footballer of all times Debate. The GOAT

1stafrika sport insight

Segun “Mathematical” Odegbami as Nigeria’s GOAT — that is the sort of claim that will fill stadiums with argument, send pundits into late-night debates and have grandchildren arguing on WhatsApp for weeks. Say it loud: Segun Odegbami is not merely one of Nigeria’s greatest footballers — he is the purest expression of what Nigerian football once was and, for many, the benchmark against which every later star is measured. Call it nostalgia, call it romanticism, but call it the spark that ignites conversations from Surulere to Sheffield.

Odegbami’s game was poetry executed with precision. The nickname “Mathematical” wasn’t decoration; it was a verdict. Watching him glide down the wing in the seventies and early eighties was to watch angles and rhythm made human — the exact curl on a cross, the measured acceleration past a fullback, the cold, clinical finish that made defenders look like participants in a classroom demonstration rather than combatants in a war. He played at a time when Nigerian football was raw, community-powered and brazenly creative; he gave that creativity discipline. He was the technician who could also be the match-winner, and that duality is the anchor of any GOAT argument.

But calling Odegbami the GOAT is not an insult to the generations that followed; rather, it’s an insistence that greatness is more than trophies and transfer fees. It is culture, identity and the way a player changes how people play and talk about the game. Odegbami gave Nigeria a brand of wing play that travelled — he made the outside of the boot a weapon, he made one-touch combinations feel inevitable, and he made the idea of a Nigerian forward who could think as clearly as he could dribble a permanent part of the conversation.

Which brings us to the giants who followed and why the debate burns so bright. Rashidi Yekini remains the archetypal Nigerian goal-machine: raw, unstoppable, and unforgettable in his celebration that symbolised a nation’s first taste of World Cup scoring. Yekini’s power and hunger answered the question every forward must answer — how to finish when the moment demands fire rather than finesse. Contrast that with a player like Jay-Jay Okocha, whose mesmerising close control and audacious flair made defenders forget where they were supposed to be. Okocha was theatre; he was the showman who made the stadium gasp, and his influence is visible in every street-level trick taught to children who watched him in Paris, in Bolton and for the national side.

Then there is Nwankwo Kanu, whose career reads like a study in resilience and subtle genius. A player who combined grace with an uncanny sense of space, Kanu carried Nigerian talent through European football’s crucible and returned with Olympic gold and club accolades that made scouting reports on Nigerian players mandatory reading across the continent. Sunday Oliseh brought steel and vision to midfield; he was the engine and, when needed, the conscience of whichever team he wore. Finidi George and Daniel Amokachi — members of that golden quartet who strode the 1990s — carved a pathway, showing that Nigerian talent could dominate on World Cup nights and in Europe’s top leagues.

What separates Odegbami from these names is not the volume of silverware or the glamour of European nights (though he had his moments of continental reverence). It is influence of a different order. Odegbami’s era laid the psychological groundwork for what followed: the belief that Nigerians could outthink opponents, that creativity could be married to discipline, and that local league heroes could become national mythology. Every later generation inherited that context. When you watch Okocha or Kanu or Yekini, you are watching the echo of a football culture that Odegbami helped define.

There is also the generational tension that fuels debate. The 1970s and 1980s were a time when domestic football was the heartbeat of the nation; talents like Odegbami were accessible icons — men you saw at training grounds, in local derbies, in newsprint and sandals. Later generations, exported to Europe as teenagers, garnered global trophies and headline transfers. Which matters more: the forge of local soil or the polish of European glory? Proponents of Odegbami will tell you a nation’s soul is forged at home. Advocates for later stars will point to international silverware and the professional infrastructures that elevated Nigerian names onto the world’s marquee. Both sides are right — and that contradiction is precisely why the argument never dies.

Let us also be brutally honest about the metrics. Modern fans love statistics — goals, assists, trophies, transfer fees. And in an era of analytics, the conversation is tilted toward measurable success. But sporting memory is not fully reducible to metrics. There is myth-making, the way single moments (a flick, a turn, a famous match) lodge themselves in collective memory and become shorthand for an entire style or era. Odegbami gave Nigeria such moments: sequences that are replayed in the retelling, referenced by commentators, and taught to kids as archetypal examples of “how to do it right.” That cultural currency is real and precious.

What about the young ones? Today’s crop — slicker, more physically conditioned, more Europe-exposed — will have their own claims. Victor Osimhen’s power and finishing, the fluid technicality of Ademola Lookman or Samuel Chukwueze’s burst, all add fresh pages to the country’s football ledger. If history is kind, these players will one day be dragged into the same debates, their names compared against the old heroes. That intergenerational argument is healthy: it forces a country to reexamine standards and to decide what it values most — artistry, trophies, leadership, or national symbolism.

For die-hard Odegbami supporters the case is simple: he is the player whose style most purely represents Nigerian football at its best — audacious, clever, and devastatingly effective. For others, the GOAT might be the striker who hit the international headlines, the midfielder who controlled a World Cup match, or the attacker whose European honours put Nigeria on the club map. The debate is not merely about ego; it is about identity. Who do Nigerians want to see themselves as on the pitch — the graceful architect or the relentless finisher? The showman or the strategist?

So spark the conversation. Put Odegbami at the centre of the argument and watch the room divide: those who remember the wet-season terraces and those who grew up on highlight reels from Manchester and Milan. Invite comparisons to Yekini’s roar, Okocha’s panache, Kanu’s resilience and the modern grit of today’s stars. Encourage the statisticians to pull up the numbers and the storytellers to pull up their memories. Insist that greatness can be measured in more than medals — in the way a player changes the way a nation plays, in how children emulate a single trick for decades, in how an era is defined by one person’s touch.

In the end the question “Is Segun Odegbami the GOAT?” is less about arriving at a single, immutable answer and more about keeping the debate alive — a communal ritual in which every generation stakes a claim and reshapes national football identity. For many Nigerians, at home and abroad, there is comfort in saying yes. For others, the word “greatest” will always be plural, contested and beautifully unresolved. That friction is the love letter to Nigerian football: loud, stubborn, and never, ever finished.

13/12/2025

13/12/2025

Video generated by Grok.

13/12/2025

The Rise of a New Breed of Scammers: How Fraud Rings Steal from Hard-Working Americans

By Jide Adesina for 1stafrika.com

Across the United States a quiet, corrosive industry has metastasized: organized fraud that targets ordinary Americans — senior citizens on fixed incomes, small business owners who live paycheck to paycheck, truckers and brokers who move the nation’s goods, and families already reeling from medical bills or a loved one’s arrest. These are not isolated phone calls or one-off phishing emails; they are coordinated operations that use technology, forged paperwork, stolen identities and a changing roster of tactics to turn urgency and trust into profit. Federal prosecutors and law-enforcement agencies have documented numerous examples, and their records reveal patterns that should alarm every citizen who values hard work and thrift. 

The schemes wear many faces but share a similar playbook. Call centers operating from abroad have long impersonated U.S. agencies or utilities, using polished scripts and stolen data to sound credible; dozens of defendants in multi-million-dollar telefraud operations have pleaded guilty in U.S. courts after running phone-based scams that bilked victims out of life savings. Those prosecutions show how trafficked call centers, sophisticated voice-spoofing tools and social-engineering techniques are combined to manufacture credibility on the fly. Often the callers adopt familiar American names and even fake local phone numbers to defeat suspicion. 

Freight and logistics have become lucrative targets because the industry relies heavily on trust and speed. Fraudulent brokers pose as legitimate freight brokers or hijack the identities and U.S.DOT numbers of real carriers, posting fake loads on load boards and collecting deposits or payments that never translate into cargo moved. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued alerts and the industry has seen prosecutions and civil actions aimed at dismantling broker-identity theft and fraudulent broker networks. Victims — from independent drivers to small carriers — lose thousands to accounts that look and sound American until payments vanish. 

Insurance and staged-accident rings illustrate a different kind of operation: cells that manufacture “injuries” and then harvest settlement payments through collusion across corrupt medical providers, lawyers and sometimes complicit drivers. Federal indictments and large-scale investigations have exposed networks that orchestrated staged collisions and submitted millions in fabricated claims to insurers. Prosecutors have secured indictments and sentences in long-running conspiracies, documenting the choreography — from the staged crash to the false medical records and the funneling of payments — that turns a single deliberate collision into a profitable criminal enterprise. Those cases are not hypothetical; U.S. attorneys’ offices have unsealed superseding indictments in recent years that detail the roles, documents and money flows. 

No less pernicious are bail-and-bond scams that prey on panic. Scammers impersonate court officials, sheriffs or bail agents and demand immediate payment — via gift cards, cryptocurrency, or wire transfer — to “secure” a loved one’s release. Federal courthouses and clerk’s offices have repeatedly warned about this “preemptive bail” scam and published notices after victims reported losing thousands under the pressure of fake subpoenas or alleged arrest notices. These scams are engineered for fear: a voice claiming authority, a deadline, and a payment method that leaves no paper trail for victims to follow. 

Health-care and mortgage frauds continue to evolve, at times involving complex billing schemes, sham clinics, or forged documents used to extract loans or insurance payouts. Federal prosecutions of health-care fraud show how conspirators exploit gaps in oversight, submit false claims and launder proceeds across bank accounts and shell companies. Mortgage and loan fraud prosecutions likewise reveal layers of falsified documents and identity theft designed to strip equity from homeowners or obtain lender funds under false pretenses. The result is not just lost dollars for individual victims but higher costs borne by consumers and institutions across the economy. 

Technology accelerates these crimes. Caller-ID spoofing masks the true origin of calls, AI and deepfake tools can synthesize voices and messages that appear to come from public figures, and social platforms can be weaponized to make lies look like corroborated fact. A recent wave of impersonation attacks — including one in which an impostor used AI to pose as a sitting senator in messages to officials — highlights how easily trust can be manufactured and how rapidly false fronts can spread. Criminals mix urgency with the illusion of legitimacy: an American-sounding name, a seemingly local phone number, credible-looking documents, and a script designed to move victims before skepticism can set in. 

As journalists and investigators pore over public records, court filings and law-enforcement releases, one striking truth emerges: the scams are transnational and multi-modal, but the losses fall on ordinary people. Seniors, who often answer unknown numbers and have accumulated savings, are regular targets. Small businesses that cannot afford lengthy disputes can be lured into paying bogus invoices or shifting funds to accounts controlled by fraudsters. Truckers and independent carriers, who must chase loads and rely on brokers’ promises, are left unpaid while private bank accounts disappear. Families trying to cope with the shock of an arrest or a medical emergency can be manipulated to make instinctive payments that are never recovered. Law-enforcement notices and prosecutors’ press releases make clear that victims are not merely embarrassed: they are financially ruined in some cases, and the emotional toll is severe. 

It is important to be precise, grounded and non-alarmist in describing who runs these schemes. Federal court filings and Department of Justice press releases show prosecutions of defendants located inside the United States as well as of organized call-center networks based abroad. Cases have involved U.S.-based conspirators, foreign-based call centers, and hybrid cells that exploit both local and international weaknesses. The nationality of a defendant is a matter for court records and should not be generalized into broad ethnic or national blame; instead, the record shows the methods used, the organizational sophistication and the financial channels exploited — facts that are central to prevention and prosecution. 

What the public can do now is straightforward and practical. Confirm any urgent demand by calling the institution back using a verified number, not the number the caller gives you. No legitimate court or federal agency will demand payment by gift card or cryptocurrency to avoid arrest; if a caller pressures for those payment types, treat it as a red flag and hang up. For freight and logistics professionals, verify brokers through the FMCSA registration database and be wary of sudden requests for upfront payments or changes in remittance instructions. Install basic safeguards: caller-ID apps that flag spoofed numbers, two-factor authentication on bank and email accounts, and, where possible, paper trails and delayed payment terms that allow time for verification. Report suspicious calls and transfers immediately to local police, the FBI tip line, the FTC and to the relevant state attorney general’s office; those reports feed investigations and sometimes lead to indictments and asset recovery. 

For seniors and families, community and institutional help matters. Banks and credit unions can offer alerts and temporary holds, and many local law-enforcement agencies maintain outreach units that will confirm or deny contact from court or jail. Press releases from U.S. attorneys and federal courts, which are public records, are an underused resource; they frequently list the methods and phone numbers used in specific schemes and can give victims concrete evidence to share with banks and investigators. If you think a loved one has been targeted, collect the call records, emails and any payment receipts; those traces are often what investigators need to follow the money. 

Finally, the story is not one of doom so much as urgent civic responsibility. Law-enforcement agencies are prosecuting cases and winning convictions, but prevention depends on public awareness and reporting. Journalists and investigators can and must keep pressing for transparency in prosecutions and for the public release of the red flags that helped identify these operations. Regulators must continue to tighten oversight where fraudsters exploit legal and technological gaps. And citizens — especially those most vulnerable — should treat urgent, high-pressure payment demands as suspect until proven otherwise. The record in court files and agency notices shows how the scams work; that same record provides the playbook for defense if we choose to read it, share it and act on it. 

If you or someone you love has been contacted by a caller demanding immediate payment, received a suspicious court document, or been asked to move freight or funds under unusual instructions, document everything and contact the Federal Trade Commission, your local FBI field office, and your state attorney general. Those agencies collect the records prosecutors need to build cases that can lead to arrests and, sometimes, restitution. This is not just a law-enforcement problem; it is a civic one. We owe it to our parents, neighbors and fellow small-business owners to recognize the signs, refuse to be rushed, and to insist that American prosperity remain in honest hands. 

— Jide Adesina, 1stafrika.com

13/12/2025

Faith in the Storm: Africa’s Long Walk Toward Freedom, Justice, and Renewal

Across the vast and diverse landscapes of Africa—from the Sahel to the Cape, from the Horn to the Atlantic coast—a quiet but resolute belief endures among its people: that we shall overcome. This belief is not naïve optimism, nor is it a denial of the hardships that confront the continent daily. It is a hard-earned faith, shaped by history, sacrifice, and resilience, and sustained by the unyielding determination of millions who continue to rise each morning with hope in their hearts despite uncertainty on their roads.

Faith, in the African context, has never been merely spiritual. It is cultural, communal, and deeply political in the noblest sense of the word. It gives courage to farmers facing unpredictable climates, to young graduates navigating shrinking job markets, to traders and artisans working under fragile economic systems, and to nations seeking stability amid global shocks. This faith lends strength to tired feet—feet that have walked through colonial exploitation, post-independence disillusionment, military rule, civil conflicts, debt burdens, and externally imposed economic prescriptions. Yet those same feet continue to move forward, step by step, toward a future still being imagined and built.

The uncertainties of the future loom large across the continent. Rising living costs, insecurity, migration pressures, democratic backsliding in some regions, and the persistent challenge of equitable development test both leadership and citizenship. For many Africans, the days often feel overshadowed by hovering clouds—clouds of inflation, power shortages, underfunded schools, overwhelmed hospitals, and the lingering effects of global inequality. And there are nights darker than a thousand midnights, when violence erupts, elections divide, or young lives are lost to despair and dangerous journeys across deserts and seas. Yet even in these moments, the African story has never been one of surrender.

What sustains this endurance is a collective memory of struggle and survival. Africa knows what it means to stand at the crossroads of history. The continent is living in a profound creative tension—between an inherited past that still exerts its weight and a future demanding bold reimagination. Old systems, often extractive and exclusionary, resist change, while a new civilization struggles to be born—one that reflects African values, priorities, and aspirations rather than external templates. This tension is uncomfortable, sometimes chaotic, but it is also deeply productive. It signals motion, not stagnation; transition, not collapse.

Across African cities and rural communities alike, this struggle is visible. It is seen in young innovators building tech hubs in Lagos, Nairobi, Kigali, and Accra, determined to solve African problems with African solutions. It is heard in the voices of women demanding inclusion in political and economic decision-making. It is felt in the resolve of citizens insisting on accountability, fair elections, and governance that serves the many rather than the few. These are not isolated acts; they are interconnected expressions of a continent refusing to remain trapped by its challenges.

The journey toward the city of freedom—freedom defined not only as political independence but as dignity, opportunity, and justice—remains unfinished. True freedom means economies that work for ordinary people, security that protects without oppression, and institutions that command trust rather than fear. It means education that prepares the youth for the future, healthcare that values human life, and leadership that understands power as service. This vision is neither radical nor unrealistic; it is the logical continuation of Africa’s long quest for self-determination.

Importantly, this forward stride must be collective. Africa’s diversity of languages, religions, and ethnicities is not a weakness but a strength when harnessed for unity rather than division. The continent’s future cannot be built on exclusion, scapegoating, or the politics of fear. It must be shaped by dialogue, shared responsibility, and a renewed social contract between governments and the governed. Progress that leaves large segments of society behind is not progress at all; it is merely delayed instability.

As Africa navigates a rapidly changing global order—where geopolitical interests, resource competition, and technological shifts intersect—the need for clarity of purpose has never been greater. The continent must engage the world confidently, not as a passive recipient of aid or influence, but as an active partner with agency and vision. This requires leadership that is bold yet accountable, patriotic yet inclusive, and pragmatic without losing moral direction.

Still, the most powerful force shaping Africa’s destiny remains its people. In marketplaces, classrooms, farms, and polling stations, ordinary Africans continue to demonstrate extraordinary resilience. They carry forward a faith that does not ignore reality but confronts it with courage. A faith that insists that even when the night is long, morning will come. A faith that understands that the pain of transition is often the price of transformation.

Africa is not standing still. It is moving—sometimes slowly, sometimes unevenly, but always forward. The clouds may hover, and the nights may grow dark, but the arc of the continent’s struggle bends toward renewal. In this creative tension, a more genuine civilization is taking shape—one born not from despair, but from hope disciplined by action. And in that enduring belief, Africa continues its long walk toward freedom, confident that it shall not merely endure the storm, but emerge stronger on the other side.

Jide Adesina
1stafrika.com
Insight Afrika 2025

12/12/2025

THE UNITED STATES OF NIGERIA: A NEW NATIONAL COMPASS FOR UNITY, POWER-SHARING AND FUTURE-MAKING

By Jide Adesina | 1stafrika.com Opinion Reporting

Nigeria stands at a crossroads where history, destiny and opportunity converge. At a moment when the world is being reshaped by new power alignments, population shifts, technological revolutions and the re-emergence of strong states, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu possesses a once-in-a-century opportunity to redefine not just the Nigerian state, but the Nigerian nationhood itself. The vision before him is not merely administrative reform or constitutional tinkering; it is the audacious re-imagining of a country long overdue for structural clarity, cultural affirmation and a rebirth of civic consciousness.

The proposition of a United States of Nigeria is not a break from the federation but the maturation of it. It is a recognition that the present constitutional architecture—centralized, overloaded and often detached from local realities—has run its historic course. The future belongs to a Nigeria where the regions, states and local governments are not spectators waiting on Abuja but empowered partners in the national project. A federation where autonomy serves unity, not confrontation; and where decentralization strengthens the centre instead of weakening it.

At the heart of this vision lies a new constitutional orientation that integrates culture, tradition, social structure and political mechanism into a coherent framework that reflects who Nigerians truly are. The strength of the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Ijaw, Tiv, Kanuri, Itsekiri, Ibibio, Nupe, Gbagyi and hundreds of other groups has always been the richness of their identities. Instead of suppressing these identities, a new Nigeria must elevate them into constitutional recognition, cultural justice and equal representation. A country that understands that diversity is not a burden but the energy source of a global power.

In this new constitutional imagination, the Armed Forces of Nigeria become more than a shield against external aggression; they evolve into a central pillar of national stability, cohesion and civic discipline. President Tinubu has the rare opportunity to restructure the military into a dual-dimensional institution—one that maintains its defense posture while also serving as a national integrator of culture, discipline and citizenship. The introduction of an 18-month mandatory military-civic training for every Nigerian from the age of seventeen would create the largest, most disciplined and most united youth force on the African continent. It would bind Nigerians across cultures, tribes and religions under a common flag, instill a sense of duty, and provide the manpower for national emergency response, infrastructure development, border protection and technological innovation.

Under this framework, the state police, community security agencies and paramilitary organizations function with operational independence but under the strategic command structure of the Armed Forces. This unifies security intelligence, eliminates rivalry, prevents fragmentation and creates one indivisible national security ecosystem capable of confronting terrorism, banditry, cyber-threats and cross-border crimes with coherence and strength.

A new Nigeria must also give its citizens a new voice—literally. In a country where language has often been a barrier, Nigerian Pidgin stands as the most widely understood, most neutral and most unifying linguistic bridge ever created. It is spoken across villages, cities, regions and generations without requiring formal education. Elevating Nigerian Pidgin to a unifying national language does not erase indigenous languages; it preserves them while giving the federation a common civic voice, a shared vocabulary of identity, and a cultural tool for national cohesion.

The economic structure of the United States of Nigeria envisions a federation where resource control is not a threat but an engine of innovation. States must have the power to manage their mineral and agricultural wealth, while strategic national resources—such as uranium, cobalt, steel, iron ore and oil and gas—remain under federal security protection due to their geopolitical and economic sensitivity. This dual economic system would enable states to pursue their own development agendas, form public-private alliances, grow local industries and create jobs, while the centre focuses on regulation, national security and global competitiveness.

Nigeria’s future prosperity will not come from exporting raw materials but from a transition into an industrial, skill-based, agrarian and technology-enabled economy. Reducing import dependence, encouraging local content production, revitalizing national orientation programmes, and promoting homegrown sports and entertainment industries would make Nigeria not just self-reliant but globally competitive.

Above all, a strong centre remains essential. A new constitution must protect national integrity, prevent secessionist impulses, and guarantee equal representation of all states. The centre, while leaner and more efficient, must possess enough authority to protect national unity, defend borders, maintain one indivisible Armed Forces, and uphold the collective destiny of the Nigerian people.

The United States of Nigeria is not a dream of fragmentation; it is the structure of survival. It is the architecture of a 21st-century African power. It is the rebirth of a nation that refuses to be held down by old fears, colonial arrangements or inherited distrust. With strong regional governments, empowered states, culturally respectful governance, disciplined youth, secure borders and a unified national identity, Nigeria can become the African superpower it was always destined to be.

This vision demands a referendum—one that allows Nigerians at home and abroad to speak openly, boldly and without fear about the country they want to build. It demands a national conversation that moves from living rooms to parliament floors, from marketplaces to media houses, from universities to community squares. Nigerians must vote, survey, comment, debate and participate in designing their future. The constitution must no longer be an elite document; it must be a people’s covenant.

The call today is a call to unity, to nation-building, to civic responsibility and to intellectual courage. Nigeria is not dying; it is waiting. Waiting for leadership that dares to imagine. Waiting for citizens willing to build. Waiting for a constitutional rebirth that matches the greatness of its people.

The United States of Nigeria is not just an idea. It is the next chapter of a nation ready to reclaim its destiny.