Special Christmas Nigerian Edition 2008
A Raw rugged classic interview from Kayode Tijani.
Read his views on the forthcoming 2010 World Cup African qualifiers, 2012 Olympics and much more.
 
 
 
 
Kayode Tijani : It is a big pleasure to be here. 
TOSH Mag : Merry Christmas to our readers and compliments of the season. Due to the high number of reviews TOSH Mag received, we decided to bring you some Nigerian interviews and here we have the Hottest African Sports Journalist in our studios - Kayode Tijani.
TOSH Mag : Wow. Once again this is the special requested Christmas African edition of TOSH Mag. Our guest is one of the Hottest Sports journalist in Africa and Europe. He has covered the Olympics, FIFA World cups, African Nations cups, WBC Boxing events and many many more. He was formerly anchoring the Sports shows on BEN TV & REVELATION TV here in the United Kingdom but is now with Hi-TV which is on Sky channel 204 and aired across Africa, Europe & Asia. We had to do this shoot because you our fans ordered us to do it. And when you do that we must deliver. Mr. Tijani just had an exclusive interview with Chelsea's and Nigeria's Football International – Mikkel Obi. Sir, c an you tell us what project you are working on at the moment and some of the ones you have done in the past too .
 
Kayode Tijani : I do sports programmes. One has to do something different and while I'm talking to all these stars about what is going to happen, I go deep into their lives. I do a lot of it. Meeting Mikkel at his house, getting to really know what kind of person he is. Talking to him very deeply.

Well currently, I have a contract with HiTV at the moment (On Sky Digital channel 204). I travel around the world and get all the major interviews out there. Nigerians are like 67% of it. Whoever is in the news you have to talk to them. No matter where they are. It is a challenge. You go through agents and what do you have but by the grace of God, I have never ever payed any star to bring them on my show. I also cover the major competitions - Like the African Nations cup, the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. Nigeria is opening up now really. Once people know you are about quality, they are up for you. Nigeria is not as organised as the United Kingdom but things are opening up. The private companies and reality shows are booming now. I was involved with one – FASH FC (John Fashanu's reality show). Once they know you are good – the money flows in. There is no way you would not have things to do in Nigeria.

When some people tell me they want to come to London, I do advise them otherwise. Most people come to London with a 6 months Visa. It simply does not make sense. There was this friend of mine who was working in a bank as an assistant manager. Everything was working for him in Nigeria. We were begging him not to leave his career. He resigned and left everything and came here to the UK. Well I won't tell you what happened to him but he Is still here. So things are opening up at home. In Nigeria our sports personalities are superb. You need to get to meet most of them. Looking at them from afar - they might seem extremely arrogant and but when you get to meet them it is contrary. And again there are advantages and disadvantages to a lot of things. With Hi-TV for instance, the English premiership is like hot cake. People worship it. Everybody in the family has someone they are supporting. We grew up watching Abiola babes, Leventis Utd, Shooting stars, Rangers, Bendel Insurance, NNB (all Nigerian football clubs) so to me it is absolutely sad now seeing the way Nigerian sports has gone down. Organisation is 0% so we are trying to return back to the right way of doing things.
 
Leona Lewis
Kayode Tijani
 
 
Kayode Tijani : Well, things have changed now. There used to be time when you would just look at some teams and say oh definitely we are qualifying. Of course that was the mistake we made in failing to qualify for Germany 2006. We looked at teams like Angola, Algeria and Angola and thought this would be a walk in the park but it wasn't. Angola for instance was growing gradually from 1989 during the Sam Okwaraji days. You can talk about Egypt for instance – they have won the Nations cup back to back for instance and everybody is talking about them because they are the hottest in form team at the moment. Every time they start in the Nations Cup 9 home based players are there starting for them. Yet they were able to beat teams with 12 or 13 foreign-based players. So it is very simple. Most of them play in the best leagues in Africa. Ahlayl national, Zamalek, and football is a team game especially now.
Tosh Mag: Just to diversify a little bit, what are your views on the group the Nigerian Super eagles are in. (for the FIFA World cup African qualifiers). Do you think we can qualify?
 
Tosh Mag :  What about an African country reaching the semi-finals for the first time?
 
Tosh Mag: Which country would you think might have that outside chance to reach the semi finals?
Kayode Tijani : Just maybe. Semi-final will be the best an African country can get to.  
Holy Spirit - Majek Fashek.
TOSH Mag : What do you want to say to our readers and viewers?
 
Kayode Tijani : Well, just to tell everyone that TOSH Magazine is doing a lovely job. I do follow what you do 'TV wise' and the actual magazine. I think it is exemplary. It is clearly an international classic magazine. Of course a lot of people might want to see more African and Nigerian interviews but at the end of the day, it is an international magazine. I was once in this kind of situation some years back whilst at Revelation TV here in the United Kingdom. I did bring a lot of international guests on and viewers were clamouring for Nigerian ones. I had to tell them that actually it was easier to invite international guests than African ones. I could get John Barnes (Former England Football International), Dame Kelly Holmes (Double Olympic Gold medallist) and many more.

Just to tell the viewers that you guys are doing a lovely job. I follow what you do. TV wise, the magazine.  I think it is exemplary. It is an international standard. Of course a lot of people might complain that you are not interviewing Nigerians (being where you are from) but at the end of the day, it is an international magazine. I was in this kind of situation once when I was at Revelation TV here in London. I was bringing the biggest stars in the world, and people were complaining about the Nigerian angle. I had to tell that and I'm sure you have probably encountered the same sort of issues – I could get John Barnes on live twice or thrice. I could get Kelly Holmes, I could get anyone in the world but the Nigerians and Africans, you need to just talk with them and you start getting insults. So at the end of the day it was when they noticed that I didn't care anymore. Though we knew each other but there is a way they operate. So to me, you will do it because your fans want it (If your viewers want it, you have no choice) but we still have to celebrate our own. We are just saying this so that they are aware of what we are facing. Whatever the viewers want they get.
Meanwhile, European players are afraid of injuries and atimes do not play to their best potential. So this World cup qualifier would really be interesting. Fortunately because of our last experience no one is taking anything for granted. Now Tunisia is always going to be a strong team. Nigeria could not qualify for the world cup because of Tunisia in 1978. Having knowing that, the Nigerian team we have now is the best we have had since 1996. We do have a lot of young players and we do have the Siasia team and the experienced players. Amodu Shuaibu (Nigeria's national football coach) is one of the best coaches we have had whether people like it or not. I see us qualifying but it depends on us again. Any little mistake and anything can happen. But Kenya and Mozambique are definitely not pushovers. To me we are favourites to qualify. A lot of people are talking about South Africa 2010 and the chances of an African Nation winning it. I don't think an African country can win it just yet. 
 
Kayode Tijani : It is difficult to say. I mean look at Egypt the African champions who never seem to do so well at the world cups. Also people seem to say that there should be an advantage for Africans because of the location but June – July in South Africa is their winter time, so it might actually be an advantage to Europeans and a disadvantage to Africans. Maybe Egypt can spring a surprise if they keep their form till 2010 but the host (South africa) I'm sorry to say are not that strong. I'm just hoping they are not the first host country to drop out of the preliminary stage. They have such a very very weak side. Not forgetting Ghana, Cameroun and there is Nigeria.

Why are players so passionate about playing for their countries in Europe for instance? Because they are organised and do not get hooked with non-payment of bonuses and so on. They travel first class with enough legroom. All these are important factors. They are covered with Insurance and what have you. So these are the things we fight over in Nigeria and it comes back to affect the teams. Nigeria has a new Sports minister – so let us not just focus on the negative. I'm just highlighting these things so that it can be done with once and for all.
Tosh Mag: Ironically, we have the Olympics in London in 2012. We are all looking forward to that. Emm, what do you think about Nigeria's prospects? We did not perform too well in Beijing 2008, I recall the Womens 4 X 100 relay team who could not travel out for qualifying events to make the top 16 in the Olympics. What can we do now to avoid this and optimize our performances then?
 
Kayode Tijani : Ok, let us look back to the 1980's with Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imoh, Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya and many more. At the end of the day I'm not looking at 2012 because you need 4 - 6 solid years to prepare properly. Everybody is talking about Usain Bolt for instance, but he was not a surprise unless you have not being following what has been happening. Usain Bolt from his primary school time was the best. He broke the 200m record in the World Junior champs. He would probably had won the 100 & 200m 4 years ago but was injured. The same thing with the American swimmer – Michael Phelps. In Nigeria we simply do not prepare.

I interviewed Nigeria's 100 m athlete – Seyi Fasuba, just after he won the Gold in the Worlds 60m indoors in 2008. The problem he said was immense. He had a room mate who was a French guy in the Top 10 no way near his form. His government pays his rent, gave him a Limousine to drive, ensures he gets grants regularly. So he has a nutritionist and so on. Seyi has to run everything all by himself. Pay his own coach and it is not easy. So he does not have the luxury of resting his legs when it matters. At the end of the day he would have burned himself out before he gets to the Olympics. Normally the world indoors are not priorities but that's why you see a lot of athletes deflecting. Like Obikwelu and Gloria Aloize. Seyi said something too that was very interesting. He went to see Gloria Aloize in Spain. And they went window shopping together. They now got to a car shop, and Gloria saw a car that she loved and she took out her card and bought the car there and then. So he thought that there was no way Gloria would have been able to do that if she was still in Nigeria. Not in 20 years. Same with Obikwelu. So we just do not have the culture of taking care of our sports stars whether it is football or boxing. That is why the footballers shy away. I mean look at the Sports personality of the year – 2008 hosted by BBC. I was almost in tears. The way they paid homage to their stars especially Bobby Charlton, it is simply out of this world. They do this yearly. We are simply playing catch up and there is a lot to do. It is an African system that is controlling everything. The same system that allows culprits to go away scot-free. The same system where there is no light and everyone is on the generator. I believe in Nigeria because the kind of opportunity you do have there is sort of scarce elsewhere. I was at the Revelation TV here in UK and I was on a good salary but that was the best I could be here in the UK. But no matter how good I could get, I did not see my self-being the head of sports at BBC and ITV. It was not possible but in Nigeria it is easier, much easier. You can fly as high as you want to. So there is so many opportunities as all we need it to put things right. It starts from the leadership. So that is the way I see it. You cant remove acting, modelling or sports from Nigeria.
Tosh Mag: Mr Kayode as you know, you have so many followers and a massive fan base. By the way his presence is on facebook. So if he is dodging some fans, well I have let the cat out of the bag. So how can people get through to you?
 
Kayode Tijani : Well, my email address is kayodetijani2001@yahoo.co.uk and to link me up on facebook – just type in Kayode Tijani in your search box and you can link me up. And let me make a promise here though this was not pre arranged. Like I said, I do follow what TOSH Mag does on-line and I am impressed and thrilled with the sheer quality of what I did see. Complete professionalism. You guys said a lot of the fans want to see African stuff. I am just saying on your behalf that there is going to be a lot of it and much more than they can imagine. From 2009, there are going to be lots of it. That is a guarantee. That is the biggest stars. All the major stars. So watch this space!
Tosh Mag: Hmm. Can you tell us more about your personal life and your family?
 
Kayode Tijani : I am very married for 13 years now to the same person I knew from secondary school and I have 3 boys – 10, 6 and 4 years old. I did marry very early. My Dad gave me the best present that could be given by any parent – He was a polygamist. A very serious one too. I do love him but he chose that path. We are learning from it. I saw from a very early age that with the beautiful things (women) – one should tread carefully. The only problem is me as I'm never home. I can not recall one full year that I have been home in the 13 years we have been together. All my children were born when I was not in Nigeria. One of them was delivered when I was covering the Olympics game in Australia and you are not there when they are growing up. It is tough but we have to earn a living.
Tosh Mag: By the way, w e did have a heavyweight champion in Nigeria though nobody seemed to talk about him!
 
Kayode Tijani : You mean Samuel Peters?
Tosh Mag: Yes.
 
Kayode Tijani : Whether anyone likes it or not, he has done what no one else has done before. That is winning the WBC belt. Henry Akinwande won the WBO, though he had the opportunity to fight Lennox Lewis for the WBC – but for a funny reason he got it wrong – either it was stage fright or otherwise, he got it wrong and Lewis capitalised on that. Unfortunately Peters lost out a few days ago against Vitali Klitschko because he was simply not good enough on that day. When you are fighting Vitali, you have to be at your very best. Boxing now is extremely entertaining. I t is something that brings so much passion. That he lost is not the end of the world. It is going to be even tougher now because there is a guy called David Haye who is extremely tough and he will be fighting Vitali Klitschko. There is Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan and Joe Calazghe – so many of them. Boxing is getting extremely interesting and Nigeria has to get back into it. There are some Ghanaians and South Africans out there too so it is really lovely. It is something I have passion for.
Tosh Mag: Just on the last note, we are really honoured to have you in our studio. We the young ones are learning a lot from you the more experienced ones.
Kayode Tijani : Ha ha. you mean it the other way round dont you? It has been an absolute pleasure being here with TOSH Magazine!