When We, Super Eagles Failed TJ

Femi Akintunde-Johnson

Kayode Tijani (TJ) is an intense sports reporter, researcher, presenter, editor, producer, archivist, statsman, and entrepreneur whose footsteps crossed countless Nigerian sporting tracks, fields and dreamlands. He shocked his admirers, colleagues, clients and beneficiaries – as he often did with his prodigious trove of sporting memorabilia – when he transited at age 55 on that Wednesday, the 7th of February, 2024. 

  The passionate fast-talking encyclopedia of Nigerian sports, especially football, worked for a few years with us many years ago, and his work ethics and admirable persona compelled one to say a word or two about this remarkable young man. However, there is another with whom he shared his earliest trysts with the trade, and whose relationship remained and flourished even until he breathed his last. Today, we surrender the column to the words and tribute of Dr. Mumuni Alao (renowned sports editor and Managing Director of the foremost sports publication enterprise, Complete Communication Ltd.) published a day before the Nigeria-Ivory Coast match titled “Super Eagles Must Win For Kayode Tijani”. Here we go…:

  “I am writing this tribute reluctantly. In my Yoruba culture and, I guess, in most other cultures, the hope and prayer is that the young will mourn and bury the old, not the other way round. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way. Sometimes, the old have to bury and mourn the young. That is my sad lot with Kayode Tijani who passed away on Wednesday, 7 February 2024. He was 55, four years younger than me…

  Aliu Oluwakayode Tijani was born 6 July 1968, into the Tijani family from Epe in Lagos State. He attended Ansar-ud-Deen Primary School and Ansar-ud-Deen College, both in Isolo, Lagos where the family lived. The Tijanis are a renowned Muslim family within the neighborhood and devotees worshipped in the mosque built in their family compound. Kayode graduated from college in 1986 and proceeded to the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, NIJ, Lagos. He wanted to be a sports journalist.

  My first encounter with Kayode was in 1990 when he came to work with us at Complete Communications Limited.  I was the editor of Complete Football magazine, and he was fresh from the NIJ. He was crazy about football, and he had a passion for keeping records and statistics, exactly the kind of chap that we needed at the time as a reporter/researcher. That was how he cut his sports journalism teeth working with Dr. Emmanuel Sunny Ojeagbase, Dr. Segun Odegbami, Frank Ilaboya, Ehi Braimah, Sunday Orelesi, and myself.

  Apart from his sports archive which was already very impressive but growing at the time (he inherited loads of Shoot! and MATCH! football magazines from me, too), Kayode quickly demonstrated a knack for sniffing out exclusive stories which was our forte at Complete Football back in the day…

 But Kayode was restless. He was full of energy. He didn’t stay long with us at Compete Football. After a year and a half, he moved on to become the pioneer sports editor of FAME magazine, a society publication launched by celebrated entertainment journalists Femi Akntunde-Johnson, Kunle Bakare, and Mayor Akinpelu. Every week, Kayode’s face appeared in the famous magazine where he wrote about famous sportspeople. Inevitably, he also became very famous.

  Meanwhile, his reputation as a sports statistician and sports video collector continued to grow. If anyone in the media and advertising industries needed an old footage of the Nigerian football team from their days as the Red Devils through to when they became Green Eagles and later, Super Eagles, Kayode was the man to see. If you wanted footage of Nigerian former Olympians from the 1950s and 60s up to the 1980s and 90s; or videos of former boxing world champions Dick Tiger or Hogan Kid Bassey, Kayode had them on VHS cassettes. If you wanted exclusive interviews with Haruna Ilerika or Stephen Keshi or action shots of Segun Odegbami, Christian Chukwu, Rashidi Yekini, Nwankwo Kanu, Mary Onyali, Chioma Ajunwa, or Yusuf Ali for your sports documentary or television commercial, Kayode had them. When the VHS cassettes became outdated, he spent a fortune converting them into digital copies.

  When Kayode left FAME magazine and relocated to the United Kingdom for a while, his stock grew even further. During one of my trips to England, I appeared on his sports show on BEN TV and noticed how he had built up a sizable following amongst Nigerians in the diaspora. On his return from the UK, he decided to become a full-time visual content consultant and set up a media outfit, ‘Sport Xclusive’ to mine the lifetime investment he had made in archival records. He always said to me that he didn’t want a permanent job with any media organization again because of their penchant for owing staff salaries for months on end.

 At various times in his career, Kayode was also a personal assistant to former Nigerian minister of sports, Chief Alex Akinyele; he was a correspondent for African Soccer magazine and co-founder of Sportlight, a daily sports newspaper which ran briefly in 1995; we worked together with others in the Organizing Committee of the 8th All-Africa Games, Abuja 2003, which brought him in contact with all shades of people in the Nigerian sports fraternity; he produced and presented several sports programmes on radio and television that cemented his place in the hearts of millions of Nigerian sports fans. In his own unique way, Kayode contributed immensely to the development of Nigerian sports, and he deserves to be celebrated.

  When I broke the sad news of Kayode’s death on several WhatsApp platforms of distinguished sports personalities in Nigeria, shocks and commiserations flooded the platforms. From athletes, footballers, basketballers, table tennis players, and boxers to sports administrators, referees, coaches, and, of course, journalists, everybody knew Kayode Tijani and Kayode Tijani knew everybody! The sadness of his passing at such a young age was shared by all…

Unfortunately, Kayode did not enjoy the best of health in his last years on earth, and that resulted in his death on 7 February 2024 the night when the Super Eagles beat Bafana Bafana of South Africa to qualify for the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Had he been well, Kayode would certainly have been in Côte d’Ivoire to cover the Eagles’ journey as he had done at several competitions in the past. He would have been posting exclusive stories on his Social Media handles on Facebook and “X” (formerly Twitter) where he was very prolific…

  My last word in this tribute goes to Kayode Tjani’s family, particularly his wife, Folashade Ebunoluwa; their three university undergraduate boys, Toyeeb Damilola, AbdulBasit Pelumi, and Abdulmalk Olalekan; and Kayode’s brothers and sisters. Nearly three decades ago when they got married, I was given the task to go and bring Shade from her family home to Kayode on the wedding night. Since then, I have watched how they sacrificed for each other affectionately and surmounted many hurdles together as a couple.

  I have also been a witness to the great stress that Kayode’s poor health in his last years brought upon every member of his family. It tested to the very extreme their love and commitment to their son, husband, father, and brother, but they all stood firm and supported him till the very end. This is not to be taken for granted. It’s not all the time that people stand by their own in times of great challenges and difficulties. But in that respect, Kayode was greatly blessed with a truly loving and supportive wife, very courageous children, and extremely committed brothers and sisters. To the entire family of Aliu Kayode Tijani, I salute you for your steadfastness. May Almighty Allah reward you and admit Kayode into Aljanat Firdaos (the best of paradise).”