Nigerian Women Bobsledders Make Olympic History

The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea will start on February 9, and the sports junkie I am will definitely be tuned into the action from that date until they conclude on February 25.

Hopefully Kim Jong Fool Un will behave himself while the world's athletes are on the other side of the DMZ from North Korea  .

As has been proven in the United States, track athletes have been majorly successful in crossing over and reinvigorating the US bobsled program.   Vonetta Flowers earned a gold medal in the two woman bobsled competition in Salt Lake City in 2002,  and the 2014 Sochi bobsled team was composed of five Black women including Summer Olympic gold medalist Lauryn Williams and Lolo Jones 

Now in a shades of Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsled team story,  three US based Nigerian women track athletes have made history by being the first continental African team to qualify a sled in the Winter Olympics.

Driver and team captain Seun Adigun and brakewomen Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere are also the first Nigerians to ever qualify for the Winter Olympics, and did much of it on their own. 

Adigun competed as a sprinter for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Games in London and got the idea to compete in the Winter Games while watching on television the success the 2014 USA women's bobsled team had in Sochi powered largely by US track athletes

She convinced fellow US based track athletes Omeoga and Onwumere to join her, and Adigun built a wooden sled for the trio to practice with they dubbed 'the Mayflower' until they could purchase a bobsled.   Adigun raised $75,000, including $50,000 from a single anonymous donor of a stated goal of $150,000/ 

That was enough to get attention and support from the Nigerian Olympic Committee, for a Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to form and for the trio to get a chance to practice on ice. They have since that time obtained corporate sponsorships from Under Armour and Visa

To qualify, the trio had to drive their sled through five runs on three different bobsled tracks in Utah, and at Whistler and Calgary which they successfully completed in November by finishing fifth.

This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria," Adigun told ESPN. "Nothing makes me prouder than to know that I can play a small role in creating opportunities for winter sports to take place in Nigeria." 

"Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics has ever witnessed," said Adigun.

“I commend the personal dedication and commitment of these women,” Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation President Solomon Ogba told ESPN. “Their hard work was inspiring, and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this — the work, the discipline and the personal sacrifices. They were amazing throughout this journey.” 

While continental African athletes have competed in the Winter Games, as of yet none has stood on a medal podium,

We'll see in a few weeks if this story has a happy ending and ends up at a multiplex near you.

Miss SaHHara Places In Top 5 In 2016 Miss Trans Star International Pageant

In case you're wondering how my British sis via Nigeria Miss SaHHara fared in the just concluded Miss Trans Star International pageant in Barcelona, she ended up placing in the top 5 finalists for it.

But along the way to her top 5 finish in Spain, she also shed light on the horrific way that Nigeria treats trans folks like herself and same gender loving people there by jailing them for up to 14 years.

She dealt with imprisonment, anti-trans street harassment. two suicide attempts and transphobic bullying from her family in her native Nigeria before leaving for London in 2004.  She is a singer-songwriter, model and the founding director of the TransValid  NGO.

"There is no way I could have survived in Nigeria.  That is why I had to leave."

After arriving in London, she performed at Madam Jojo's Kitsch Cafe until it closed in November 2014, earned a master's degree in digital media from London Metropolitan University, has walked the runways of London Fashion Week in addition to competing in trans beauty pageants around the globe.

Along the way Miss SaHHara is becoming an internationally recognized voice when it comes to eloquently discussing gender identity issues and as she has said, 'being a voice for the voiceless in Nigeria'.

Nigeria's loss of her talents and intellect because of their transphobic idiocy is Great Britain's gain.

"London gave me my opportunity to pursue my dreams and be my true self." Miss SaHHara said in an interview. "I'm hoping that by speaking out and coming to Miss Star, I will try to influence people or perhaps my government to revoke 14 years of imprisonment for LGBT people in Nigeria."

Miss Brazil Rafaela Manfrini was crowned Miss Trans Star International 2016.  Ta'alin Abu Hanna of Israel was first runner up.

As for what's next for Miss SaHHara?  Stay tuned.

I have no doubt that whatever this talented woman puts her mind to accomplishing, she will achieve it.

Bye Bye President Jonathan

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who signed a draconian anti-gay law last year during his term but failed to effectively combat the rise of Boko Haram terrorism and corruption in his nation, found himself on the losing end of the March 28  Nigerian elections.

Karma is a you know what, isn't it President Jonathan?

Moving into the presidential villa in Abuja soon will be 72 year old opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Nigerian army major general who once ruled the country from December 31, 1983-August 27, 1985 after a military coup d'etat before he was himself deposed in a military coup and imprisoned for 40 months.

This was the second time that Jonathan and Buhari had faced off in an election that would determine who would lead the most populous nation in Africa.

The president-elect's record is mixed.  While Buhari is regarded as incorruptible in a nation that has been plagued with it messing with its economic growth and development, and took steps as a military leader to eradicate graft as a by jailing 500 politicians, officials and businessmen, his term was also remembered for human rights abuses.

Buhari comes from the Muslim north and backed sharia law there, which led to suspicions in Christian dominated southern Nigeria that he had a secret radical Islamist agenda that contributed to his losses in the last three presidential elections.   He also escaped a July 2014 Boko Haram assassination attempt on his convoy in Kaduna.

But after getting the support of key heavyweight defectors from Jonathan's People's Democratic Party, support from influential Nigerian Christian leaders and promising to end the Boko Haram insurgency within months of his election, Buhari made history by becoming the first challenger to knock off a Nigerian presidential incumbent.

As to what that means for the Nigerian TBLGQ community, we'll have to wait and see.

Will be interesting to see once he is inaugurated what happens in Nigeria under Buhari's leadership and what it means on an African continent in which one out of every five people on it is Nigerian.

Nigeria Passes Draconian Anti-GLBT Bill

While the international community was focusing on Uganda and its attempts to pass their blatantly unjust 'Kill The Gays' Bill, they should have also been focused on Abuja, Nigeria.

In the most populous nation on the African continent, the Nigerian House of Representatives today passed the unjust 'Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill' that criminalizes being gay or lesbian in the country, bans gay marriage in a church or mosque and outlaws any groups actively supporting gay rights.  It was already approved by the Nigerian Senate in November 2011 and is now on its way to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for his signature.

If Jonathan signs it, gay or lesbian couples who marry could face up to 14 years each in prison.  If you witness the marriage, attend the wedding or helps a gay couple get married, you are risking a 10 year sentence behind bars. Anyone taking part in a group advocating for gay rights or anyone caught in a “public show” of gay affection also would face 10 years in prison if convicted by a criminal court.

As of yet President Jonathan hasn't indicated whether he will sign the unjust bill or not.
 
Save your breath if you're thinking that Western powers can put pressure on the 'Giant of Africa' by threatening to cut off financial aid.   Nigeria pumps 2 million barrels of oil per day and the United States is one of their major customers.  The last time I checked the price is hovering around the $90-$100 per barrel range.

Gay sex has been banned in Nigeria since the British colonial rule days and our gay and lesbian cousins there face open discrimination and abuse in a country divided by Christians and Muslims.   They may fight each other,  but the two things they universally agree on are soccer and uniform opposition to homosexuality.

So it'll be up to local activists in this nation of more than 160 million people, with the help of the international community as they did in 2007 and 2011 to do the bulk of the education and fighting against this unjust law. 

Chidi Odinkalu, the chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, said he only learned about the House’s vote late Thursday night and said the bill likely would be challenged in court.

Because right now, that's their only option if President Jonathan decides to sign this un-African and unjust bill

Karmic Wheel Catches Up With Eucharia Uche

Remember Eucharia Uche, the lesbophobic coach of the Nigerian Super Falcons Phobes who boasted about eliminating suspected lesbian players off her team?

The comments generated a firestorm of international criticism and earned Uche a June 29 chat with FIFA Director of Women's Competition's Tatjana Haenni to remind her about FIFA anti-discrimination policies.

After failing to get out of group play during last year's FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany her squad also failed to qualify for the 2012 London Games.

Nigeria has also been relentlessly attacking Equatorial Guinea ever since they upset them in 2008 and became a challenger to Nigerian dominance of African women's continental football.   They have been subjected to long and loud Nigerian transphobic gender griping and filed CAF and FIFA protests misgendering Equatorial Guinea players.  

It was an interesting 'things that make you go hmm' moment when Equatorial Guinea was ousted from the 2012 Olympic qualifying final due to a player eligibility issue and replaced by Cameroon.

Back in October Nigeria battled Cameroon to see who would join South Africa in representing the continent at this year's women's Olympic soccer tournament.

The Super Falcons won the first game of a two leg playoff in Abuja 2-1 but lost the return leg game on October 25 in Yaoundé by the same 2-1 score.  

The 3-3 aggregate score meant the London Olympic berth was decided by penalty kicks, and the Super Falcons subsequently lost the penalty kick shootout 4-3.  

That means for the first time since 2000 the Nigerian women's team will not be marching into an Olympic stadium and competing in the women's soccer tournament when the Games commence, which is unacceptable to Nigerian football fans. 

That failure combined with the Super Falcon failure to qualify for the 2011 All Africa Games tournament in Mozambique and their highly publicized failure at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup led to Uche's dismissal by the Nigeria Football Federation as the national team head coach.


No word yet from the Nigeria Football Federation on who will replace Uche.  The decision will be made by the end of the month and has a wide international list of candidates of both genders, but the Super Falcons and women footballers in that nation are justifiably lobbying for another female coach to replace her. 

But for the Super Falcons anybody will be better than the controversial lesbophobe and former international player who excelled more in generating negative press than stacking international football wins and major tournament appearances.

And yeah, karma is a rhymes with itch isn't it?

Is Super Phobes Coach Uche Really Being Investigated By FIFA?

Nigeria Super Phobes (oops Super Falcons) head coach Eucharia Uche made some startling comments during the recent 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in which she claimed during a June 26 press conference she removed lesbians off her team.

There was a subsequent June 29 meeting between Uche and FIFA's head of women's competitions Tatjana Haenni in which the anti discrimination policy was reiterated to her, and the Nigeria Football Federation made it clear she was still their coach for the time being.


At the same time this was blowing up, an Allout.org sponsored petition drive was gathering over 45,000 signatures and organizing a 'Give The Red Card To Homophobia' protest before the Women's World Cup semifinal game in Frankfurt urging FIFA to attack homophobia in the game with the same zeal they do racism in 'the beautiful game'.

The International Gay and Lesbian Football Association, the Federation of Gay Games and ALLOut.org jointly wrote a letter to FIFA President Sepp Blatter concerning the Uche situation.

FIFA and its affiliated organisations are to be commended for the kinds of strong measures taken against racism in football. Unfortunately we have not yet seen the same commitment to take action against homophobia. It is long overdue for FIFA to apply its own rules regarding discrimination, and help insulate the sport from ideological and religious interference that infringes on players rights.

That it is. The IGLFA and AllOut.org wrote press releases that were picked up in other parts of the Gayosphere claiming that a FIFA investigation of Uche has been launched, but the Federation of Gay Games says otherwise.

The Federation of Gay Games asserts on their FB page she's not being investigated, and had this to say.

Contrary to the press release from our friends at AllOut, cosigners of the letter to FIFA to which Jérôme Valcke has now (more than two months later) replied, FIFA has not decided to investigate the lesbophobic behavior of Nigerian women's football club Eucharia Uche.

We quote:

"Thus, in the event the FIFA Disciplinary Committee considers having enough evidence to be in a position to open proceedings, it will not fail to do so with the assistance of the FIFA administration."

We are puzzled by FIFA's request for us to provide information, as it is clear in our letter that the information provoking our letter came from the press. We do hope that FIFA will look into those sources, and eagerly await news of any investigation.

But we're not holding our breath...

Neither am I.  Nigeria's Super Falcons are in the middle of a two leg playoff for the remaining 2012 London Olympic Games women's qualifying tournament with Cameroon. 

They won the first leg 2-1 and play Cameroon on October 22 to decide who gets that other African qualifying spot.  

If there were any FIFA investigation of Uche, it would be big news in Nigeria, on the African continent, the FIFA website, the Confederation of African Football one and any site on the Net that tracks international football.   So far all I've been able to detect is cricket chirping silence on the issue.

I said this when I wrote about the controversy back on July 7:  

This situation with Uche admitting that she forced lesbians off the squad cries out for sanctions, but the likelihood of that happening is about the same as a certain appletini chugging gay rights orgs in the States hiring a transperson to run it.  

And so far, both scenarios are playing out.