The late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardaunan Sakwatto, used to call him “Gajere Captain,” the short captain. He wasn’t tall but had a leap and a way with his skills as a defender, which even the tallest strikers couldn’t handle. AbdulMalik Babamale was the captain of the Northern Nigerian football team, the Northern Lions. He was a beloved captain for the Sardauna, and he developed a close, very warm relationship with the Premier. The Sardauna wanted success in sports for the North just as much as he strove for success for the region in every area of human endeavor. That longing for Northern success in sports and football in particular was what cemented the relationship between the two men.
In fact, it was the assassination of the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, during the tragic military coup of January 15th, 1966, which ended Babamale’s footballing career. The shock of the horrible event was too much for the football captain, the Sardauna’s most beloved “Gajere Captain.” He had had enough of football! If a group of people can conspire to kill such a man; a man of genuine devotion to the best interests of the people, at least Babamale saw that at very close quarters in sports, then that was it!
There were many remarkable episodes of remembrance that were etched forever in the memory of the 90-year-old Alhaji AbdulMalik Babamale. The most remarkable, arguably, must be the opening ceremony of the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna. That was in 1964. The Premier was joined by all the top political leaders of Northern Nigeria; the first class emirs, including the Emir of Ilorin, Babamale’s hometown, were also guests on the occasion. Babamale was the captain of the Northern Lions, and he led out the team against the Queens Park Rangers from England that afternoon for the first game in the stadium in Kaduna.
Today, the 90-year-old Babamale is the only living member of that team. The other team members that lived quite long included the center forward, Bayo Giwa from Offa. In July 2016, when I first met Babamale, he placed a call to his teammate in Offa, and we had a short conversation. Eight years later, in July 2024, I returned to his residence in Ilorin, and when I recalled his old teammate, he informed me that: “Bayo Giwa died, I think about five years ago”! The other member of the team who passed just a few months ago was John Bull in Zaria.
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I contacted Muftau Baba-Ahmed and told him who I was with. He had a short discussion with Babamale and informed the old man that his name was legendary in Zaria. Babamale was Captain of the Zaria Eleven for about seven years between 1960 and 1967. Muftau confirmed John Bull’s passing, and he added the extra information that he had reverted to Islam before his passing. So, of the Northern Lions of 1964, that team that played the first game, which opened the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, Alhaji AbdulMalik Babamale is the only one remaining with us.
When I requested him to name those that he remembered from that Northern Eleven apart from himself, he readily remembered Bayo Giwa, John Bull, Christopher Udemezue, Segun Olumodeji, Inuwa Lawal Rigogo; Austin Papingo; the Ilorin-born goalkeeper of Zaria Eleven, Salawu Gidado, known as “Flying Cat”. I then mentioned Sam “Garba” Okoye: “Oh yes, he was in the Northern Academicals, but was the only one amongst the school level players, that joined and played with us. He was incredibly talented! “
It was actually the late Abba Kyari who triggered my interest in the man called Babamale. He was one of the heroes of sports in Northern Nigeria. Sometime in early 2016, I wrote a column about the football stars of my childhood in Ilorin and the old Kwara State. That piece triggered an interesting response. Many of the stars that I wrote about were still alive, and unfortunately, I omitted one of the more popular ones, Captain Dayo, in my piece.
He called me and requested the reason why I forgot him; so the next week, I wrote a follow-up piece. That led to my decision to invite them all for lunch in my residence. The turnout was overwhelming! These old stars, now in their late 70s and 80s, were meeting again for the first time, in thirty to forty years. The reunion would kickstart the formation of the Kwara Football Veterans association, and for the next two years, they met in my residence every week.
During that first meeting, I placed a call to Abba Kyari, who was already Chief of Staff to President Buhari. He encouraged them to form an association, and he ended his call by asking about Babamale. Baba Ali, the old “right out,” today’s modern winger, provided a clue. Babamale was alive and well, and as a matter of fact, he was married to Baba Ali’s sister. It’s truly a small world! We agreed to visit the old man. A few weeks later, in May 2016, I was appointed as Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission. That slowed down the plan we had, but it wasn’t completely derailed. Two months into my tenure, in July 2016, I returned home to Ilorin, and on one of the nights, we made our way to his residence in Ilorin.
That was an exploratory visit that opened up a relationship with Alhaji Babamale. The old football captain is now a venerable old man in Ilorin, at peace with his accomplishment and living life as a community elder, father, grandfather, and a devout Muslim, in the traditions of his Ilorin hometown. That night, we discussed his exploits in football, were shown pictures from various games from the 1960s that adorned the walls, and also took pictures. When I returned to Abuja, I shared the story with Abba Kyari, Gen Halilu Akilu, and other members of our Nigerian Collective online platform. But there was the daily grind of work to face and the life of the succeeding years, from 2016.
When I returned to Ilorin recently, I decided that I must write the full story of Captain Babamale. He was very much a central part of the history of football in Northern Nigeria. Born on June 26, 1934, Alhaji AbdulMalik Babamale is now 90 years old, but his very healthy looks, plus the remarkable depth of his mind, reflected a man who has truly been blessed. The years of discipline associated with sports have redounded positively in his life.
Babamale was born in the Eastern Nigeria commercial city of Onitsha. During the 1940s, Onitsha had a commercial pull, which attracted people from all parts of Nigeria to live, trade, and work. The pioneering Nigerian writer, Cyprian Ekwensi, who I interviewed in 1995, for a BBC AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE features on Onitsha Market Literature, told me that a combination of the River Niger, the missionary enterprise, early colonial education, and commerce, were at the roots of the success of the city. By the 1940s, the town was also becoming established as a place of early stirring of anti-colonial journalism as well. New Market Road became the street of the many newspapers of the day. It was where the newly literate, ex-service men from the Second World War and budding journalists converged to discuss nationalist ideas.
Babamale’s parents, like several others from Ilorin, also moved into Onitsha. So successful was that community that it was amongst the Ilorin community that the Oba Yoruba of Onitsha was selected. These are members of the Ile Onitsha family of Ita Kudinma in Ilorin. Saidu Olororo of Ile Afiku, in Ilorin, was similarly elected as a councillor in Onitsha in that historical period. The Ilorin Diaspora in Onitsha in the 1940s included the family of the late Alhaji AGF AbdulRazaq, who would eventually become the first lawyer in Northern Nigeria. As a matter of fact, Babamale attended the CMS Central School, Onitsha, the same primary school attended by Alhaji AbdulRazaq. He was there between 1946 and 1953.
He entered the Washington Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha, in 1954. One of his classmates was the Nigerian international footballer, Sebastian Brodericks. It’s also remarkable that the future captain of the Nigerian national team, the Green Eagles, Godwin Achebe, was not only in the same school, he was similarly captain of the school’s senior football team. Even at that time, Achebe was a distinguished centre-half, the same position that he would play as Nigeria’s captain. Babamale finished his Cambridge Examintions in Onitsha in December, 1958 and he moved to Lagos to begin work by January 1959.
His life was to take a different turn in Lagos. This was because he was eventually going to return to Northern Nigeria. That return home was facilitated by two men; Alhaji Sa’adu Alanamu, then recruitment officer of the Northern Nigeria Civil Service (he was subsequently, Agent- General of the Northern Region in London, Balogun Alanamu and Waziri of Ilorin) and Honourable Justice Mustapha Akanbi.
Akanbi had studied in Ghana and was returning to take up a job in the North, in Kaduna. He spent the night at the Oluwole area residence where Babamale was living. They had never met before, but Akanbi encouraged him to also return to the North. Similarly, Alhaji Sa’adu Alanamu, who was visiting his married daughter in the Jaji residence (Moshood Olanrewaju Jaji would play for and captain the Ilorin Town Team for many years) was informed that he had successfully completed secondary school with the Cambridge Certificate. He collected copies of his papers and also asked him to return to Kaduna. This was in late 1959. Justice Mustapha Akanbi picked him at the Kaduna railway station and had even taken the extra step of renting him a house on Constitution Road.
The following day, he was taken to meet Alhaji Sa’adu Alanamu who issued him a letter to resume work at the Ministry of Finance. Kaduna also had a very sizeable Ilorin contingent of civil servants and others. After a few months in the Ministry of Finance, Babamale met the Northern Accountant General, a Lagos man called B.B. Campos, to complain that he wasn’t enjoying the work in the ministry. His preference was to be a sanitary inspector, as he was in Lagos. Campos told him that cultural etiquette in the North would not permit a sanitary inspector into people’s residence. Campos then suggested that he might consider becoming a Produce Inspector. He took the offer, largely because these inspectors also wore uniforms!
During his year in Lagos, Babamale played for the Post & Telegraphs (P&T) team as well as EMANDEX. When he moved to the North, he played for the ECN team in Kaduna. As a Produce Inspector, he was transferred to Zaria in 1960 and he began to play for and became captain of the Zaria Rangers Football Club. The second team in Zaria at the time was the Zaria United. They had a fierce rivalry and he was equally appointed captain of the Zaria Eleven, which combined the teams in the city.
Zaria Eleven had remarkable success, winning the Northern Governor’s Cup in 1961, when Sir Gawain Bello was ending his tour of duty as Governor of the Northern Region. They also won in 1965, this time with Sir Kashim Ibrahim, as Northern Governor. On each occasion, Zaria had defeated Jos in the finals. But he noted that when it came to the national Challenge Cup, Jos always succeeded to win and would then go on to Lagos to represent the Northern Region.
When I asked him to talk about some of his teammates, he first spoke with admiration about Lawal Inua Rigogo. He was the goalkeeper of the Northern Lions. Rigogo moved to Lagos to play for ECN, from where he became Nigeria’s international goalkeeper. As children growing up in Ilorin, every aspiring goalkeeper of my time wanted to be like, or was called “Rigogo”! Rigogo’s father, according to Babamale, was an employee of the Ministry of Works in Zaria.
Similarly, he described Segun Olumodeji as a very complete football player, with tremendous ability. He was the player that Babamale vacated the number 4 position for, to play as the number 2 of the Northern Lions. Olumodeji went on to have a distinguished career as a Nigerian international. He also praised the incredible talent of Sam “Garba” Okoye, who was the only school boy player that was part of the Northern Lions team which played that first game at the opening ceremony of the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, in 1964. For me, personally, Garba Okoye was the best Nigerian player of all time.
I recall the enthusiasm that his presence generated when the newly reconstituted Green Eagles (with the returning Igbo players) visited Ilorin, played, and defeated a Kwara selected team, in 1970. The national team lodged at the Niger Hotel, literally, a stone throw from our house. The huge gathering of children wanted to see the remarkable Sam “Garba” Okoye. He finally appeared on the hotel’s balcony in the green tracksuits emblazoned with Nigeria in white. He had his signature white band around his head, smiled, and waved at the delirious youngsters that included this reporter!
Back to Babamale and his Northern Lions team. The coach was John Deshi, and he was assisted by Usman Adenuja, who would become the father of school boy football in Kwara State after the creation of states in 1967. Adenuja’s Kwara Academicals produced generations of school boys who either played for Nigeria’s Academicals, or were distinguishedin the Kwara Academicals: Goalkeeper Lamidi Lawal, Captain Busari Ishola, Baba Eleran, Rasheed Gbadamasi (Dan Baiye), Musa ‘Koto’ Abdullahi, Ahmed Yahaya (Atinga Woma), Ojibara Salihu, Olaiya Jaji, Isa Salman, and so many more. There was a direct link between what had been sown in the North and the eventual success, which was exemplified by the work that Usman Adenuja would go on to do with Kwara State.
The Northern Lions eventually even had a Hungarian coach, Gustav Hudas, who was assisted by the Northern coaches. The Northern Lions also played other international games against a Russian side, and Malmo of Sweden, at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium. The Sardauna also wanted a process of bringing in more Northern youth into sports in general and football in particular. Babamale said that after one of the games of the Northern Lions, the Premier requested him to visit his residence. When he met the Sardauna, he asked Babamale if there was a sufficient pool of Northerners who could be recruited to play sports. Babamale answered in the affirmative. That made the Premier call the Minister of Sports. He asked the same question, and the minister was also positive. That led to the formation of the Northern Sports Association.
In the wake of the coup and counter-coup of 1966 and the creation of states, Babamale was deployed to the newly created Kano State, where he worked from 1967 to 1977. He was later transferred to Kwara State, where he retired as a Chief Produce Officer in 1993. Back home in Ilorin, he was a member of the Kwara State Football Association and in 1978, was appointed the Team Manager of the Kwara State Water Corportation team that qualified for the national league in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Alhaji AbdulMalik Babamale said that the old system which allowed major national institutions like the army, police, marines, railways, ports authority, electricity company, and others, to nurture football and other sports teams, served Nigeria very well. He added that the players of his generation were fired by a sincere patriotic fervor to give their all for the game and the country. The difference today, he concluded, is that the players live for and play for the money. In many cases, they’ve become so rich, and they often lose respect even for their coaches, and they don’t also seem to understand the importance of representing their country. Just like in every facet of our national life, everything has changed. Unfortunately, not often for the better.
It was a very long afternoon. We concluded our visit by posing for pictures. We then admired the pictures on the wall in the living room upstairs. These were of different games with the Sardauna’s “Gajere Captain,” either collecting trophies or introducing his teammates to dignitaries. He took us to his office downstairs, and there were more pictures of the football star and his mates, as well as one other picture, that of a younger, Alhaji AbdulMalik Babamale, in his uniform as a Produce Inspector. We went down to offer our greetings in the way that we greet the elderly in Ilorin. As we drove away, I reflected upon the many hours we spent with a truly remarkable old man.
He was a pioneer in many ways. He was a child of a generation of Ilorin people who moved to Eastern Nigeria from around the 1930s. He was born away from home and grew up in the cosmopolitan, commercially vibrant settings of Onitsha. That opened his mind to the diversities of the city of his birth, and it was a city that educated him and also gave him football. He moved into Lagos in 1959, on the eve of Independence, and by the end of that year, he would return to the Northern Nigerian capital of Kaduna.
The North gave him the wings to fly, and as the captain of the Northern Lions, Babamale became a household name all over the region. It was that success that led the late Abba Kyari to the remembrance, which triggered to our discovery of the venerable old man in Ilorin. Events of history and the individuals who make history often have unforeseeable outcomes. We are very glad that at 90 years, Alhaji AbdulMalik Babamale was still very strong, agile and with a presence of mind, to recall times past, in the words of the French writer, Marcel Proust: “A la recherche du temps perdue”!
Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, PhD., FNGE, is a Broadcaster, Journalist, and a Political Scientist.
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