It wasn't the trio of Lionel Messi, Louis Suares and Neyman Jnr., this was a new trio, an enigmatic trio. Leading the attacking machine was Obong Victor Attah.
The field went into a frenzied spasm as he trapped the ball from the air and slipped a quick one to Sen Akpabio before running zig-zag to retake the ball in a give & go fashion. Akpabio pushed the ball and did a tick tack while screening two running opponents with his body.
He dribbled a sweeper before taking a scissor kick across to Udom Emmanuel. Udom did another fast give & go as he takes a dummy run towards the far post taking 2 defenders with him.
This left Obong Attah now with the ball ample opportunity to bend the ball into a semi-through-pass just in time for Udom to hammer an inswinger-bomb that caught the goal keeper napping as it shook the net. The referee pointed to the center spot and blew his whistle.
As Udom ran towards the spectators stand in jubilation the number 12 was visible on his back. "G-o-a-l!!!!!" the crowd roared as I jumped towards him. My body seemed to hit someone but I tried to push forward.
"What is it koko?" It was my wive's voice as I opened my eyes to see her staring in surprise. It was a dream. I sat up and picked my phone to read the Bible for my morning prayer - the date was June 12, 2017.
It started in early 2002. On that dream Alh Atiku Abubakar had dragged a green colored jersey with OBJ; pulled it off OBJ who fought back vigorously tearing the jersey almost in shreds. Partially unclad, OBJ was pushed out of the field of play while Atiku struggled to put on the shredded jersey to take his place.
As he made to enter the field someone that looked like the referee threw a new jersey with the number 5 on it to OBJ who ran back into the field of play.
Atiku was dragged out by men who looked like policemen and while he was trying to crawl back into the field from nowhere OBJ scored as I opened my eyes to a bright Sunday morning. It was all a dream.
The following day a friend and customer of mine approached me to help him find buyer for his land located at Mariam in Calabar.
When I asked him what he wanted the money for he told me that all was set for Alh Atiku Abubakar to take over as President in 2003. He needed the funds to relocate to his home town where he hoped to promote Atiku’s campaign.
I said nothing about the dream because it seemed unrelated – Atiku wasn't going for a football match. But years after the significance of jersey number 5 in that dream became manifest.
Not forgetting the 22nd day of March 2011 which I ran into a mob at Abak Road, Uyo on my way back from Eket. As it turned out one of them recognized me and helped guide my car safely from what would have been a disaster. It was after I drove toward the state secretariat and saw the level of arson and destruction that I realized what God had saved me from.
I was told it was fallout of Akpabio vs Udoedehe political do-or-die supporters clash. Later that night I was still wondering where all that would end when I slept off. Then I saw him - Godswill Akpabio, I don't know who took a long pass to him.
He chested the ball which rolled all the way down to his left leg. Then he did a solo run, dribble one, two, three and turned full circle in a makosa dance style when he encountered a central defender in blue jersey. It was Udoedehe.
Akpabio lopped the ball into the air as Udoedehe went for it. As the ball descended Akpabio who was backing the near post went airborne, then it happened - a bicycle kick which caught both Udoedehe, the goal keeper and even the spectators by surprise. The ball hit the net with the force of a tomahawk missile.
The fans went wild as Akpabio scored. I fell off my bed to the ground. My poor wife was by my side as usual. "Which goal are you shouting?" She asked, "you must stop watching Super Sports.
It is affecting your sleep. You can't be falling of the bed in your sleep shouting "goal", you are not a child" she cautioned as I got up from another football dream. I recalled that Akpabio had on jersey number 4. The rest was history.
It was in 2014 that the jersey dream re-appeared. This time it seemed it was Eket Oron Road. A large group of people were in hot chase of a man wearing a football jersey. The crowd was so large I could barely see the man who later seemed to disappear.
Later as the crowd mingle in confusion they heard loud shout of "g-o-a-l!!!” Everyone ran towards the location and it seemed a football field. The scorer was the same man that outrun them.
He was lifted up in jubilation and I saw on his back the number 8. I couldn't have mistaken the face of Mr. Udom Emmanuel even in a dream. But I didn't remember the dream nor did I try to piece anything out of it until Wednesday February 3, 2016.
My dream of January 2nd 2016 was the most memorable. As soon as the referee blew his whistle for start of the match Donald Trump first picked the ball with his hands and started running. Everyone including his teammates pursued him.
The referee blew in frenzy as he ran, the linesmen joined the chase. Then he threw the ball down and started dribbling everyone including his teammates. As he advanced to the opponents goal posts everyone including the linesmen form a wall.
He took a crashing shot that broke the wall and even punctured the net. To everyone one's surprise the referee pointed to the center spot as he blew his whistle to allow the most uncommon goal in football history. If God wanted men to play soccer he wouldn't have given them arm. Carrying the ball with your arm is a taboo.
But here was Trump, he carried the ball run with it, kept it down, dribbled and scored. How could this be goal? But it was according to the referee. I woke up from sleep to think it was a foolish dream.
But something worried me. He had on jersey number 9. Why do I keep seeing and recalling vividly the number on their jerseys. Why? That week I bought a dog and called it Trump.
Somehow I picked interest in Trump. But after listening to his nomination speech during GOP convention in Cleveland, Ohio July 2016 I lost interest in Trump because I was extremely unimpressed by his presentation. I switched support to Hilary Clinton who had the wind in her favor.
I was sure Trump who acted foolishly even in dream won't get anywhere but Oracle already allocated the captain's jersey to him. No one could change it (Gen 27:37). The rest is history.
It was after listening to Distinguished Sen. Ita Ennang that I started giving serious thoughts to the football dreams. Ita Ennang said that "they did everything possible to remove Udom but could not because God put him there".
Both pre-colonial and colonial Africa remained a syncretic society before the two main religions of Christianity and Islam took over. In pre-colonial Oro nation harmonization of nature with the supernatural was a predominant practice. These include beliefs in spirits, veneration of the dead and other practices.
Atte-Okiuso village, for instance, had a deity called “Abanganlak” a feminine spirit which was believed to reside in a stream (Udim Otte) where the people fetched drinking water.
My great grand-father was the priest and kept her shrine which was to have passed to my grandfather. But the advent of Roman Catholic Church at Atte and my grandpa’s subsequent conversion stopped the sequence of generational transfer of the priesthood.
During that time Abanganlak provided succor in times of planting, war and even information through necromancy. My great granddad only needed Calabar-chalk (“ndo”) and 3 pieces of eggs to invoke the spirit of the death to tell you things about the past and future.
He even did things as deeply as reading the akashic records and reproduced them in complex short-hand though he never went to school. But for obvious reasons my dad didn’t inherit that power but he didn’t leave us without a legacy. This include a mysterious old book that was passed on to the family by Reverend Father Kasa.
"Keep this with you always” my father told me. “Life and death and everything in this world and beyond is in this book” he said. “It is stronger than “Abanganlak Otte”, “Olurimm Otieke”, “Otokpo Udesi” etc; don’t let it depart from you” he emphasized.
I don't remember showing the book to Sen Ita Ennang but he quoted extensively from it during his radio interview. He's not the only one. Pastors, preachers, teachers etc have quoted my fathers' book for generations. It was in that same book I read that "...old men shall dream dreams" Acts 2:17.
But when an old man dreams about football it cannot be ordinary especially seeing political leaders play football. Is there any relationship between football and politics? I think so.
The important thing about football is not about football, it's about goals. But while goals in football is scored once the ball crosses the goal line, political goal is scored in the heart of the people.
For a country which national discourse on development remains stucked at the level of revenue sharing; for a country which government revenue is based on extractive rather than productive activities; for a country in which states merely wait for monthly allocation from Abuja most of which are later spent on frivolities, any governor that thinks towards industrialization - on channeling some resources to productive activities no matter how small, would score goals in the hearts of the people. The hearts of the people is the heart of God.
No wonder Sen Ita Ennang confessed that everything he and others did to bring down.
Mr. Udom Emmanuel proved abortive because "God put him there". And God is not a God of halfway. He has accordingly handed him another jersey to continue as AKS Team Captain till 2023. But the football revelation is not only for Mr. Udom Emmanuel. It's also supposed to help all potential aspirants to governorship come 2019.
It's to help the governorship dreamers who hope to wrestle power from Udom Emmanuel that any of them can realize how each or all of the governorship dreamers can realize their dreams.
Very simple, very simple indeed. To defeat Udom, they should ensure one thing and one thing only. They should ensure that the election did not hold in 2019. It could be any other year but 2019.
The reason is this 2019 captain jersey has been assigned to Udom Emmanuel with the number 12 boldly written. That year is closed.
2+0+1+9 = 12. The Oracle has spoken.
James Abang Writes From Atte-Okiuso Village UrueOffong/Oruko LGA.
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