Sunday Bada’s
untimely death leaves a deeper hole in the heart of Nigerian athletics.
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| Bada (pix courtesy Getty Images and IAAF) |
Like an unexpected bolt at the finishing line of a final sprint relay, 42-year
old Sunday Bada - well decorated police officer, one of the finest among
Nigeria’s internationally renowned quarter milers and technical director of the
Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) - was reported to have slumped and died of heart
complications on Monday night, December 12, on his way to the Murtala Mohammed
Airport, Ikeja, to pick his wife shortly after leaving the National stadium in
Surulere, Lagos. While he left behind a grieving family, national public
and global athletics community, he went to the great beyond with
the African indoor record of 45.51 seconds, which he set in Paris to clinch the
gold medal at the 400m final of the International Amateur Athletics Federation
(IAAF) World Indoor Championship in 1997.
In all, Bada won three
medals at different World Indoor Championships. At the 1993 IAAF World
Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, he ran a personal best time outdoors when
he clocked 44.63 seconds in the semi-final round, but finished fifth at the
finals, which was his highest ever individual placing at the outdoor
championships or Olympics Games. He was also a member of the Nigerian 4 x 400m
relay team which won bronze at the 1995 IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg,
Sweden and part of the country’s Olympic 4x400m relay team which set a national record of 2:58.68 minutes to clinch silver (which was later upgraded to gold on
the disqualification of the USA) at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Since the exploits of his generation, only a few Nigerian athletes have
produced consistent and noteworthy athletics performances on the international
stage. Bada was a significant part of a golden generation of Nigerian athletes
whose sheer personal determination and hardwork rather than administrative
structures ensured that they swam against the tide to gain global acclaim. The likes of Chidi Imoh, Innocent Egbunike, Mary
Onyali, the Ezinwa brothers, Olapade Adenekan, Chioma Ajunwa and Falilat
Ogunkoya all come to mind. While the country has gone on to produce Uchenna
Emedolu, Deji Aliu, Endurance Ojokolo, Olusoji Fasuba, Obinna Metu, Ogho
Egwero, and Blessing Okagbare; only a few have produced momentary flashes of
brilliance on the international circuit. However, the brightest prospects and
worthy successors to the Bada generation could be said to be Francis Obikwelu and
Glory Alozie. However, due to the many issues surrounding the poor welfare and
remuneration of Nigerian athletes, both have long switched allegiance to
European countries, leaving behind many more disillusioned younger athletes
with great potentials.
Until his death, Bada, who retired from active sports after the 2000
Sydney Olympics, but remained a police officer, was always full of hope for the
revival of Nigeria’s athletics, and as the technical director of the AFN, he
tried as much as he could on different levels to ensure that the situation
improved. Fifteen years after, no Nigerian has been able to equal his golden
achievement. Just like the news of Bada’s death, it is a depressing commentary
about the state of Nigeria’s athletics on all fronts.
“I want to see records falling in this festival and I’m sure it will
happen,” he had said during the 2009 Sports Festival Games in Kaduna. At the
2010 Mobil Championships in Abuja, he told the magazine about the need for more
lucrative national circuits to encourage locally based athletes to improve on
the tracks and catch up with international standards. In 2011, he also spoke of
his desire to see needed improvement in Nigerian athletics following the dismal
performance of her athletes over the course of the year.
Sadly, he never lived to see it as the country’s athletics has been
allowed to sink deeper into oblivion on the international stage. On the
continental stage, even other African countries like Ghana have taken the shine
off Nigeria in the sprints, once renowned as the country’s exclusive pride of
place.
In a condolence message, the International Amateur Athletics Federation,
IAAF, noted that it was “deeply shocked and saddened,” to hear of Bada’s death.
“The IAAF on behalf of the global athletics family offers its condolences and
sympathy to the family and friends of Sunday Bada who will be sadly missed,”
its statement read. Until his untimely death, he was the team head of the Commissioner
of Police Secretariat I, SFU, and was also the first Commander of the Joint Border
Patrol between Nigeria and Benin Republic. While Bada's 1997 indoor best of 45.51 seconds is
still the African
record for the event, his personal best of 44.63 seconds at the 1993 World
Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, remains the second fastest time by any
Nigerian sprinter, after Innocent Egbunike best of
44.17 seconds.
“To our great national hero,
My team mate and fellow Olympic gold medalist...former National Sports Festival
record holder, former World Indoor champion and the most decorated Nigerian
Sprinter Sunday Bada, I say Rest In Peace! We shall all miss you...sad sad sad
day indeed',” wrote Enefiok Udo-obong, Bada's gold-winning teammate
at the Sydney Olympic Games, on his Facebook wall.
A few days ago, a Google search
for ‘Sunday Bada’ produced over three million results. However, as the whole country and the international athletics world mourns the
sudden loss of a great athlete, many sports analysts are left to wonder if Nigeria
would ever produce another athlete in the mould of the golden Bada.
