Two weeks without Trigo Egbegi, my brother, my friend

Many who think they know Trigo Egbegi, easily Nigeria’s most in-depth boxing writer, never knew the man who immersed himself so much in boxing that he pined away as the sport he loved went into irrelevance with such declivity that he could not stand it.

Trigo, Aboy Trigo, as I called him, did very few things because he was not interested in things that did not elicit his passion. Aboy was a testimony to his youthful looks. He called me Ikeddyleeeeee, drawing the added letters until they sounded like a village ululation. He was nine years older than me.

A roar of laughter rounded off the salutations before we delved into “national issues”.

He was a private person. Growing up between Ghana and Nigeria, working for Prisons, playing for its football, produced a man who weighed his words before using them.

Quiet, though not for lack of something to say. When he spoke, it was usually a probing question that dripped with wisdom. His position could redirect a conversation. He was so spartan that it appeared he had no needs.

The rigour that resulted in his pieces is more appreciated by those who know his work ethic. Often, Trigo could spend hours waiting to recollect a word that he thought best fitted into a sentence. He could take a lunch break, take off to join a banter session, but he must find that word that brings his description of a situation to life.

Deed done, he rubbed his palms once more as if to acknowledge the conclusion of that phase of a journey to another masterpiece.

To know Trigo is to know a man who accorded his work due diligence, a man who was fair to all parties and seemed not to have enemies, or they were enamoured with his work and forgave his trespasses.

Trigo was established before we met physically. If you did not read boxing stories because of him, it was a matter of time for you to be converted.

He was on the pages of Daily Times and The Guardian, where he was an able deputy to our now departed boss, Sunny Ojeagbase. The great desk also had Chris Okojie, later my boss at Vanguard, Mitchell Obi, who brought new verve to football reporting, and Pat Opara, our Sub-Editor who reported golf in unforgettable ways.

Trigo was later Sports Editor of The National Concord, The Republic, SportsLink and the Sportsworld.

He was the one who received me to The Guardian in August 1983 when I arrived for the National Youth Service Corps and handed me a list of things Mr. Ojeagbase who was covering Wimbledon from where he continued to the US Open, had made. I was to learn it was Mr Ojeagbase’s practice to assign roles specifically.

The desk had great team spirit, which accounted for the fast ascendancy of The Guardian sports reporting. The only complaint about Trigo was that he would not be hurried. We let him be.

In semi-retirement, he anchored the renowned TV show titled “Big Fights of the Decade” on the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA. He held Nigerians in rapt attention for the one hour duration of the programme.

With encouragement from Onochie Anibeze, he wrote a weekly boxing column in the Vanguard. His interest had waned. Trigo was focused on travelling to the US, where his daughter was with a relation.

He called as circumstances permitted and had his heart back home. One day, his voice rang with joy as he announced that he was back. He considered life in the US too boring.

Trigo had a knack for reporting boxing with details that others miss easily. Each time I read his reports, I was a boxing reporter then at The Punch, and I felt inadequate. He was a motivation to do better.

Those reports we cherished arrived through loads of risks. Trigo would travel to Lanlate, in Oyo State, Nigeria’s satellite town, spend the night, to watch those fights staged at unholy hours.

He knew the big boxers of the decades and reeled out statistics and their fighting styles as if they were filed away in an invisible library he could always call up.

Trigo was gratitude in motion. During the trying 2021 flooding that had most of Bayelsa underwater, I made a post that he was safe.

Many of our colleagues asked for his contacts and sent him money, well beyond his modest expectations. He was very grateful and regretted he had no way of reaching most of them to say ‘thank you’.

A great family man, Trigo cared beyond his immediate family. The larger Egbegi family literally was in hell until Captain Graham Egbegi, a younger brother, was released by Somali pirates in June 2009 after a traumatic 10-month hostage ordeal. Egbegi was commanding the MV Yenagoa Ocean, a vessel operated by a 10-man, all-Nigerian crew. Somali pirates intercepted and hijacked the ship in the Gulf of Aden/Indian Ocean on August 4, 2008, while the crew was sailing the newly purchased vessel to Nigeria from Dubai. The pirates wanted a $1m-$2m ransom, which they said the Nigerian government could easily pay. Trigo was to be seen in Abuja moving from office to office seeking assistance to free his brother.

One of my regrets is not honouring Trigo’s invitations to his home in Yenagoa. He visited me twice in Toru-Orua, Sagbama local government area. On one occasion, he slept over. We barely slept. There were too many memories from the one year I spent with that great team at The Guardian.

Alfred, his younger brother, whom I have never met, sent me the Facebook Messenger item on 5 July: Trigo was gone.

I was benumbed. We had spoken on 25 June, 10 days earlier. The connection was unfriendly, and we promised to speak later. That never happened.

Was that the farewell? What a farewell!

Condolences to his wife, children, the larger Egbegi family and all whose lives Trigo impacted.

May the Almighty rest my brother, my friend, Aboy Trigo.

Finally…

From where did we get a Senate President called Obong Godswill Akpabio who thinks his brief consists mostly in making light of sensitive public issues? A former university Vice-Chancellor was being screened for an ambassadorial position. Different groups were opposed to his confirmation based on allegations of sexual harassment against him by his university staff. The case is in court. Adams Oshiomole, a notable Akpabio opponent, rose against the confirmation, suggesting that the nominee could wait until he clears the matter in court. Akpabio started giggling, choking in his own laughter before reminding Oshiomole of a senator who was caught massaging a girl’s leg in a private jet. Akpabio was now beside him in raucous laughter that left him rocking in his chair. He was referencing a February incident involving Oshiomole. The differences were glaring and exposed Akpabio’s shallowness – the Oshiomole issue seemed consensual, nobody has complained of harassment, there is no case in court over the leg massage, and Oshiomole was not being screened for an ambassadorial position. Akpabio can trifle with anything dragging his high office down with it.

Minister of Works David Umahi has neither the sobriety nor appreciation of the public outrage after news broke that a corpse was moved out of the Minister’s Uburu home in Ebonyi State.

Umuahi moved faster, including allegedly leaving the crime scene before investigation started. He is the one relating a private telephone conversation between the deceased Mary Habila and her unnamed boyfriend to the public. The story keeps spiralling in different angles, with Umahi knocking off parts he doesn’t like. With the investigation in full swing, a mourning Umahi is back to work. We would not have known if he didn’t announce, “That (coastal) highway is named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Coastal Highway. By the powers conferred on me as Minister of Works, in consultation with my Permanent Secretary, the Minister of State, directors and staff of the ministry, we decided to name it after him because of his dream for it,” Umahi said. All these as Habila’s death and its controversies continue.

Killings and kidnapping continued in different parts of Nigeria, Plateau and Benue States, particularly. Muted attention has attended the attacks. Attacked communities in Idoma reportedly rejected coffins and a N5 million donation from Governor Hyacinth Alia. They said they want security, not humiliating hand-downs to bury their dead.

Safe schools. Everyone mouths it. Nobody seems to know what to do about it. Oriire pupils and teachers released; students writing national examinations in Kogi State abducted. There is a lot of work yet undone.

Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues