OKIKI Fowobaje of Ifako International School swept the
board on Thursday as he emerged champion of the 1st edition of the Rabiu Adeola
Under-12 Scrabble Championships held at the Lagos Country Club Ikeja GRA.
The keenly contested competition saw over 50 children
from different schools in a battle of wits as the event brought out the best in
all of the participants to the delight of World scrabble, Wellington Jighere, who
was icon of the day.
Jighere who was stunned at the kids' display couldn't
hide his excitement: “I'm so excited at their level of competition. These kids
are future leaders in the game. The organisers have done a great thing to give
us a competition of this magnitude. I'm very sure more talents will be
unearthed if more competitions are organised.”
The overall winner, Okiki was also ecstatic after being
declared winner. The 11 year old who smiled home with a giant trophy, gold
medal, sets of scrabble and mathable among others, craves for more
competitions.
“I'm so happy to win the championships and my parents
will be very proud of me right now. I
never knew I would win but when my name was called, I was very shocked. I hope
more scrabble competitions are organised.”
The first five winners went home with various prizes
while the most promising school, Trinity College were awarded a trophy.
Speaking after the successful completion of the first
edition of the tournament, Bimbo Adeola, sponsor of the competition said it was
meant to immortalise his late dad, Rabiu Adeola and discover hidden talents who
will be nurtured to stardom, while adding that the second edition will be more
grand.
“Our plan is to discover for Nigeria more world beaters
like Wellington Jighere. Catching them when they are young will speed up their
learning process and before long, Nigeria will reap from our effort. The
competition will also add to the kids' word and spelling skills and it will
also impact positively on their education. The second edition will definitely
be bigger and better,” he summed up.
List
of top five winners:
Okiki Fowobaje-Hector
Daniel Lawal
Pese Alo
Eleazar Ulinfun
Adewale Olubajo
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