Sports
Abia Govt To Support Professional Wrestling
Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State at the weekend in Abuja said his government would ensure massive support for the promotion and growth of professional wrestling in the country.
Orji, who made the promise while receiving a delegation from the World Wrestling Professionals (WWP), said he was committed to the success of sports endeavours in Abia and Nigeria.
The WWP delegation included the body’s president, Mr Mark Beale, and two of their wrestlers, the Ultimate Commander and the Nigerian-born Kilimanjaro.
Also on the delegation were members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Commonwealth Heavyweight Wrestling Champion of Champions tournament dubbed the “Last Man Standing’’.
Orji said the state had shown unwavering support for all sports through the sponsorship of football club sides as well as wrestling.
“Abia has interest in sports generally, and not only in Enyimba and OUK FC, but we have a particular interest in wrestling.
“ This is because we know we have the wrestling talents that will do us proud in the sport.
“Our own Osita Ofor, the Ultimate Commander, has shown that he has the talent and he is still doing well to attain the heights the likes of the late Power Mike reached in the sport for Nigeria,” he said.
The governor, who acknowledged that the sport had not been doing well in Nigeria lately, noted that the feats of Ultimate Commander and Kilimanjaro at WWP deserved the support of Nigerians.
“With what Ultimate Commander did in Scotland last year, I know he has the potentials to do better and this is why Abia state will do everything possible to ensure the tournament holds in Aba this October,” he said.
Orji said it was the duty of all Nigerians as well as governments to ensure massive support for the October tournament as well as wrestling as a sport.
“It’s a duty we owe the likes of Ultimate Commander and other aspiring Nigerian wrestlers. Somebody must prop them up.
“They may have the muscles to wrestle, but they don’t have the financial muscle to stage their fight here in Nigeria.
“ Our own is to help him reach the heights of the likes of Hulk Hogan and the rest,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Chief Simeon Okeke, Chairman of the tournament’s LOC, expressed admiration for the governor’s interest and support for sports and the Ultimate Commander.
“We are interested in identifying and promoting sportsmen and your support for sports is a great help for us,” he said.
Beale, in his own remarks, reiterated his belief in the enormity of wrestling talents in Nigeria and his desire to help them through developmental programmes.
He said such programmes, such as the establishment of gymnasiums and the staging of fights, would help Nigeria become a wrestling powerhouse in Africa.
“We have a lot of talents in Nigeria and Africa as a whole and it is through good support that we can achieve our desires of tapping and making good use of such talents,” Beale said
Also speaking on the tournament, Chief Emeka Inyama, the Director of Organisation, said the event had been moved to October from August because of the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa in June and July.
“The World Cup will slow down business in all sectors and we decided the tournament can help to add more glamour to Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations,” he said.
The tournament, earlier scheduled to be held in many Nigerian cities over four weeks, is to feature between 12 and 18 top wrestlers from many parts of the world under the auspices of the WWP.
Among the new NBA draftees are Felix Okpara, Ebuka Okorie, Zubby Ejiofor, Otega Oweh, Tobi Lawal and Ugonna Onyenso.
Felix Okpara (selected 46th overall by the Orlando Magic) and Ugonna Onyenso (selected 53rd overall by the Houston Rockets) marked the second time that two players from Nigeria were selected in the same NBA Draft.
Onyenso is the third NBA Academy Africa alumnus and 15th NBA Academy alumnus overall to be drafted into the NBA.
Ebuka Okorie of Stanford University was the 17th overall pick by Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a planned trade.
In the arrangement, the Thunder will send the draft rights to Okorie to the Memphis Grizzlies who will send his draft rights to the Detroit Pistons).
Zuby Ejiofor was drafted from St John’s University as the 23rd overall by the Atlanta Hawks, just as Otega Oweh of the University of Kentucky was selected as the 41st overall pick by the Miami Heat, as part of a planned trade, which will see the Heat sending the draft rights to Oweh to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Oweh was named to the All-SEC Second Team by the league’s coaches in both seasons at Kentucky (2024-25, 2025-26).
He led the Wildcats in scoring (18.6 ppg) and steals (1.8 spg) as a senior in 2025-26 and also scored a career-high 35 points vs. Santa Clara in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. He is also the brother of Washington Commanders defensive end Odafe Oweh, a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Felix Okpara of University of Tennessee, who was selected 46th overall by the Orlando Magic, earned 2025-26 SEC All-Defensive Team honors as a senior in his second season at the University of Tennessee.
He ranks second in programme history in blocks per game at 1.6 and is one of four Tennessee players to record multiple 50-block seasons.
Okpara finished third in the SEC in blocks during the 2024-25 season, averaging 1.7 per game, and ranked seventh in 2025-26 at 1.5 per game.
Prior to Tennessee, Okpara played two seasons at Ohio State and was in 2023-24, ranked 11th nationally in blocks, averaging 2.4 per game.
Okpara grew up playing football in Nigeria and picked up basketball shortly before moving to the U.S. in August 2018.
Tobi Lawal of Virginia Tech, who was selected 48th overall by the Dallas Mavericks, did not pick up a basketball until he was 16, growing up in London and starring for the City of London Academy before crossing the Atlantic.
At Lee Academy Prep, he was dominant, averaging 14.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 2.0 steals while shooting 67 per cent from the floor.
Ugonna Onyenso of the University of Virginia was selected 53rd overall by the Houston Rockets, but the Rockets will send his draft rights to the New York Knicks, who will then send his draft rights to the Detroit Pistons, marking the second time that two players from Nigeria were selected in the same NBA Draft.
Onyenso spent three years at NBA Academy Africa in Saly, Senegal, making him the third NBA Academy Africa alumnus and 15th NBA Academy alumnus overall to be drafted into the NBA.
At 17 years old, Onyenso became the youngest player ever to suit up for the Nigerian senior national team. The Owerri-born center first picked up basketball after a local coach pulled him away from soccer, then attended NBA Academy Africa before relocating to Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut.
Also in the latest NBA draft are AJ Dybantsa, who has ties to the Republic of the Congo and Jamaica, Nate Ament of Rwanda, who is the second player of Rwandan heritage to be drafted into the NBA after Frank Ntilikina, selected eighth overall by the New York Knicks in 2017.
Ghana’s Jack Kayil and Narcisse Ngoy of the Central African Republic are also among the new NBA intakes.
The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), on Friday, warned newly promoted clubs that failure to meet the league’s licensing and infrastructure requirements could bar them from playing at home or even jeopardize their participation in the top flight.
The NPFL recalled that some clubs were relocated from their home venues last season after failing to meet the required standards.
The Chief Operating Officer of the NPFL, Davidson Owumi, disclosed this in Abuja, during an orientation and induction programme organised for the owners and general managers of the four newly promoted clubs ahead of the 2026/27 NPFL season.
He said the programme was designed to acquaint the clubs with the league’s operational procedures and club licensing requirements before the new season begins.
According to him, the early engagement provides clubs with enough time to address any shortcomings before the commencement of the season.
“The purpose is orientation and induction, to ensure they are acquainted with the basics of what we do in the NPFL and to break down the club licensing process so everyone understands what is expected.
“We still have plenty of time before the league starts. This is the appropriate time to acquaint them with what they will be facing. Those who cannot meet the requirements will know early enough.”
Owumi added that the league had yet to assess the newly promoted clubs for specific deficiencies, explaining that the current exercise was focused on education rather than evaluation.
“We are just interacting with them for the first time. We have not tested them in any way. After this education, if they are unable to meet the requirements in the coming weeks, then we will know those that are deficient.”
The NPFL chief stressed that the league would continue to enforce strict compliance with infrastructure standards, including stadium, security and medical requirements.
“Any club that does not meet the standard requirements will be moved from its home ground. We have always enforced these rules because professional football demands the right infrastructure.” Owumi said.
Speaking on behalf of one of the promoted clubs, Chairman of Sporting Lagos, Godwin Enakhena, described the orientation as timely and beneficial, saying it exposed participants to important aspects of the league’s operations that many may not have been aware of.
He said while some club officials had previous experience in the NPFL, the seminar remained valuable because learning in football administration is continuous.
Expressing confidence in the readiness of the promoted clubs, he noted that Sporting Lagos, Wikki Tourists, Barau FC and Doma United were not newcomers to the top flight and understood the demands of competing in the NPFL.
Enakhena said: “The day you stop learning and reading, then there’s a big problem. Even for me, there were issues discussed today that opened my mind. I would have been ignorant of those things if I wasn’t at this seminar.
“You don’t struggle to gain promotion and then you’re not ready for the battle. Based on my conversations with the other club managers, I can assure you the four teams are ready.”
Enakhena also welcomed the increasing number of privately owned clubs in the NPFL, describing it as a positive development for Nigerian football.
He said the success of privately run clubs would encourage more investors to enter the game and expressed hope that they would eventually make up the majority of clubs in the top division.
“I’m seeing more private clubs getting to the Premier League. Let’s have 70 per cent privately owned clubs and 30 per cent government clubs. That would be a fantastic development for Nigerian football.”