Born 6 June 1956, Ibadanland and Nigeria celebrate a living institution. Chief Waheed Ekun, the Agba Akin Mayegun of Ibadanland, turns 70. Seven decades, and he is still at the table, not just as a player but as a mentor, builder and conscience of Nigerian sports.
Fifty-two years ago, in 1973, a 17-year-old Ekun put Nigerian table tennis on the national map. Representing the old Western State, he won gold in the very first intermediate final at the inaugural National Sports Festival in Lagos, defeating Sunday Eboh in a match that still echoes in the sport’s folklore. That victory was not a moment. It was a foundation. A year earlier, at just 16, he had already worn Nigeria’s colours on the 1972 European Tour in Sweden. Greatness announced itself early!
But Chief Ekun refused to be defined only by medals. When his playing days ended, he picked up the coach’s bat and the administrator’s pen. He became the first African appointed as a national table tennis coach in the United States, and went on to coach in England and Ghana. A graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, he brought intellect to every role, from the Chairman of the Oyo State Table Tennis Association to the Special Adviser on Youth and Sports to the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State.
What truly sets him apart at 70 is his restlessness for the next generation. Listen to him on Splash FM 105.5 Ibadan and you’ll hear not nostalgia but urgency. Through the Waheed Ekun Foundation unveiled at his 50th-anniversary celebration, he is attempting to bridge the sponsorship gap that kills Nigerian talent. Across Oyo State, he discovers, trains and equips grassroots ping-pong players, insisting they pair rackets with textbooks. In the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), he pushes for structural funding for sports beyond football.
Last August, Ibadan marked the golden jubilee of that 1973 final with an exhibition rematch between Ekun and Eboh. Two five decades of history. It was symbolic. The game he pioneered is still being played because he never left the table.
Agba Akin Mayegun is in the process of organising the Ibadan Classic Table Tennis Tournament of which I am a member of the Planning Committee and I asked him, “My master strategist, why the championship and in Ibadan?” He responded in this synopsis, “Table tennis is fast losing its grip in Ibadan, which used to be the cradle of table tennis in Nigeria. From time immemorial, Ibadan, nay, the Western Region, used to be the epicentre both in the playing and administration. Save for the European founders of the game, particularly the British, our colonial masters, the game is very prominent in Ibadan. The Yorubas of the Southwest of Nigeria were really committed to the sport, which had brought glory to the Southwest, in particular, and the country, at large. One would recall such names as Alagbala, Akinola Maja, Bobby Benson, and the era of Solomon Bamgbade, Waheed Dawodu, Lateef Akanmu, R. A. Ajomale, Bolade Elemo, Mufutau Oduntan, Phillip Santos, Muyiwa Oni, etc., to the time of Babatunde Obisanya, Yisa Ayesoro, Lekan Fenuyi, Kasali Lasisi, Lateef Sunmola, the Ekun brothers (Waheed and Abass), Sunday Eboh, Kamoru Arogundade, to the regime of Atanda Musa, Yomi Bankole, Fatai Adeyemi, Segun Toriola, Sule Olaleye, and to the fantastic set of Haruna Quadri, the highest-rated Nigerian and African in the world, Bode Abiodun, Omotayo, etc.
Gradually, table tennis was shifting to other places in Nigeria to the neglect of our zone. We are our past glory. We have had fantastic administrators such as Engr Dotun Segun, Dr A.E. Efunkoya, Wahid Enitan, Dr. Soji Tayo, etc., who have held various positions in the world of table tennis. Ibadan was Classic Table Tennis Tournament. In the opinion of lovers of table tennis, it has to be brought back to reckoning. And we are proud to have the President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, Dr Soji Tayo from Oyo State. We have no excuse but to set the standard, once again, for all parts of Nigeria to emulate”.
At 70, Chief Waheed Ekun reminds us that legends do not retire from service. They evolve as coach, umpire, administrator, advocate, –each role has been a chapter in one long service to Nigeria’s youth.
A distinguished member of The Progressive Forum, Ibadan (TPFI), former President of the Ibadan Solidarity Group (ISG), former Secretary General, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), former Chairman, Ibadan Week Festival, member, Ibadan Recreation Club, member, Oyo State Sports Writers Association, among others, happy 70th birthday, Agba Akin Mayegun of Ibadanland. May the next decade bring you health, joy and even more champions raised from your foundation. Nigerian table tennis and Nigerian sports owe you a debt that 70 candles cannot repay. You deserve a national honour, which we have to push up.
Congratulations and cheers, my “master strategist”.
Tunji Oladejo, mnipr, JP, MANUPA, mspsp, writes from the University of Ibadan, is the Chairman of The Progressive Forum, Ibadan (TPFI); and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bayo and Bimpe Oyero Foundation (BBOF) and the 2026 Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) Icon of Ibadan Heritage Awardee via oladejo65@gmail.com. 08077284442
