By; AYO OJEDOKUN, Lagos
The Chairman of the Nigerian Police Scrabble Games, CSP Femi Okunowo has described the recently held 14th Biennial Police Games tagged: Oluyole 2024 as one of the best in the history of the Police Games in Nigeria.
According to him, the game went so well and all the expectations were fully in place and Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde and his team fully supported the games financially and morally.
Speaking With New Nigerian Sports after the games, the Commanding Officer for Swift Response Squad, Oyo State, explained that Governor Makinde and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun worked together to ensure that the games were successful.
“The last time the Police Games was held in Oyo State was in 1998 and hosting the game again in 2024 was hitch free, which shows that the state is peaceful and that the police officers and other security agencies are really pulling their weight and have zero tolerance for crime related activities.
“This is to ensure that Oyo State is calm and habitable for members of the public to live and to sleep with their eyes closed.” He said.
When asked if the games produced new talents, Okunowo stated that, “you know that scrabble is a board game and the game of scrabble is for everyone. The game requires the physical and mental well being of the individual. It is a board game which requires you to think and form words from the board that will make a meaningful sentence. This takes a lot of thinking and many people are too lazy to take up the challenge while some people are ready to learn.
“Also, the scrabble games played during the Police Games was quite okay and a number of athletes in male and female categories came to compete for gold, silver and bronze. We had quite a tremendous outing for these athletes. We had various categories ranging from the single and double category for male and female and also the combined for male and female. We equally had the veterans and the highest single mover and the game overall was equally considered.”
He however, expressed joy over the new players discovered during the competition.
“We got new players that came on board, but we did not see the new players overturning the older players.” He disclosed.
Claiming that the new players did their best by showing their talents and skills, while the older players did not rest on their oars, because it showed from the results posted by old players that they did a lot of work that was why It wasn’t easy for somebody to come and overrun them.
Okunowo however, commended the playing pattern and skills of the new athletes, saying, “I am hoping that in subsequent editions, they will perform better and take the game of scrabble to the next level and take over. Largely, they did well but they were not able to overturn the old players.”
