Braving The Storms: A Review of Braveman E. Wodi’s Authobiography – Journey of the Brave
REVIEWER: DR AMATARE MOZIMO
NUMBER OF PAGES: 163 PAGES
PUBLISHER: Realife Dispenser
DATE: AUGUST 23RD, 2025 @GOLDEN TULIP RESORT, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, YENAGOA
PREAMBLE
One sector that is unarguably outstanding in the incumbent Bayelsa Government strides is the sports sector. The countless laurels and trophies in recent times and in roads to excellence have been unmatched. The PROSPERITY ASSURED Agenda can make bold to say that in sports, no other state in the Nigerian nation, have better impact than Bayelsa State from 2020 till date.
When people talk about Bayelsa’s success story in contemporary sport history, they forget one man behind the scenes – whose drive and expertise contributed in no small measure in raising the flag and showcasing the laurels. You can’t mention Bayelsa Sports feat in recent times, and not mention one man behind the screaming headlines. His tenacity, expertise and commitment to synergy and network with those on the political spotlight, brought these glowing glories to the fore. He is none other than Sir Braveman Wodi – the recently retired Director of the Bayelsa State Sports Council! He shares with us in this 163 pages autobiography, his rise to stardom and his many contributions to sports development from then Old Rivers State to the new Bayelsa State under the current leadership of His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri and his amiable Deputy, His Excellency, Senator Lawrence Ewhurudjakpo.
A CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF SPORTS EXCELLENCE IN BAYELSA STATE
Was it in the just concluded maiden edition of the Niger Delta Sports Festival hosted by the Akwa Ibom State Government at Uyo, where Bayelsa State came tops on the medal table? Or was it the turn around narrative in the biennial National Sports Festival where Bayelsa edged out rivals and cliched the second spot after taking the third slots in the former ones? The best position Bayelsa has ever achieved in the biennial NSF was fourth in 2006 when the incumbent Governor Douye Diri was then Commissioner for Youths and Sports, until Sir Braveman braved the storms of sports as henchman of the Sports Council.
Just this year, 2025, both male and female Bayelsa football teams – Bayelsa untired and Bayelsa Queens – clinched trophies as winners in the FA Cup (in Benin City) and Super-Six Female Football Tournaments hosted in Bayelsa State. Not forgetting in 2021, still during the reign of Sir Braveman Wodi as Director of the Bayelsa Sports Council, both teams in Benin City achieved a similar feat the same day as national football champions. And so many more as recorded in this book.
It is easy to overlook the fact that, while Governor Diri and the incumbent Commissioner for Sports, Champion Baralatei Igali, has a penchant for historical sports development with their pedigrees and antecedents in sports, one man, without which sports development in Bayelsa State could not have been complete, is Sir Braveman Wodi.
Wodi’s long standing exposure in sports administration circles put him at a vantage position to excel. His experiences could not be missed and forgotten to time, if not recorded in a book of memoir for posterity to take note and understand the intrigues and challenges that are now paying off immensely in Bayelsa sports sector today.
This autobiography by Sir Braveman Wodi, presents to readers the opportunity to share his vast experiences in sports administration for the world to read, learn, unlearn and relearn. Written in nineteen chapters, Sir Braveman, leads us into the deeper world of sports administration. The politics and the mudslinging that came with the job. “Rome was not built in a day,” so a popular adage says. For those who don’t know, the gleeful stories of excellence, we hear of Bayelsa and sports excellence in recent years, did not come without sacrifices and adept skills of one who knows the game; who has seen the highs and lows and gets the job done at all cost.
Like the mantra of the Boy’s Scout says: “Be Prepared!” Sir Braveman entered the world of sports prepared. From humble beginnings as a fresh graduate to the Pinnacle of service as Director of Sports. He came, he saw, and he is still conquering in service, even upon his retirement, as an astute sports administrator whose knack for the job is second to none – even upon retirement at the age of sixty.
NUGGETS
Sir Wodi”s autobiography, ‘Journey of the Brave,” is a travelogue that documents the history of sports in Bayelsa State with him as the middle dot in the circle. Dotted with his family history from Kokomlemle in Ghana, where he was born In 1965, to Odi and back to Ghana again in 1974. Then to the Garden City of Port Harcourt; Unique Uniport for his first degree in Political Science and Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) for his Masters in Management, then to the Rivers State Sports Council as an employee civil servant on Grade Level 08 in 1992 as a Stadium Assistant earning a meagre salary of Five Hundred and thirty Naira Only. Then he braced the storms of life to his marriage with the daughter of the pioneer Bishop of the Niger Delta Diocese – the late Rt Reverend Adolphus Amabebe; Sir Braveman’s story is a classic narrative full of highs and lows, but with committed zest to success – humble, sincere, taut and trite to sports services.
It is a motivation for youngsters to know that success comes with many sacrifices. Braveman’s sojourn was not one of smooth roads on a hitch hike to stardom. There were rough edges, rugged curves and fast heights too slippery to stand and sometimes, too hedgy and challenging. At sixty years, Sir Braveman shares his life’s story telling a tale of wonder that can be easily passed off as the myth of a mighty man.
CHAPTERS’
SYNOPSIS
The book started with the birth and early life of Sir Braveman in Chapter One. Born in Kokomlemle in Ghana on August 12th, 1965, to a working class father – Mr Wodi and his mother, a housewife and trader – Mrs Wodi. He was very sick at birth and there were fears of death as he had also lost one of his elder brothers (Kindman) to death upon early birth. Despite being incessantly sick, Sir Braveman survived, hence his names – Braveman and his middle ijaw name – Eredoye!
Àt five years old, following reforms in the newly introduced Ghanaian Alien policy on foreigners, he moved with his mother and some siblings to live with relatives in Odi community, his father’s hometown, in1970, immediately after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war.
He started primary school at age five after a failed admission attempt since his hands could not cross his ears. He could not not speak Izon language as of then and so had a challenging time grasping and learning at Ingbila Primary School in his Odi community in 1971. He failed and repeated Primary One.
He could not meet up payment of school fees as his relations diverted his fees as sent by his father from Ghana. He joined bad gangs and became a delinquent child, flouting school regulations with band gangs and risked being sent home. At nine years old, his father visited Odi and young Braveman returned to Ghana with his father.
In Chapter Two, entitled “Back to Ghana,” Sir Braveman could not enroll in primary three after he failed the reading tests. He was admitted to a private primary school to start primary one. He started slow but later picked up. Taking a position of 36th out of 38 in class to being 5th later in third term. He was suspended from school with three of his Ghanaian classmates for registering as external candidates to write the Common Entrance Examination in another school. His father was duped by a teacher who feigned to have registered him for the common entrance to no avail.
His father was an industrious man who combined his civil service job in Ghana where he worked in the Ministry of Trade; with other menial jobs. He was a farmer, a petty trader and engaged in cross border commercial trade shuttling between Ghana and Nigerian selling Gahanaian Kente and other household wares, and cashing out time before the economic down turn in Ghana leading Ghanaians migrating to Nigeria after the dwindling fortunes of the Gold Rush in the former Coast Coast.
Chapter Three, tells of Braveman’s return to Ghana. His secondary school encounters as an adolescent and his family life with his siblings and stepmother in Accra.
Upon completion of his WAEC examinations in Accra, in the early 80s, the “Ghana Must Go” saga took place. And Ghanaians faced a retribution of what they had done to Nigerians earlier in the 70s. They sent packing out of Nigeria and back to Ghana.
In Chapter Four, Braveman tells his story of how he got into the game of Chess while awaiting his Secondary School Certificate results while staying with his uncle in Port Harcourt. His love for the Chess game, over time, and got him new friends not just in the Chess circles in his neighborhood. It was his love for the board game of Chess that led him to make new friends and through such ties, he got his permanent job as a civil servant into the then Old Rivers State as a Stadium Assistant on Grade level 8 with a starting meagre salary of a little above Five Hundred Naira. If not for the advised of his late brother (Truman), Braveman would have opted out of the job. But his patience and steadfastness paid off later in life.
In Chapter Six, we are introduced to Bravesman’s escapades as Undergraduate in the University of Port Harcourt where the likes of the incumbent Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and Two-Time former Governor of Rivers State – Chief Nyesom Wike was his friend and course mate. His stint into activism as student leader in NUBSS was also highlighted. Many of us never knew that it was the activism of persons like Sir abraveman that lead to Arts and Social Sciences students being allowed bursaries by the Old arovers State government. It was Sir Braveman’s letter of protest to the then Commissioner for Education that broke the ice. He was selflessly bold and astutely confident to a cause.
In Chapter Seven the story of Braveman’’s foray into the National Sports Festival was explored in depth. How he learnt the ropes of sports administration from mentors and attended several national sports festivals as a competitor in Chess game, and later as Coach and organising Secretary in the Old Rivers State Sports Council, them later in Bayelsa State upon creation from 1996.
In the foregoing Chapters of Eight to Twelve, Sir Braveman lets us into an array of competitive sports he got entangled in. Not just a chess player in the Rivers and Bayelsa States Sports Council but also his role into the world of Football (as FA Secretary) Scrabble and Chess sports administrations.
Today, we hear of the Governor Doris Scrabble Championship spear headed by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary (Mr Daniel Alabrah who doubles as the State Chairman of Scrabble Association) and the Prosperity Grassroots Football Tournament; Sir Braveman Wodi was instrn6to the successes of these championships in Scrabble and the biggest grassroots football competition in Bayelsa State and Africa at large. Read this autobiography for more details and better insights.
Upon the creation of Bayelsa State in 1996, Sir Braveman documents the teething challenges encountered in sports development in those early years in the late 1990s in Yenagoa. Ranging from the lack of facilities to the development of makeshift ones leading to the present state of things. This chapter underscored the BIblical injunction of the urnction: ” Despise not the days of little beginnings!”
This autobiography is not complete without the author taking us into the journey of not just the National Sports Festival from 1996 dubbed NSF Makurdi ‘96, to NSF Bauchi ‘98, to Owerri 2000 amongst other years engagement in the biennial duel. He documented his sports prowess as a Chess coach to the UNIPORT contingent at the 1998 Nigeria University Games dubbed NUGA 1997 in Bayero University Kano (BUK), Kano State, where the UNIPORT contingent took the first position in NUGA. And later to that of UST. He excelled marginally in Chess as a coach and mentor to many such as Kekigha who still prides in the chess game till date as coach and mentor to other youngsters.
There are several chapters that he let us into his roles in organizing competitive board sports drawing inspiration from other mentors such as Engineer Emmanuel Frank Opigo and others. Sir Wodi, developed his penchant for sports through imprints on how he braced the storm responsible for the current state of sports excellence in Bayelsa State.
Sir Braveman shared several miracles in his life including a near death experience among the Emouhua axis of the East-West road where a gunshot bruised his nostril and lodged a bullet pellet in his face for seven months. He was later flown abroad for treatment in India. Such near death experimences gave Sir Wodi the conviction of his purpose for life. His marriage to Lady Dr Eniye Amabebe-Wodi also got a stint in his auto biography. Family life was not spared as he recorded how challenging it was for him to manage family, his sports career as an administrator in sports circles in Bayelsa State Sports Council. His religious life as a committed Anglican through the influence of his wife and in-laws. His many activities in the Church of Angelican Communion leading to his knighthood of St Christopher all got some honourable mention in this book.
The book documenta the various medal tables of recent National Sports Festivals for the records. This serves as reference material for future researches to see the book as reference point documented by a first hand witness. Displayed in coloured representations, concise and tabulated, with labeled inscription of source data, on medal tables and other records, Sir Bravemans knack for details in this autobiography are unmatched. With details of dates, names and venues, beautiful documented, this autobiography comes handy as a ready reference material for sports research in the Niger Delta.
While not leaving out a chapter for those hands who worked with with behind the scenes to achieve set goals, the author itemises their numerous contributions to his siccessess6. Those who have worked with him did not go out of touch as he reeled out those critical areas, such persons, came through for him and made valuable contributions towards his success in sports development in Bayelsa State. Time and space shall fail us to list out such names here. But as anyone who wisb to be surprised by the roles they have played in sports development in Bayaa state shall be shocked to find his or her name mentioned in this epoch sports directory.
STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS
The book stands as researchers material for information on sports development in Bayelsa State. While I stand to be corrected, no other book, as I know, has made a detailed documentation of sports history in Bayelsa State, such as this autobiography. Coming from a pioneer and forerunner in sports administration in Bayelsa and the Niger Delta region, Sir Braveman’s simplicity and dexterity in giving detailed narratives on sports history in the region comes with applauses that are duly deserved.
Simple diction. Short and precise sentences. Apt descriptions with details and timely informationation are filed in. Dotted with notable names, dates, landmarks and events worth recalling, Sir Braveman must be commended for his knack for depth and details. Without such books as this, getting a first hand information, necessary for sports history and development in Bayelsa and Old Rivers state and the Niger Niger at large, would have been a sour point in our national sports history.
One faux pas as recorded on page 74 of the book, was when he attributed the change in the dissolution of the board of Bayelsa United Football, to that of Chief Timipte Sylva’s administration instead of Hon. Serialke Dickson’s second term on February 14th, 2016. A reprint can get this corrected nonetheless. Coming from one whose sense of recalling dates and events was sharp and accurate, such shortcoming can be excused with a wave of the hand. But it must be corrected for posterity as Sir Braveman’s writings are authorities on its own rights and merits and taken as facts any day, any time by readers and facts seekers. That is why it is necessary for such to be highlighted and corrected.
CONCLUSION
Sir Braveman was born frail. He was sickly and feared for death, yet he survived against all odds. This book is his Grass to Grace story of inspiration to all who cared to know how to be victorious amidst lives’ vissicitudes. Sir Braveman’s story is not a straight road. It has curves and sharp bends, but in all, he soared higher as he relived and survived several gory tales to glory. Every reader must have a pick of this book to glean its pages for these life time nuggets for survival and success to BRAVE THE STORM – just like Sir Braveman Wodi.
The sports sector is a competitive one. In this autobiography, Sir Wodi shares those high points and low points. I. Life, “We win some, we lose some.” Even at times when he was on the losing side, he braced up with a sportsmanlike spirit. He dusted himself up and waited for another opportunity to come his way. And he was ready and available to take the next challenging task. Today, Bayelsa sports arena is singing a new song of successes on several fronts. Without the committed expertise of Sir Braveman Wodi as the engine room from which these contributions are achieved, the story could have been different. Read. Learn, unlearn and relearn. Sir Beavema’s is life’s philosophy and ‘can-do’ spirit got him going. You to can do same.
Many success stories are left unsaid. Not because they didn’t happen, but because those to document such glorious stories for posterity become too busy to write such sweet strides of development in one piece as a book. Despite his busy schedules in sports politics and administration, Sir Braveman’s step to document his life’s story as autobiography must be applauded and righteously commended. Not so many a person can do that. Today, as we witness his honourable retirement from the Bayelsa State civil service as the quintessential sports administrator, one is quick to ask if such a collosus should be allowed to bow out of service, considering the very many challenging times ahead in sports development in Bayelsa State? Can the next Director of Sports in the Bayelsa State Sports Council fill his shoes? Can he or she sustain the benchmarks? Can such feats in sports and laurels deservedly raked in recent times be sustained or even surpassed?
Reading and studying this autobiography is the first step to achieving this feat or beating the marks of Sir Braveman Wodi as he steps aside. Herein, lies the nuggets for success for any ‘wannabe’ sports administrator. This book holds the aces as it shares valuable insights of the secrets of how Sir Braveman braved the storms in sports administration in the Old Rovers And Bayelsa States as well as grassroots sports development, NUGa and other competitive coward games such as Chess, Scrabble and Draughts. Little wonder Sir Braveman Wodi is nicknamed “Boardmaster” in sports circles. He did not just tell the story of his biography and family life; but he divulged more on how he made his in roads in sports administration through partnerships, humble beginings, and being open and ready to learn with meek spirit and a “can do” attitude.
This book is a masterpiece from the Board Master-General himself – Sir Braveman Eredoye Wodi! Have a bite to have a podium finish! I recommend it to all! Thank you and happy retirement at sixty but never be tired as your valuable consultations shall come handy to sustain the tempo in sports development in Bayelsa State and beyond. Bravo, Braveman!
Dr. Amatare Mozimo
(08066001713)
Reviewer, Extra-ordinaire
