Thu, Feb 18, 2016 page18

• FEATURE: Nigeria’s elite mingle amid tourney at Lagos Polo Club

  EXTRAVAGANZA: Other events interspersed between matches to entertain the country’s rich and influential include fashion shows, art exhibitions and hat contests

  • AFP, LAGOS, Nigeria
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  Elite, stylish and extravagant, the social scene at the annual Lagos polo tournament is as much of a show as the game on the pitch.

  Big-name politicians and businessmen hobnob with tribal kings and queens, while imported professional players from Argentina, Syria and South Africa up the stakes on the field.

  The Lagos Polo Club, a green gem in the heart of Ikoyi, one of the upscale neighborhoods of Nigerian commercial hub of Lagos, has long been a watering hole for the country’s elite.

  While the Lagos Bonhams face the Kano Akasma under the blazing sun, a small crowd of young women wearing ornate fascinators watch from the edge of the lawn, sipping from flutes of luxury champagne, one of the sponsors of the event.

  The tournament, which started on Wednesday last week and ends on Sunday, is “going to be the best tournament ever,” Lagos Polo Club captain Ayo Olashoju said.

  The field has been fully renovated, while the foreign professionals, dubbed “hired assassins,” have been contracted by local teams for extra strength, Olashoju said.

  “This is my ninth year in Nigeria,” famous Argentinian professional player Santiago “Chino” Estrada said. “It’s improving every year.”

  Lagos is “becoming a really nice club to come and play,” even if the hot and humid climate is not ideal for horses, he said, pulling his leather riding boots over his white pants before heading out to play.

  British colonizers brought the sport to Nigeria at the turn of the 20th century, later converting a military airstrip into what is now the polo club, Lagos Polo Club president Ade Laoye said.

  Far from becoming a colonial relic, over the years the polo club has grown to become the favored meeting place of the most influential politicians and businessman.

  Dodan Barracks, headquarters of a military dictator who assumed power in 1966, are conveniently located next door. Many heads of state played there, including avid polo player General Yakubu Gowon, who ruled for a decade until 1975.

  Today the club has 240 members — a who’s who of Nigerian society. On Friday last week, those spotted in the crowd included the son of former Lagos governor and political heavyweight Bola Tinubu, members of the Dantata family dynasty from the north and relatives of the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote.

  They are to take in the polo over two weeks of competition, interspersed with fashion shows, art exhibitions and, of course, hat contests.

  Businessman Murtala Dankaka, captain of Kano Akasma, Nigeria’s largest city in the north, only started playing polo three years ago, although he has been riding horses since childhood.

  “There are about 15 teams from Kano. We have a club and there are private polo farms as well,” Dankaka said.

  Horses feature prominently in the country’s predominantly Muslim north, where emirs and eminent personalities are more often than not accomplished equestrians.

  “The emirs, up north, were always great horsemen. And they enjoyed riding horses and encouraged their sons to ride horses. And that’s why there’s a big following in the North,” Laoye said.

  The Durbar festival, where horse riders dressed in billowing robes and colorful turbans pay homage to the emir, is also one of the great cultural attractions of Kano.

  Today, the cities of Katsina, Kano and Kaduna have major polo clubs, along with many private polo grounds, including luxurious hideaways like the Fifth Chukker in Kaduna.

  In total, Nigeria has between 35 and 40 clubs, estimated Laoye, who said he wants to make the sport “more accessible.”

  Still, cost is an issue, Edozie Onwuli, an immigration agent who plays in Ibadan, 130km north of Lagos, said.

  “If you buy a pony — the local word for horse — which comes from Chad, Niger and Sudan, it costs between 300,000 and 1.5 million naira [US$1,506 and US$7,528),” but for a pure Sudanese, the price can go up to 3 million naira, he said.

  Meanwhile, an Argentinian horse, considered the must-have in Lagos, “can go up to US$50,000,” he said. “That’s a whole lot of money.”
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