Ese Brume’s parents, Mr and Mrs Dickson Oghenebrume and Sally Abaka, have dedicated their daughter’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games long jump bronze medal to the President of the Nigeria Football Federation and the incumbent and immediate past governors of Delta State.
Speaking on Tuesday morning few hours after Ese Brume clinched the bronze medal in the long jump finals, her father revealed that he and his wife have called Pinnick to thank him for the role he played not only in the discovery and nurturing of their daughter but also for his support to the family of all Delta athletes.
“We are the happiest parents in Nigeria right now. We are so proud to see our daughter bring Olympic glory to our nation and we give back the glory to God and dedicate it to Amaju Pinnick who as commissioner/chairman of sports in Delta State discovered and nurtured her.
“We also give gratitude to our current Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and his predecessor Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, for all their love and support for not only Ese but our entire family,” Oghenebrume Abaka enthused.
“Pinnick is particularly a father to Ese and to all of us. When Ese was discovered at the Inter-house Sports at St Theresa’s Grammar School, Ughelli, he took her up, groomed her and set her up as a programmed athlete. Since then, our daughter has been growing in profile,” recalled the proud father of an Olympic bronze medalist.
“After taking her through various competitions and training programmes, Pinnick then tried to get her employed in the Delta State Sports Commission and afterwards arranged for the state government to send her on scholarship to Syracuse University where she can access better facilities and trainers.
Both the past and incumbent governors of the state maintained support for her leading to her graduation with a degree in Hospitality and Tourism last year,” he observed with gratitude.
Oghenebrume is also eternally grateful to the NFF Boss for funding his surgery to ensure the matter didn’t cause distractions for Ese and her training programme.
“At a point when I was seriously ill and needed surgery, the situation disturbed Ese in her studies and sports career school until Pinnick came to our rescue. He took up the bill for my surgery and recuperation. He assured Ese that things will be taken care of back home and encouraged her to focus on her career, and here we are today celebrating the fruit of that training.
Interestingly, it is not only Ese that is into sports in the Oghenebrume household. Her younger siblings have taken after her.
“Her younger ones are also athletes. Okowa has also given her junior sister, Oghenekaro Oghenebrume, a scholarship to study in Texas while he has employed the younger brother, Godson Oghenebrume in the Delta State Civil Service in Asaba as a programme athlete. Godson would have been part of Team Nigeria sprint relay team at Tokyo 2020 but missed the cut. We know his time is coming just as we watched Ese grow to win several laurels through the All Africa Games, the Commonwealth Games, the World Athletics Championships and now the Olympic Games,” he prayed.
The senior Oghenebrume hinted that Ese must have acquired the genes of her mother who was also a former athlete.
“I think Ese’s athletic prowess is from my wife’s gene. She was an athlete of the old Bendel State under Dr Sam Ogbemudia. She obviously must have transmitted the talent to all our children,” emphasised Ese’s father.
Speaking on the build-up within the family to the moment Ese hit the Olympic medal, he revealed that the family members were all awake to witness the great moments of her achieving an Olympic medal.
“We didn’t sleep throughout the night. As you know, the final was held at about 2am. My wife and I held hands in prayers till the moment came. I had charged her to aim for the gold because the gold medalists are just humans like her. However, we are happy, proud and grateful to God for the bronze and we believe that she will ascend from glory to greater glory.”
When the news of suspension of 10 members of Nigeria’s track & field news break and was followed with Blessing Okagbare’s dope issue, the Oghenebrume family resorted to prayers for their daughter.
“There were a few disturbing news at the initial time from the Nigerian camp but we have always trusted in God to preserve Ese and He never fails. We must however commend the Minister of Sports (Sunday Dare) also for how he managed the situation to ensure that the competing athletes remained focused. He translated the outcome from anxiety to the excitement we now share and assurance for the future of Nigeria’s sports,” concludes Ese’s father.
