Olatunde Oduwole, the Champion of champions and former national title holder is of strong conviction that scrabble has so much power to effect the desired change among practitioners, especially in school children. ‘Feekytah’ as he’s called has been speaking on the influence the game can have especially in a country like Nigeria.
Jacob Ajom and Tayo Ogunseye got into a conversation with the ‘Scrabble Enigma’ on what it takes to drive the change and how he intends to effect that with his project the Ultimate Scrabble Showdown, a tournament billed for Lagos from July 19-21.

Can we meet you Sir; who is Olatunde Oduwole?

My name is Olatunde Oluwole, as everybody knows. Nigerian Champion of champions.

I did accounting by profession, and I am one of the seasoned scrabble players in the world and, I am a certified health and social care trainer.

I have gone through the rigours of studies in London Bridge College, 2007, 2008 Cardiff School of Health, and I have practiced as a healthcare trainer over the years before I relocated back to Nigeria.

And coming back to the U.S., as I speak, I have rekindled the old system. The wealth of experience is now counting, and I am here working as a care manager in one of the best health care consultancy.

I’m a scrabble enthusiast, a scrabble champion, a seasoned scrabble player, not just a champion, a lover of scrabble, you know, somebody who understands the game.

Is it true that you have written a book on scrabble?

Yes, I am an author at the same time because I wrote a book for Scrabble called The Scrabble Evolution, just to make sure that I do a kind of developmental structure, you know, creating some kind of mental development in people, young people and old people on how to play the game.

So that’s why I decided to be an author. It took me about seven months to write the book.

I am not an English expert, but I am good at writing. I am very, very good at writing, particularly when I am relaxed, you know.

The book is in several African countries. It’s in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Liberia, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and The Gambia, you know.

Although, they are not really in large quantities because I have been having a lot of difficulties printing batches after batches and stuff like that . It’s been financially draining because of the capital structure of printing.

It is not easy. You will be swabbed by the printers. They are not sincere. You have to commit some other forms in printing them and thank God, it is coming back to life because of this new initiative.

We heard something new is coming up on the horizon. What’s it about?

This new initiative came to fruition from knowing the hindsight of what has been happening in Nigeria and what I’ve had in mind.

If you recall, in 2019, when I won that year’s NSPC National Championship, I mean, Champion of Champions Tournament, orchestrated by the Femi Awowade, and the other NSPC planning committee, you know.

I won that tournament (in Benin ) just after being in oblivion for close to about four or five months. When I was stripped of the 2018 National Championship because of certain skirmishes, connivance after I won the tournaments. But some negative energies came into play and I was stripped of the title. It was painful because that is not me anyway.

I am a guy of integrity and I think that integrity is now showing. There’s a way God fights for you.

That is why my integrity is showing now and it’s going to show more. People are now going to know the kind of person I am genuinely. I am not doing this to impress people, but this is who I am naturally.

I thank God for today. That is all that I had in mind those days, coming to fruition. I discussed it with you.

I said, I have a particular vision coming from what I had experienced at Godswill Akpabio Classic.

You remember the last Akpabio Classic was the one that was done in Valedictory in 2017.

Something like that in mind to do Scrabble in Nigeria, but where is the financial muscle for them to do this?

You can only think of something good if you have a good mind but if you don’t have the resources, enabling environment, you won’t be able to do it.

But for me being a very critical minded and a meticulous person, I like to take things from the scratch, do research and come gradually from intelligence, from the help of the intelligence gathered and then get to where I am going.

That’s why I said anything I want to do in terms of Scrabble tournaments must have three big descriptive dimensions: creamy, dreamy and delightful.

Let me explain about Creamy tournaments.

The attractiveness, settings and the initiatives surrounding it.

The media, social media and normal media boards buzz and lots of other frenzy, creating delirium amongst people from different parts of the world.

That is what I want for myself because I’ve always been a unique person but some people don’t know but you’ll be waiting for the time of that manifestation of dynamic energy and you know that that manifestation of dynamic energy has to do with kinesis. Where you unlock the potentials in you into kinetic energies.

So you want to use that opportunity that you have in a particular environment to be able to show this is what you’ve got inside you to people. And at the same time, not exploiting them. But rather adding value to their lives because I have always been into human development.

Yes, people keep thinking, all said and done, the main reason behind this particular initiative is to be able to create a kind of frenzy within youths and even older people, people of all ages. (You might be 60, you might be 50, you might be 40, you still have a chance to showcase what you’ve got inside of you.

There are some potentials that have been locked inside individuals over the years, but they have not had the opportunity to be able to unleash those potentials, the opportunity for full manifestation of that dynamic energy, you understand?

So that is why I created this initiative. The Ultimate Scrabble Showdown. I have been thinking of it deeply. I have been walking underground quietly, waking up at the middle of the night, thinking deeply of what to do to create a kind of delirium in the society, in Scrabble society, within Nigeria, Africa and the entire world.

So with this initiative, which is for the university students, those university students, the few who thought they have not got anything inside of them, will now know that they have got a lot inside of them. They should unlock it. They should try and eschew, cheating, misconduct, illicit affairs, social vices and unlock this kind of potential to be able to play good Scrabble and get the rewarded for it.

You understand, play good Scrabble, read the books, get to the top, stay at the top and you’ll get the reward for it.

You are going to be celebrated, you are going to be rewarded, you are going to define your worth.

That’s why my punchline is to ‘define your worth’ because number one, going to a tournament, you know your worth.

That is why different people come together to lock horns. Eventually, somebody wins, the other person comes second. The next person comes third, fourth and like that.

Maybe in the next tournament, the other person that came fourth in the previous tournament can come first in another tournament or a championship.

It is because he believes that he has to do something so he knows his worth. So when you know your worth, that your worth as being a particular champion in this particular level, come and define that worth with other people that are champions from other levels.

So I am bringing heads together. So that’s why I am trying to do a kind of developmental, you know, a structure, build a developmental structure in the growth of this initiative and the game.

So the next edition will be a kind of competition amongst the champions in Africa. The West African champion, the African champion, the national champion, Nigeria Green Jacket, Nigeria number one, champion from Gambia, champion from Kenya, Ghana. All of them will come together, about 12 of them.

And we will make sure that it is a unique tournament that’s going to be a kind of brand. With the uniqueness, with the creativity, with the vibrancy, the radiance. Everything, you know, having to do with attractiveness to the entire world.

Will the Ultimate Scrabble Showdown be for Africans alone or are there plans to expand it beyond the continent?

It’s still going to involve the other champions of the world. The Malaysian champion, the Thailand champion, the United Kingdom champion, that is, England champion, American champion.

They will come to Africa and come and define their worth. So it is a tournament where you have done enough work, no problem.

We want to make sure that you come and define your worth. But before you define your worth, get the reward for what you have, what you have attained over the years.

That is why it involves giving appearance fees, free accommodation, free feeding, the dress code according to the brand.

And they will be showcased to the world. Their faces will be showcased to the world, projected through a particular screen.

They will be briefly introduced to people with their portraits, creative portraits crafted for them. Each individual with music, while the individual is coming out with the required music, you know the location from where that particular champion is coming.

All you need to do, get your transportation, itinerary down to the venue. Free accommodation, free feeding, appearance fees, and lots of other attractive prizes. It is as simple as that.

And that is why I want to do something to make sure that while we do that, they will be able to understand that tournaments can actually be creatively done in different ways from the way people have been organizing tournaments.

So with my own tournaments, with my own initiative, I’m eclectic. I have different methods whereby 12 of them from Africa, that’s going to be next year, come together, the 12 of them will play 21 games.

First, second, and third will be picked, but first and second will go and play best of seven. After playing the initial 21 games, first and second will be best of seven games to know the ultimate Scrabble Showdown champion.

So the next edition, which is going to involve other countries of the world, America, United Kingdom and Asia will come, the four champions will join the tour to make it 16.

While eight qualify for quarterfinals, eight are going to be wheeled out. Four qualify for the semi final after playing best of three each.

Then two will play the final, which is going to be best of seven still, not best of five this time. They will play the quarter final, best of three, best of three, and two, (then the emerging champion will be crowned at the end of that Sunday night in the gala night. And that gala night is going to be organized in a different manner from all gala nights.

It’s something that’s going to create that social media frenzy everywhere about what this is. That is where I want to take Scrabble to. So that is the reason behind this initiative. I am starting with these two great champions in Nigeria knowing fully well that they are students and they work so hard.

I want other students also learn from them. They should aspire to be like them so that they can be celebrated and be rewarded tomorrow as well.

Timilehin Doko and Enoch Nwali are taking part in this particular edition as champions in their own right. What do you think they will be adding to the excitement expected from this first edition of the Ultimate Scrabble?

They are going to bring a lot of excitement. And that’s the reason why I had to create that attributes; Creamy, Dreamy and Delight. You know, the challenge is going to be creamy in terms of attractiveness and all that. And the dreamy part of it is that when others watch those guys play, because I believe in those guys, they are going to give their best.

They cannot play at the maximum capacity required all the time knowing fully well that they are humans. But they have to give their best.

And that’s why there’s going to be live commentaries. There’s going to be simulations of their racks, analysis of their racks, their vision, you know, on the play, about the intelligence, the approach, the endgame technique and all sorts of beauties of the game.

What should these two top players take into this duel as an advise?

I have told them several times, just continue to read because learning never stops. That’s one thing I believe. You keep reading and reading and reading and reading.

Let me tell you something. I have not played scrabble for almost a year now but do you know I still read? I still read because I know it’s going to pay off someday.