Apparently , the bloody war between Biafra and Nígeria heard a voice , it was the voice of a black man , Edson Arantes de nascimento, the King of soccer , Pelé
The story goes that in 1969 the great Brazilian footballer Pelé and his club, Santos, stopped the Nigerian civil war for 48 hours as the warring factions (Nigeria and Biafra) put aside their differences for a couple of days for Santos to play in the country.
The Brazilian club, Santos, embarked on a money-making African football tour in January 1969. The itinerary included exhibition matches in The Congo, Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana, and Algeria. Pelé, the world’s best football player at the time, was a Santos player and the star attraction on the tour. He was already a two-time world champion, and would lead Brazil to their most celebrated victory the following year in Mexico. He got crowds into the stadium and enabled Santos to charge high appearance fees for their exhibition matches. Fans wanted to see him play against their teams and were willing to pay for that privilege.
Santos arrived at Lagos International Airport on Sunday morning, January 26, 1969. They were scheduled to play their exhibition match against the Green Eagles, Nigeria’s national team, that afternoon at the Lagos City Stadium. 28-year-old Pelé was received by Nigerian football officials and journalists eager to welcome him to the country. Santos arrived in Lagos on the back of a 3-2 defeat in Kinshasa to Congo’s national team – The Leopards.
The Lagos match was arranged by the Nigeria Football Association who paid Santos about £11,000 (Nigerian pound sterling) to play against the Green Eagles. The Nigerian pound was the official national currency until it was replaced by the Naira in January 1973. It was equal in value to the British pound sterling. There was an editorial in the Nigerian Daily Times debating whether this was a justified expense during an ongoing civil war in the country.
Chief A.B. Osula, vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, argued that the cost to bring Santos to Lagos was a bargain. He told a press conference that “when one considers the worth of the club internationally, the money we will pay them is comparatively small.” He explained that the match was arranged for the benefit of the fans and the national team. It provided Nigerians the opportunity to watch world-class players like Pelé. The match would also spur Nigerian footballers to emulate the high standards displayed by Santos’ players.
The match between Santos and the Green Eagles ended 2-2. Muyiwa Oshode and Baba Alli scored the Green Eagles’ goals while Pelé got Santos’ two goals. The Lagos spectators rose up to applaud Pelé’s goals.
Nigerian officials took charge of the match and the Santos’ medical officer, Dr. Rodriguez, complimented the quality of the officiating team as the best Santos had experienced so far on their African tour. He said, “We shall commend the referee and his linesmen to FIFA.”
Santos however was to leave Nigeria for Mozambique the next day to play an exhibition match before the Benin (Midwest) Match came up again after it has been considered canceled by the Santos team . Isaac Okonjo, Chairman of the Midwest Sports Council, suddenly called a press conference in Benin on Thursday, January 16, 1969.
He announced the formation of the Santos Midwest Match Committee which was charged with the task of raising funds for Santos’ match in Benin. Okonjo had travelled to Lagos the previous week to see Mr.Geoffery Amachree, Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, about bringing Santos to Benin for an exhibition match. He told Amachree that his council could only afford to pay Santos £6000 instead of the £11000 which the Nigeria Football Association was paying Santos for the Lagos match. Amachree agreed to contact Santos on behalf of the Midwest Sports Council to enquire if the club would be interested in playing in Benin on Monday, January 27 for £6000. Santos was in Congo at the time.
The Midwest Sports Council’s reasons for arranging the match was to entertain the Midwest football-loving public who would get the opportunity to see the best football player and club in the world. Also, it would provide the Midwest players the opportunity to compete against elite players.
Okonjo announced at a press conference in Benin on Saturday, January 25 that the Santos match planned for January 27 was off. Santos had only committed to playing one match in Nigeria – Lagos. It wasn’t possible to accommodate another Nigerian match in their busy tour schedule. He said there was no “possibility to bring them here.”
He would call another press conference two days later to announce that Santos had changed its decision and agreed to play the Midwest team on February 5. This was the same day (January 27) that Santos left Lagos for Mozambique. He told reporters that match tickets would go on sale later that day in front of all post offices and major shops throughout the state.
Santos sent a cable to the Midwest Sports Council on Saturday, February 1 from Mozambique to request that the Benin match be changed from Wednesday, February 5 to Tuesday, February 4. Santos flew to Benin airport from Lagos on the morning of February 4. The Santos team and officials paid a courtesy visit to the Military Governor of the Midwest, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Ogbemudia, as well as the Oba of Benin upon their arrival in the city.
The match was scheduled for a 3.30pm kick-off, but Benin’s Ogbe stadium was opened from 10am. This was a showcase match befitting the new 10,000-capacity stadium (opened in December 1968) which had cost the state government £70,000 to build. It was full by 2pm and there were lots of people who were stuck outside the stadium unable to get in. Football fans came from neighbouring states; some even came from as far as Lagos. These were fans who had missed Santos’ match against the Green Eagles and didn’t want to miss out the second time.
The Santos players were presented with gifts of wooden-carved walking sticks by a Midwest Sports Council official just before the match kick-off. Ogbemudia celebrated the occasion by wearing a Mexican-style sombrero.
Santos won the match 2-1 against the determined but limited Midwest team. Pelé failed to score, to the disappointment of the spectators. Edu and Negreiros got Santos’ goals while Okere scored a consolation goal for the Midwest team. The three goals were scored in the first half. Santos returned to Lagos as soon as the match ended, en route to Accra, Ghana for the next exhibition match.
A Nigerian Observer journalist, in his post-match analysis, reported that “for the first time since I began my sports reporting career, I saw a master footballer at work; I saw Pelé play the ball with grace and on several occasions, he made our defence stars look like new-comers to big-time
A man, a footballer actually stopped a war and caused a ceasefire. Such was his greatness. He was once compared to Jesus. When asked about it, the ever-smiling and witty Pelé said, “there are parts of the world where Jesus Christ is not so well known”. He was the one to call football ‘The Beautiful Game’.
