Irrepressible Jimoh Clinches 2nd BSP Scrabble Tourney In Ajegunle, Lagos

It was a show of scrabble mastery as Abdulmumin Jimoh bagged the top title at the 2nd edition of BSP Scrabble Tournament held in Ajegunle, Lagos over the weekend.

Jimoh, who was still fresh from an impressive performance at the BIST in June when he won all 12 rounds, made no fuss about his intention as he powered past early leaders Abiola Oyinloye, Opeyemi Oloro and No.1 ranked Tega Okiemute.

In the closing stage, the fourth-ranked star at the 2024 African Scrabble Championship in Rwanda, waved aside threats from Larry Etuwa in Round 11 and Silver Ikpere the last round to establish his dominance with a 11 wins, one defeat and a 1133 cumulative points.

For his efforts, Jimoh picked up the 500, 000 top prize-money with a trophy for Class A.

“I feel happy,” said Jimoh, “I feel elated, I didn’t see this victory coming.I just thank God for this. I had to compose myself because after losing game 4 (to Bimbo Okusanya) I just told myself that 12 games it’s a lot of games that I can still win the rest of my games and it came to past.”

This victory at the BSP Scrabble Tournament means a lot to me.” he continued, “It means I still need to work harder because their are a lot of tournaments still coming up. This victory shows that I’m really putting in the works and I need to still do more.

Mr Collins Okafor is a wonderful man. This tournament is going to be the biggest in Nigeria if not in Africa because of the camaraderie, the hall, the environment, top players that I present, I will say thumbs up to his and the BSP Club.”

Bright Izu gained 250, 000 naira as he emerged second and the best despite campaigning as a Class C player.

In Class B, Oyinloye, Lateef Musa and Dipo Akanbi finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd and received 150,000, 100,000 and 75, 000 naira respectively while three other also won prizes.

First six players in Class C earned cash prizes as Enyi Kingsley topped while he was followed by Benjamin Onuh and Chukwura Ogwugwu.

Building Scrabble Pros (BSP) Club President Collins Okafor said he was fulfilled at the end of the one-day tournament.

“Bringing this tournament to Ajegunle has been fantastic. A lot of people had great testimony, they still ask, “is this Ajegunle?” Obviously, it’s their first time and they still have this impression that Ajegunle is not safe but things have changed that’s why we are bringing the tournament over here to try and create some sensitisation about the area and also introduced the game to the area. I believe scrabble can be used for societal building, youth building, intellect building. That’s what we are trying to do” he concluded.