Highly enterprising wordsmith, Abdulmumeen Jimoh has dedicated his back-to-back conquest of the annual Lekki Scrabble Classics to his late older brother, Engineer Saliu, who he described as ‘the driving force’ behind him.
Sports247 reports that Jimoh also disclosed that Engineer Saliu was the one who introduced him to Scrabble, hence his decision to give his late older sibling a befitting posthumous honour after winning his latest title in the Lekki Clasics.
Jimoh clinched this year’s title on the final lap of the two-day championship with a game to spare, having recorded a total of 15 wins, three defeats and a cumulative points haul of +1537 in Division A to continue his reign as champion of the prestigious contest.
After dropping a single game on the opening day, Jimoh waxed stronger in all his subsequent tries, as he picked more wins despite dropping two other spots against Wasiu Hassan and Precious Igali in the final seven rounds.
Emmanuel Ede ended up ranked second with 14/4 +155, while current African champion, Oluwatimilehin Doko (13/5 + 902) finished third, following which Jimoh confessed that his victory was almost unbelievable even to himself.
Jimoh retorted gleefully, “I feel happy! There is no word to describe how I’m feeling right now. I gave it my best. I’m very perplexed to see that this has happened. All thanks to God for the victory and opportunity.
“I’m dedicating this victory to my late elder brother, Engineer Saliu, who died after I returned from the Causeway Challenge in Thailand. He introduced me to Scrabble and was my driving force. I know he would be proud of me if he were here.
“My staying power is continuous reading. That’s what I have been doing and that’s what I will keep on doing. I want to thank the Lekki Scrabble Club for organising the best Scrabble tournaments in Nigeria.”
Sports247 reports further that the president of Lekki Scrabble Club, Engineer Samuel Anikoh commended all participants for putting up great performances during the competition, which featured some players from different countries.
He also acknowledged the support of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) and all members of the club towards improving the competition’s quality since it evolved into an international championship in 2022.
