By Dr. Ben Nkem Oramalugo
Who says that Nigeria is not a behemoth at the world stage? Nigeria occupies a space of 923, 768 square kilometers. It is the 31st largest country in the world. “The giant of Africa” with a population of about 220 million. Over the years, it has shown tremendous and robust achievements within the committee of nations especially in the Area of soft power, precisely sports.
The recent demolition of legendary Wrestlemania star, Brock Lesnar by Nigerian Oba Femi, has shown that Nigeria cannot decapitate when it matters most.
On April 19, 2026 in Wrestlemania 42, staged at Allegiant Stadium Las Vegas, Nevada, a young Nigerian (Real name: Isaac Odugbesan) defeated the great Brock Lesnar. Lest we forget, it was Lesnar that ended the career of Undertaker after plethora years of unbeaten record.
It was a no mean achievement. With a stadium capacity of 55, 256 on the Night two of the fight (106, 073 on the two nights), America came to a stand-still. The fight was televised worldwide by Netflix. It was a huge joy seeing thousands of Americans chanting the name of Oba Femi. Even his introduction before he emerged at the ring was enough advertisement for Nigeria. It was announced that Oba Femi was from Nigeria. Nigeria that is erroneously known for negative statistics, became a new bride of the world. For that period, the banditry and terrorism in Nigeria were forgotten. The negative painted image of Nigerians in Foreign prisons sentenced for drug peddling, money laundry, rape etc was forgotten for a moment. The soft power theory by Joseph Nye (1990) was made alive on the night of April 19, 2026. What a glorious joy to Nigerians!!
Who is Oba Femi? With a billed weight of 140kg and a height of 6ft 6inches, Oba Femi was born on April 22, 1998 in Lagos to the family of Maria and Niyi Odugbesan. In high school, he was involved in field and track events. He attended University of Lagos, where he won ten shot put medals during the university games in 2016. In 2017, he won sports scholarship to Middle Tennessee State University, in the United States. In this university, he displayed immense sports competitive sagacity that in 2019, University of Alabama admitted him where he studied Studio Arts. His winning streaks continued unabated. He was determined to rule the world. No wonder he was later called the “Ruler” due to his domineering razzmatazz displays.
It should be stated that going to America was not an easy task. In the interview, he recently granted, he made it clear that his mother was the greatest pillar to him and that after God that his mother was the greatest asset he had. He also paid homage to his local church that graciously contributed money for his immigration journey to the United States. Hopefully, these faithful helps dramatically propelled him not to fail. The altruistic role of the church must be interrogated here. Instead of being involved in biblical and proverbial injunction that people should pay tithe and give generously, the church decided to assist a young man of Femi Caliber, whose future as at that time was uncertain. We hope that other churches will uphold this worthy legacy.
It was at Alabama that he signed for the Next in Line program of WWE. For the first time in 2024, he won NXT North American title. He later defeated Eddy Thorpe and Trick Williams in a triple threat match rule the next NXT championship title. He later lost to Ricky Saint in September 2025 but regained the title on 6 December 2025. He never lost it again. It needs to be emphasized once more that defeating Lesnar was a humongous feat. Brock was called the beast. He was four time NCAA champion, Former UFC heavy weight champion and several times world champion.
Oba Femi was four years old when Lesnar made a debute into WWE. It was a generational shift. It is interesting to note that this was not the first time Nigeria was exhibiting this time of salutary achievement. In October 23, 1962, Dick Tiger (Richard Ihetu 1929-1971), became the middle weight champion of the world by defeating Gene Fulmer. Power Mike (Michael Okpara 1939-2004) emerge the World wrestling champion in the 70s and 80s. At Okpara’s funeral, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo praised Power Mike for bringing “honour, dignity and recognition” to Nigeria and Africa”.
We also had Power Uti whose honour to Nigeria in the field of wrestling was exemplary and intimidating. Tolulope Omogbehim (Omos), showed significant flashes in WWE but he later faded out, may be he did not muster enough dexterity and strength that would have sustained him, in a star-studded WWE. There were many other Nigerians that had shown nobility in the combat sports that placed Nigeria in the world map.
We commend Oba Femi for this fantastic feat and we thank all those who supported him to reach the zenith of his profession. We salute America for providing the veritable ground for a Nigerian to thrive. Indeed, America is a fertile land of opportunities, irrespective of colour of the skin, race or religion. It should also be clear to America that majority of Nigerians are hardworking and honest people.
Propagating Nigerians as deficient in character and ” Shit hole “is anachronistic and intellectually dwarfish.They should liberalize visa policy to Nigerians, after all, the whole quantum of American people, are immigrants.
After the “discovery” of America by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492, missionary immigrants from Europe bombarded America via immigration. They called it the “New World”.
Finally, as we jubilate on this Oba Femi’s victory, we urge him to vie for the world title held by Roman Reign. Thankfully, having retired Brock Lesnar (His abandonment of wrestling shoes and gloves in the ring indicated this), he had challenged Roman Reign for a world title Fight to be staged at the end of the year. We call on Oba Femi to remain on top of his game and he should remain worthy in character and eschew any iota of moral debauchery. We have seen great athletes who fell from their Olympian heights into shame and disgrace. We pray that this malfeasance should not be part of his story. At all times, Nigeria should not be disgraced. All eyes are on him. He should be aware that he carries Nigeria name and torch of dignity. Conversely,
Nigeria should show impactful appreciation by honouring and appreciating him. In Igbo we say “Eto Dike na nke omere, omee ozo (when a warrior is praised for his achievement, he will do more). Oba Femi, thank you for bringing joy and honour to us, in this time of “Armageddonian” sufferings.
Dr. Oramalugo FCIA, FIMC, FNIM is a Political Scientist, Historian, Strategist and
ACG Customs (Rtd).
