MY VERY BEST OF 2018

These are the things that stood out for me in 2018.

BEST MOVIE

We all loved Black Panther and it would be it in the literal sense but then this has always meant for me,anything on TV.The Netflix spanish series,La Casa De Papel was the best thing i watched all year.It was simply breath-taking.

BEST COUPLE

This would be Davido and Chioma.Whether a girl who stayed over 2 daughters from 2 different women was in it for true love or just patient enough to get her slice of OBO's goody bag didn't really matter when the affair became public.He was so crazy in love and he flaunted it.He opened a kitchen for her and bought her a Porsche reportedly worth over N40M for her birthday.That came with the smash hit Assurance dedicated to her as well.Word is she had to drop out of school to accompany him on his many trips across the world.It may or may not fizzle out but in 2018, Davido had everyone loving his Chioma and labelling him 'wicked' for setting the bar so high for male lovers.

BEST TEAM

The Super Falcons of Nigeria won the 2018 Awcon in Ghana for a record 9th time.The girls had to overcome familiar foes in gruelling 120 mins + penalties encounters in their last 2 games of the tournament and they kept a cool head through it all.Overall,the stats say we have ruled African Women football since its inception.Big deal.

BEST COACH

I would ordinarily have said Mauricio Pochettino but for the extraordinary exploits of Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.He led the team to the Champions league final last season and to the top of the English Premier League at mid-stage this season.He has put in place a very efficient counter-attacking style using the pace of Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah and also created an extra awareness to the defensive responsibilities of the whole team.Klopp has proved what he did at Dortmund with even more unheralded legs was no fluke.On merit,he is the best coach in the world.Unlike other prominent coaches,he hasn't had a fat account to work with, he has just been shrewd and gotten the most of players he works with.

BEST BOOK

I went shopping one day and i stumbled on Eghosa Imasuen's Fine Boys in what was supposed to be a brief stay at the book section.I flipped through some pages and took it.Proved a very good call.
The middle-class folks appreciate a lot, the 'realness' of the social media with its every day pidgin slangs and interactions between youths being entirely themselves.It was fascinating to see a writer capitalizing on the Warri syndrome so well.

BEST LEADER

No one leader stood out for me in 2018 but if i'll have to choose,i will choose Governor Ikpeazu of Enugu state.
Babatunde Fashola deserves a tip of my hat also for the remarkable improvement recorded in power supply across the country in the last few months.Much earlier in some places.In as much as i don't want the Buhari government to return,i still have to say such improvement is unprecedented.Fashola has been the shining light in this administration.

BEST ARTICLE

I found Mitch Findlay's Does Going Platinum Still Carry The Same Weight? quite a fascinating read.In this era of digital record sales,a lot has changed in music and Findlay highlighted the highly 'technical' case of Cardi B's Invasion Of Privacy banking on the successes of pre-album singles-Bodak Yellow and Bartier Cardi to go platinum.

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR

Anthony Joshua beat Joseph Parker and knocked out Alexander Povetkin and more importantly,kept the 3 heavyweight belts to himself.Still the undisputed champion of the world.

SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR

Onome Ebi was pivotal to the Super Falcons success at the 2018 Awcon in Ghana.She was by some distance,the best Nigerian player at the tournament.

MAN OF THE YEAR

Atiku Abubakar without a doubt.A lot of people including my humble self didn't think he could win the PDP presidential ticket.Asides being a member of the old guard,he ditched the party and actively worked towards ensuring they were defeated in 2015.But win he did and in some style.I don't just support him now only because i am desperate to see President Buhari booted out,i do because he, by a hundred thousand miles has the best manifesto of all the candidates on display.If i knew then what i do now,i would have pitched my tent with him from the onset.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Lisa Murwoski, a Female Senator from Alaska was the only republican to vote against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as a Justice of the Supreme Court by the American Senate.Kavanaugh was probably the most controversial US Supreme Court nominee ever.He faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and of lying under oath about never being black-out drunk in college.His room mate at Yale said he saw him in that state first hand.Murwoski defied the republican party line and in a traditional senate practice called striking, she voted 'present',technically a 'Nay' to strike out her colleague,Senator Steve Daines of Montana's 'Yea' who was attending his daughter's wedding and couldn't be present.
For her courage and bravery in towing the path she believed was right and damning the consequences of disobeying her entire party and President Trump, Lisa Murwoski is not only my Woman of the year but also my Person of the year.