Adokiye Amiesimaka (born 24 November 1956) is a Nigerian footballer, who as a law student at the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is a Public university, public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria, which was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the education in Nigeria#First generation universities, first generation universities in ...

played for the Enugu Rangers Football Club (of Enugu), Sharks Football Club (of Port Harcourt), African Continental Bank Football Club, Lagos, and the

Nigeria national football team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in Men's international Association football, football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations (Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON) winners, w ...

. Playing as a winger on the left of midfield, Adokiye’s pace and dribbling runs were a distinguishing feature of his footballing career. Adokiye was a member of the Nigerian side that won gold at the African Cup of Nations in 1980 and played at the soccer finals of the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

. He also represented Nigeria at the 1978 and 1982 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Adokiye attended

CMS Grammar School, Lagos The CMS Grammar School in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos in Lagos State, is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society. For decades it was the main source of African clergymen and administrators in ...

, where as captain of the school’s soccer team he won Lagos State’s Principals’ Cup in a much-talked about final that featured St. Finbarr’s College (Lagos). He went on to read law at the University of Lagos, A former chairman of Sharks Football Club (of Port Harcourt), Adokiye has the

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State named after him. He is also a former Attorney-General and

Commissioner of Justice A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a Wiktionary: commission, commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissi ...

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

, having served previously as Director of Public Prosecution in the state.

The 2009 Age-grade Controversy

In 2009, Adokiye, a columnist with The Punch newspaper (a Nigerian daily) was embroiled in controversy following his claim in his weekly column that some members of the Nigerian Under-17 football team were a lot older than their "official ages". The football authorities in Nigeria did not, however, follow up on this claim.

References

Africa Cup of Nations–winning players Nigerian men's footballers Rivers State Commissioners of Justice 1980 African Cup of Nations players Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Nigeria African Games silver medalists for Nigeria African Games silver medalists in football Sharks F.C. players Nigeria men's international footballers Attorneys general of Rivers State CMS Grammar School, Lagos alumni University of Lagos alumni Living people 1956 births ACB Lagos F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Footballers at the 1978 All-Africa Games 20th-century Nigerian sportsmen {{Nigeria-footy-midfielder-stub