Brazilian football icon Zico has named former Super Eagles captain and midfield maestro Austin “Jay-Jay” Okocha as his greatest African footballer of all time.
Zico made the revelation during an appearance on John Obi Mikel’s “Obi One” Podcast on Thursday, where he praised Okocha’s exceptional talent, describing his style of play as “fantastic” and highlighting his unmatched creativity and flair on the pitch.
Zico, a legendary Brazilian footballer known for his playmaking brilliance in the 1970s and ’80s, is highly respected globally for his insight into the game.
His opinion carries weight in football circles, especially when evaluating individual talent.
The Brazilian legend said he admired Okocha’s style of football, which he described as ‘fantastic’.
He said that Okocha’s creativity and flair made him stand out among his peers.
Speaking to Mikel about the best African player he has ever seen, Zico said, “I like Okocha, a fantastic player. Number 10, Okocha. Eto’o, fantastic. George Weah, Drogba.”
Zico is a Brazilian football legend known for his vision, technical skill, and goal-scoring ability.
Often called the “White Pelé,” he played primarily in the 1970s and 1980s and is widely regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders of all time.
After retiring, he transitioned into coaching and football commentary, remaining an influential voice in the sport.
Funke Akindele has revealed that her new movie, Behind The Scenes, was inspired by a divine instruction that completely altered her original production plans.
During the FilmOne end-of-year exhibitor showcase, the acclaimed filmmaker revealed that she had initially planned to work on the sequel to ‘A Tribe Called Judah’ and had already begun rehearsals and negotiations before being spiritually led to make a different film.
The 38-year-old award-winning movie producer said that despite attempting four other scripts and exploring potential collaborations, she continued to receive divine instructions to set them aside.
Akindele said the idea for ‘Behind The Scenes’ was born from a single moment of inspiration, which she described as “deeply relatable and reflective of what many people experience in real life”.
“We weren’t supposed to release ‘Behind The Scenes’. I actually wanted to release ‘A Tribe Called Judah 2’. We’d even started rehearsals, negotiations, you know, training. But the Spirit of God kept telling me, ‘No, you will not shoot that film,’” she said.
“We tried, we tried almost four other scripts, lovely scripts, and the Spirit of God said, ‘You are joking’. We even wanted to partner with someone, a fantastic actor and filmmaker, but the Spirit of God said, ‘You’re wasting your time. You will shoot this film.’
“And the idea just came from one scene, and I said, ‘This is relatable’. A lot of people are going through what is happening in this film, what is going to happen, what you’re going to see in this movie.”
‘Behind The Scenes’, which stars Tobi Bakare, Veeiye, Uzor Arukwe, Ini Dima-Okojie, and Ibrahim Chatta, is set to hit cinemas nationwide on December 12.
Nollywood star, Lizzy Gold has celebrated her birthday in grand style.
Nollywood actress Sarah Martins has claimed she was assaulted by uniformed officers while distributing free meals to homeless individuals in Lagos.
The actress took to Instagram to share her experience, revealing that while in the middle of her community outreach, officers believed to be from the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) task force, confronted her.
According to Sarah, the officers harassed her, seized her cooking equipment and food supplies, and disrupted the charitable exercise.
She also posted a video showing her injured hand, expressing pain and disbelief over what she described as an unprovoked attack.
In her post, she wrote, “My heart aches. Today, as I was cooking free food for the vulnerable and homeless people on the streets of Lagos, like I always do, some uniformed men came there, harassed me, bullied me, and took away the food I was cooking, my cooking gas, and everything I was using.
“My only offence was serving love on a plate through my healthy meals. I am not a chef, and I do not cook for a living.”
The actress emphasized that her outreach was purely an act of kindness aimed at supporting people in need.
She further called on relevant authorities to investigate the incident and ensure justice is served, stressing that her intentions were only to help the homeless and promote goodwill in the community.
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