The Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, who also doubles as President of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation, led a team of Nigerian wrestlers and administrators to victory at the 2026 African Wrestling Championship which held in Alexandria, Egypt.

Some persons have a natural winning aura. They excel wherever they find themselves. They are said to possess magic wand. Some call them conjurers, master strategists; or simply endowed with a stroke of fortune. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi is one of such. A Customs officer.

He became a national brand many years as spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service. On that hot seat, he won many hearts. Made friends for the Customs. With his unfeigned humility, good listening ears and a predilection to offer solution where one is needed, he became an effective bridge between the media and the Customs. He was simply Wale. No airs. Zero pretension. Just a simple public officer who was determined to make friends, not foes, for his employer. He was not only loved by the media; he was the beloved of the media. Firm, fair, forthright; but by no means a simpleton.

Now as Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Adeniyi has continued to win. He’s won the confidence of his team at the Customs through effective capacity-building and welfare; pumped revenue generation to unprecedented high; digitalised operations, improved border security and enforcement resulting in increase in Duty Paid Value (DPV) of seizures; among other milestones, to the admiration of President Bola Tinubu. It was no surprise that on Saturday, July 6, 2024, he was decorated with the Outstanding Revenue Collection Award at the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service (NEAPS) by President Tinubu.

But this commentary is not about his exploits at the Customs. It is about his doings in sports. Especially in   wrestling where he functions as President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF). When Adeniyi was elected NWF President in October 2025, some persons, obviously out of their parochial understanding of the rudiments of sports administration, raised eyebrow. What does he know about sports? What’s his pedigree in sports administration? While these could be taken as fair questions, they lost the essence of what constitutes administrative dexterity. The president of a football federation doesn’t have to be an ex-footballer. Ditto for other sports and callings.

Let’s make it clear. The English Premier League (EPL) is currently the biggest football league in the world in terms of global popularity, largest broadcasting revenue, largest global social media and commercial influence and high club competitiveness. Yet, it is not run by ex-footballers but by astute business executives. Alison Brittain (Chairwoman) and Richard Masters (CEO) lead the Premier League Board. While Brittain was formerly the CEO of Whitbread PLC and previously held senior executive roles at Lloyds Banking Group and Santander UK; Masters was media, marketing, and sales executive within the sports industry. They both brought administrative and commercial leverage to the league.

This is what Adeniyi brought to Nigeria wrestling. An administrative elan that blends marketing with professionalism. The impact of such synergy is a burst of enthusiasm in the Federation and among the wrestlers mixed with effective partnership with sponsors and earned confidence from the international community. The end-product is success. The type of success at the 2026 African Wrestling Championship which held from April 27 to May 2 in Alexandria, Egypt. Adewale led the Nigerian contingent to the championship quietly and returned with a trove of medals. The Nigerian team was rampant, winning the women’s team title for a record 15th time, finishing with 9 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals overall. The female wrestlers won 8 gold medals out of the nine.

Let’s stand up for some of the winners: Mercy Adekuoroye (gold medal winner in the 65kg category); Adijat Idris (gold in 55kg category without conceding a point); Esther Asaolu (gold in the 59kg division), Miesinnei Genesis (gold in the 50kg class). Harrison Onovwiomogbhwo was the only male that won gold medal, defeating Egypt’s Mohamed Mostafa 10-4 in the men freestyle. While the women placed a commanding continental first position, the men placed third. Overall, it was a show of dominance by the Nigerian team with Esther Kolawole and Ogunsanya Christianah as standout show-stoppers. Another Midas touch signature from Adeniyi’s rich fountain of successes.

President Tinubu, elated and overly happy, congratulated Adeniyi and his team which included the great Daniel Igali, a former federation president and Olympic gold medalist; and Blessing Oborududu, Olympic silver medalist.

The President said that the Alexandria success reflects a broader shift in Nigeria’s sports ecosystem, with renewed focus on structure, preparation, and long-term athlete development. He recognised the amount of work done by the National Sports Commission, under the leadership of Mallam Shehu Dikko, Bukola Olopade and their team alongside federations and coaches. The collective efforts of these men and women is beginning to take firmer shape through a philosophy that rewards discipline, consistency, and high performance, Tinubu noted in his congratulatory message.

“This is how a sporting nation grows, not by accident, not by chance, but by design. By building systems that identify talent early, nurture it patiently, and prepare it deliberately for moments like this,” President Tinubu said.

Adeniyi who dedicated the victory to First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, is already looking forward to global success and dominance. He wants to sustain the momentum among the female wrestlers and improve the winning equity of the male folks. This does not come cheap. It comes with upskilling, more training, better reward system and exposure to more competition. Adeniyi knows this. And he’s pledged to do more to achieve more. Don’t discount his words. He’s dead serious. He’ll crest more heights.

The next frontier should be to discover more wrestlers and create a grassroot nursery that should serve as the production line for next generation title-winning wrestlers. Now that Nigerian football is dipping in form, we can look to other sports to keep the national flag flying at international meets. Adeniyi is doing great with wrestling. Nigeria can achieve more in other sports with the right mix of administrators.

Meanwhile, a huge congratulation to Adeniyi and his team, especially to the female wrestlers, for keeping hope alive.