President Muhammadu Buhari was among those to congratulate Wellington Jighere, saying he has “done the country proud”
THE PRESIDENT of Nigerian was one of the first to congratulate countryman Wellington Jighere, who has become the first African to win the English-language World Scrabble Championship.
The 32-year-old beat Englishman Lewis MacKay 4-0 in the final in Australia.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he has “done the country proud”, the BBC reported.
Jighere said on his Facebook page that he felt he was playing with the “whole continent” behind him.
He added that it “still baffles” him that he managed to win, given how tired he felt as he had “not slept well in about a week”.
WORDSMITH : Some of Jighere’s winning words
He told The Guardian that he had training to deal with the fatigue from the jet lag, but also had to cope with 32 rounds of matches in four days before getting to the final in Perth.
Jighere and the five other members of the Nigerian team only arrived in Australia the day before the tournament started, so didn’t really have much of a chance to get over the 20-hour flight or the seven-hour time difference.
According to the BBC, President Buhari phoned the champion in Perth to “rejoice” with him over the performance and pass on his congratulations to all the players, who finished the competition as the best team.
According to the president’s spokesman, Jighere “pledged to bring more glory to his fatherland”.
The champion will be going home with a $10,000 (£6,600) prize.courtesy: The Voice.