FELA

All na Cruise 👣👣 #GGMU ❤

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

Congratulations to the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Ashley Young on winning the Seria A with Inter Milan. A win for Inter is a win for Manchester United.. We're celebrating at Old Trafford already.

#MUNLIV

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@OgbeniDipo At least he is pretending.. What about you? 😂

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@MrAfobaje When they graduate. Ensure the government also provide them job.

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@wgeeez @CuzaCoza How can you regret a decision or action you didn’t take?

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@CFCTHE0 @shakira @burnaboy Y’all should stfu fr

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@FabrizioRomano @IamDamilare_T And yet they said he’s not good enough. Pay the damn money mfs

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

Bruno Fernandes will win the ballond’or and y’all will only cry 😂

[Piers Morgan @piersmorgan]

The idea that Bruno Fernandes wins PFA Player of Year over @_DeclanRice is preposterous. Rice should win the Ballon d’Or too, he’s been the best player in Europe.

[Vincent The Therapist @mrhighfoster]

He is 31 years old

At nine months old, a failed measles injection by a local nurse caused avascular necrosis, leading to lifelong hip pain and leg weakness until his hip replacement surgery

Four of his siblings died in childhood (likely related to sickle cell trait in the family), making his survival a "statistical miracle"

At age 10, he dropped out of school due to poverty but returned after his mother worked as a cleaner for six years to pay his fees

He learned chess as a kid at a local barber's shop in a Lagos slum while playing video games with friends

Barely spoke English when he started secondary school (mostly Yoruba at home) but quickly picked it up from classmates

His mother was a petty trader (thrift clothes seller), and his father sold spare parts. They met in a Lagos market

Chess helped him develop a strong photographic memory, which he used to cram for exams and survive without parental allowances

He became Nigeria's No 13 ranked chess player and earned the National Master title at age 20

He won gold medals representing Yaba College of Technology in the Nigeria Polytechnic Games and the RCCG Chess Championship

He also won the National Friends of Chess Tournament and the Chevron Chess Open

He got a diploma in computer science and used chess winnings to support himself through school

Founded Chess in Slums Africa in September 2018 as a volunteer-driven nonprofit after visiting slums like Majidun

The organization has reached thousands of underprivileged kids, including producing a 10-year-old champion with cerebral palsy

Tunde Onakoya broke the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon (over 60 hours) in Times Square, New York, in 2024

Featured in CNN African Voices for his work

Tunde has a younger brother (two years apart)

He credits chess with saving him from slum poverty and giving him an "intellectual identity"

He once simultaneously won 10 chess games at the DLD Conference in Germany

First African to win the Lideramos Youth Award for Social Impact in Spain.

Won the Corporate Chess Championship in Malawi with a perfect 7/7 score

Tunde dreams of building the world's biggest chess institute in Nigeria
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Tunde Onakoya has brought attention to Africa through Chess.

He started teaching chess at a younger age to children.

I'm talking of around 2013/2014 when he was meeting at parks around Lagos State, just to teach kids in the open (mostly after work hours)
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Today, I am more interested in telling you more about him, and how he has also risen from a place of deep poverty and struggles.

He has done soooo much for people and it's only expected that these past impacts would show on him as well

You might have your reservations about him, but you cannot downplay how he used the game of chess to bring great changes to children's lives.
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A lot of children now have access to education, purpose and meaning, thanks to Chess.

You are also part of his story. Tunde didn't do all these alone.

Your support, your accolades, your retweet, your reposts, everything

So look at the bigger picture.

Think of the kids whose lives have changed from taking alcohols and drugs on the streets of slums, to having regulated mental health and more purpose driven lives, due to Chess and the opportunity it brought.
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Tunde can't certainly please everyone, and yes, there might be actions that many people would attribute to him being human.

But if children would smile again, because he created an opportunity for them to have their smiles again.... Then it's one of the best legacies anyone can ever have.

And you also can create your own legacy to which nations would applaud, recognise and help preserve 🫂

The sky is big enough for you, I and Tunde to shine and shine bountifully well ❤️
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✍️ Vincent the Therapist

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@_kemi_sola @Aishatbudo @icons_closet Former employer or former employee. If it’s the former, be like na you get dust for brain o.

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@MbarkCherguia And wtf is wrong with the cameraman?

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@RitaObido @NigeriaStories Would he look like one with a gun in his hands pointed to your head. Y’all bring emotions to every conversation.

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@AJENews @AJEnglish This US-Iran talks may change the politics in the Middle East forever.

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@DJ_TUNEZ @Bis_ade_ Why you sef turn back give am 😫

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@TittledManaza @dammiedammie35 He earned it. Just like he earned your tears.

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@CaptainArinze Yaba College of Technology

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@NoLimitGains Zelensky working so hard to make this Energy war about himself 😅

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@Elkrosmediahub They said PENGASSAN is evil organization that is against the growth of Nigeria

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@Kristoff5889851 @Dr_statesman Sense is far from you. Which Muslim country do they celebrate festival of rape?

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@abona1000 @Hope_ndidii @andybk82 @adematinfo The only person not hopeful here is you.

[FELA @Iconic_Fela]

@SSE_NGA You almost bambooz your way to World Cup via same means 😂