Engineer Toke Aka Jubilee National Championship gets tournament director

By Maxwell Kumoye
 

The Main Organising Committee for the Chief Engineer Toke Aka Diamond Jubilee celebration and the National Scrabble Championship has named young, talented and experienced Umar Faruq Baba-Inna as the tournament director for the Jubilee National Championship holding next month in Abuja.

The Chairman of the Organising Committee Chukwudi Ehibudu, made this known through a WhatsApp message sent to the media on Friday.

Baba-Inna who was recently named as member of the Local Organising Committee for the Pan Africa Youth Scrabble Championship has been very effective as an assistant tournament director at major competitions like the National Sports Festival, Asapha Zadok National Championship and the Inter Club competition.

Umar Faruq Baba-Inna will be supported by Anthony Ikolo, Sunday Ogbo, Hakeem Olaribigbe, another member of the Pan Africa Scrabble Championship Local Organising Committee. Omotayo Osibote is also part of the technical support team of the national championship.

Ehibudu also stated that NSF Technical Director, John Curtis will serve as the tournament director of the Special Retreat of Engineer Toke Aka Diamond Jubilee Celebration while Maxwell Kumoye  the Spokesman of Nigeria Scrabble Federation is heading the Media Sub-Committee of both events.

The Chief Engineer Toke Aka Special Scrabble Retreat comes up on the fifteenth of June at the Zalika Garden, Garki, in Abuja and it's an all comers Retreat while the NSF President's Diamond Jubilee National Championship has been fixed for the 17th of June at Hotel De Bently also in Abuja. The Championship has three categories, Masters, Intermediate and Veterans.

The Technical Director of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), John Curtis, says the one day National Championship is a 12 rounds of games event, 1 random, 8 lagged and 3 King of the hill pairings with each player having 20 minutes per game and the 2021 Collins Scrabble Words dictionary will be the reference material.

Curtis, explained that, the Special Scrabble Retreat is an 8 rounds of games all comers event with no catchment rating points. 

To compete in the Masters event, a player must have 1,300 and above rating catchment points. The Intermediate rating catchment is 1,299 rating points and below.

On the other hand, the Veterans event has no rating catchment requirement.
 
The NSF Technical Director, stated that, the Masters event participants will pay 8,000 naira only while players wishing to battle for honours in the Intermediate and Veterans categories are expected to register with 6,000 naira each.
 
We also gathered that registration for the Special Scrabble Retreat which attracts a token fee of 3,000 Naira and it opened on Monday closes on the 14th of next month and late registration will not be entertained. The registration closing date for players seeking to be part of this unique competition, the Engineer Toke Aka Jubilee National Championship is the 15th of June. 

The two-in-one event is open for sponsorship as well as donations. The chairman of the Organizing Committee, Chukwudi Ehibudu further stated that top quality hotels within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have been selected as alternative accommodation for players coming for these events.

The Chairman of the Organising Committee also explained that a Special Denomination Service and dinner for the Jubilee Celebration and Tournament has been fixed for the 16th of June at the Hotel De Bentley too.

Chief Engineer Toke Aka Jubilee celebration timeline:

✓ Players registration for both Jubilee Retreat and Jubilee National Championship is already on 

✓ Registration for Jubilee Retreat closes June 14th

✓ Jubilee Retreat holds June 15th at Zalika Garden, Garki, Abuja 

✓ Registration for Jubilee National Championship closes June 16th

✓ Denomination Service and dinner holds June 16th at Hotel De Bentley, Abuja 

✓ Jubilee National Championship - June 17th

✓ Departure of players and guests - June 18th