Cast your mind back over a year to January 2015. Ayo Oluwafemi, a young, promising left-back from Nigeria signed for the Primera Division de Zambia champions, Zesco United. In the time that has elapsed since, Oluwafemi has emerged as arguably the most consistent defender in the Zambian league.
He is as near to perfect as possible when it comes to defending; he’s immaculate. His ability to marshal opposition wingers whilst providing an attacking threat has been extremely impressive, and played a significant role in Zesco United winning the Zambian league title last season.
The speedy Nigerian defender consistently put in composed performances in his left back position as Zesco United literally ran away with the Zambian league title.
With this in mind, it baffles many Southern African sports analysts that some commentators still allude to Oluwafemi as being an "understudy" to some of the more familiar names in the Nigerian national football team.
The likes of Echijile, let alone Stanley Amuzie, of all people, have failed to make the same impression that Oluwafemi has. They both possessing flaws in their positioning that have often been exposed.
Examples include both goals in Nigeria's two games against Egypt, which have cost them qualification for the 2017 Africa Cup™ where Stanley Amuzie allowed the Egyptians to sneak round the back of him and then inexplicably let them repeatedly run to square for the strikers to get on the end of the assists.
Stanley Amuzie allows opponents to get on the wrong side of him, and these are examples of the perennial defensive problems Nigeria have experienced in the recent past. The immediate solutions to Nigeria's defensive problems may well lie in Zambia.
The Zambian league defending champions Zesco United have got an excellent Nigerian defender in Ayo Oluwafemi who joined the club in January of 2015, and one cannot help but feel that it is just a matter of time until he earns a call up to the Nigerian national football team. Zesco United have clearly shown the true potential that Oluwafemi possesses.