By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian football legend, Augustine ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha will have his childhood story retold in cartoon form as streamer Showmax’s first animated series, Jay Jay: The Chosen One.
Okocha played as a midfielder and later captained the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, between 1993 and 2006 and led the country to Olympics glory at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
The show will run for 13 episodes and follow an 11-year-old Augustine, who dreams of representing his school at a prestigious football tournament with a team made up of his rag-tag group of friends. Along with his passion for soccer, he loves the animal kingdom, which bestows superpowers on him in return for his fight against illegal poaching.
The series is voiced by a Nigerian cast, led by Prince Unigwe (Glamour Girls, Samson in 2nd February) playing Jay Jay. Other casts are veteran actor Chinedu Ikedieze (Aki, The Johnsons), Samuel Ajibola (The Johnsons); pro-footballer turned actor Eric Obinna, Tinsel actress Mena Sodje, Lexan Peters and Pamilerin Ayodeji (The Father).
Besides Okocha’s exploits for Nigeria, playing in three World Cups (1994, 1998, and 2002) and gaining 73 caps, he had successful spells for Fenerbahce in Turkey, PSG in France and Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League. He also played in Germany and Qatar and retired back in the UK in 2008 after playing for Hull City.
He is considered one of the most skilful attacking midfielders of all time and is considered by many as Nigeria’s greatest-ever player.
Speaking on this, the former Nigerian international said, “I’m honoured to have an animated series that reimagines my childhood.
“Jay Jay: The Chosen One is going to bring back good childhood memories as well as inspire young children who have dreams of being football players. I’m excited about the show and grateful to Showmax and the production team who worked hard to bring it to life.”
The show will be produced by Nihilent Limited alongside 5th Dimension as well as animation studio I-Realities.
For Showmax, the series is the first animated effort.
The streamer said the show would “give Nigerian children of all ages the opportunity to see themselves represented in animated form which is positive, humorous and educational” and “enchant and motivate kids across our continent through fantasy adventures as well as the power of sport.”
“Not only is Jay Jay: The Chosen One another locally inspired Showmax Original, it marks the beginning of our adventures in animation,” said Ms Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Showmax and Connected Video at MultiChoice. “This is a show we believe will find audiences globally and shines the spotlight on yet another world-class African achiever that we hope will be enjoyed by kids and the entire family.”
Mr LC Singh, Nihilent Limited’s director and Executive Vice Chairman, said, “I always knew that creating a sports-based animation series for kids would be challenging and rewarding at the same time. The amount of work that goes into every single frame is immense, but seeing the final product come to life makes it all worth it.”
