MEET CAMEROON'S NUMBER 20 WHO HAILS FROM BODO, OGONILAND



Ignatius Ganago (born 16 February 1999) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club RC Lens as a forward.


But that is not the story here. Known originally as Ignatius Barikpena Ganago, the RC Lens forward actually hails from Bodo City in Gokana Local Government Area of Ogoniland, Rivers state.  


Ganago debuted for the senior Cameroonian national football team in a friendly 0–0 tie with Tunisia on 12 October 2019. Later that month his club Nice refused to release him for the Under-23 AFCON tournament.





Barikpena is an offshoot of the ancient Bodo-Cameroon (TIKO) Trade Route. A  Very close source confirmed to Ogonitv his father and  siblings live in Bodo till this moment though Barikpena is said to have remained with his mother in Cameroon (TIKO).


Nearly every family in Bodo is known to have a member who went to TIKO (Cameroon) back then. The early prosperity of Bodo up to this day can actually be traced to the TIKO trade route. These Ogoni men were said to be so influential in TIKO that they installed chiefs and still have quite a significant of the population there. 



Article credit: Ogoni TV