Emmanuel Adebayor Adebayor was also eligible to play for Nigeria but chose to represent the country of his birth, Togo. Adebayor helped Togo qualify for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations after scoring 11 goals in the qualifiers, more than any other player in the African qualifiers. On 10 February 2009, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) picked Adebayor as the African Footballer of the Year for 2008 at an awards ceremony held in Lagos, Nigeria. Adebayor beat final nominees Mohamed Aboutrika of Egypt and Ghana's Michael Essien in a vote that involved the national team coaches of CAF's 54 member-nations. It
Nduese Essien the College of Technology, Calabar. He left to start a business consultancy practice in 1979, and later ran a successful company marketing books for students. In 1979 Essien was the Public Relations Officer of the National Party of Nigeria in Eket. He remained active in local politics, and in 1999 was selected as People's Democratic Party (PDP) National Assembly candidate for the Eket, Onna, Esit Eket and Ibeno constituency. He was elected, and in April 2003 was reelected, leaving office in May 2007. During his first term, Essien chaired the South South Parliamentary Caucus, and was a member of committees