President of the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA), Adekoyejo Adegbesan, stunned bookmakers, at the weekend when he beat the field to win the 2025 Nairobi National Scrabble Championship held at the Strathmore University, Kenya.

Adegbesan bestrode the field that had such top Kenyan jammers as Grand Masters Allan Oyende and Nderitu Gitonga, as well as Michael Gongolo (EXP), as he recorded 12½ wins with 355 cumulative points in the 18 round two-day tournament.

Gongolo, Oyende and Wachira ended the tournament with 12 wins each, but were separated by different cumulative points of 1027, 737 and 540 to finish second, third and fourth on the table.

Adegbesan’s victory gained more significance due to the presence of Oyende, who was crowned as the East, Central African Scrabble Association (ECASA) champion last month.

The PANASA president is the first non-Kenyan to win the title.

“This is fantastic. Big thank you to the sponsors and the team behind this event. The last time I won was in 2016 in Dewsbury, England,” he said.

The national championship serves as a build-up to the continent-wide PANASA President’s Cup, which holds from August 14 to 17 this year.” The “Triumvirate Showdown,” as it is called, is a team tournament where three players, either from the same country or multi-country, form a team to play in the competition.