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SAMUEL OKWARAJI: 30 YEARS AFTER…

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

How time flies! It is 30 years today since a Nigerian football midfield maestro; Samuel Okwaraji was martyred on the turf of the National Stadium, Lagos.

The then bubbling 25-year old player suddenly slumped and died 10 minutes to the end of an Italia ’90 World Cup qualifying match of Nigeria with Angola.

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Samuel Okwaraji, lies dead on the National Stadium turf

The result of the match, a 1-0 win for Nigeria, has certainly gone into oblivion. But the other sad events keep memories to linger on.

Not only did Okwaraji die, five other fans, also died of exhaustion and suffocation in a tightly packed arena that was being reopened for matches after a season of closure.

What an irony! The first time Okwaraji played at the National Stadium was the last time he lived. 

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It was just a day to the 10th anniversary of a previous disaster that claimed 24 lives at the same National Stadium, Lagos when IICC Shooting Stars defeated Bendel Insurance, 2-1 in a floodlit semi final match of the then Challenge Cup.

RELATED STORY: https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2018/08/11/29-years-after-an-eye-witness-account-with-photos-of-how-samuel-okwaraji-five-fans-died/

Okwaraji’s death was suspected to be complications of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as an autopsy showed that he had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.

His sudden death similar to that of Cameroon’s Marc-Vivien Foe who slumped during a FIFA Confederation Cup match in France in 2003.

In the case of Okwaraji, his death was bizarre. As the drab match progressed, an Angolan player slumped. Medical personnel rushed to administer treatment. It was barely 10 minutes to the end of the match.

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RELATED STORY: https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2018/08/12/medical-experts-explains-possible-cause-of-okwarajis-death/

As attention focused on the injured Angolan player, and while some fans that had fainted by the sidelines were being attended to, dreadlocks haired Okwaraji suddenly slumped, face down. Few people would have thought it was mere exhaustion.

The nearest player to him, Samson Siasia, rushed to the prostrate form and tried him to face up.

RELATED STORY: https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2019/05/20/i-warned-against-fielding-okwaraji-on-the-day-he-died-says-pat-ekeji/

What he saw was frightening as he put his hands on his head in despair.

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The following day, he told this reporter: “The way I saw him, he was gasping and foaming. His teeth were gritty… No one could easily ascertain the cause of his death. It still remains a mystery.”

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Google Doodle posthumous birthday for Okwaraji

Earlier this year, on the occasion of his 55th posthumous birthday, search engine giants, Google, on Sunday May 19, 2019 him Google Doodle.

The Google Doodle is used on the search engine home page for different seasons or special days such as birthdays of famous people. 

To his memory, a monument is put at the outer perimeter fence of the National Stadium, Lagos.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Nigerian Football

Financial rainfall awaits Nigeria’s Flamingos for every goal scored in Algeria

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Let the Naira rain continue as we bring the goals!

The Nigeria U17 women’s team has been given incentives to make it to the Women’s World Cup for the eighth time.

The team, Flamingos, who arrived in Algiers in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, are highly inspired by the imminence of another FIFA World Cup ticket as well as further financial windfall from the Nigeria Football Federation and billionaire business mogul Kunle Soname.

 Soname gifted the young players and their officials the sum of N4 million (one million naira for every goal) following their commanding win over the North Africans at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday, while the NFF gave out the sum of N2 million (five hundred thousand naira for every goal).

President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Soname have both confirmed that the same financial incentives are in place for the second leg in Blida on Friday.

“Our objective is clear – to win the FIFA World Cup ticket. That is the big motivation.

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“Yet, we have been further incentivised by the monetary rewards. My girls will go all out on Friday night,” Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said.

Olowookere, who led the Flamingos to their last two World Cup ventures, will most likely rely on first-leg two-goal heroine Queen Joseph, lone-goal scorer Zainab Raji and Kaosarat Olanrewaju to start at the fore, with Shakirat Moshood, Muinat Rotimi and Philomena Isaiah supplying the passes from the midfield.

Goalkeeper and captain Christiana Uzoma and defenders Azeezat Oduntan, Hannah Ibrahim, Christiana Sunday and Jumai Adebayo are also likely to start.

The Confederation of African Football has selected Cameroonian official Marie Noelle Etong to be the referee, with her compatriots Marcelle Teikeu and Innocentia Ntangti as assistant referee 1 and fourth official, respectively, while Chadian Ngarassoum Victorine will be assistant referee 2.

Oumou Souleymane Kane from Mauritania will be the commissioner, and Sabelo Maphosa-Sibindi from Zimbabwe will be in the role of referee assessor.    

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Former WAFU President, Ogufere mourns Christian Chukwu

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Former president of the initially 15-member West African Football Union (WAFU), Chief Jonathan Boytie Ogufere, has expressed his heartfelt condolences over the recent death of former national team captain and coach, Christian ‘Chairman’ Chukwu.

 He remarked that the erstwhile Enugu Rangers’ defence stalwart will ‘be dearly missed’. In a personally signed letter of condolence, Ogufere described Chukwu, who died on Saturday, April 12, in Enugu after a brief illness at 74, as a ‘hero of our time and a friend’.  

 The nonagenarian recalled with nostalgia how he nearly recruited the young Chukwu for his P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu, adding he was impressed with how the ‘Field Marshal Christian Chukwuemeka ‘Chairman ‘ Chukwu (MFR), conducted himself throughout his career as he led both the national team, the then Green Eagles and his beloved Enugu Rangers to many conquests.

“I join numerous others to mourn the transition of the legendary Christian Chukwu, a hero of our time and friend,” the Ugbugba of Okpe Kingdom wrote.  

 “As one of the young academicals discovered after the end of the Civil War in 1970, I tried to enlist into my club, the P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu but he was fair and frank in informing me that he had already joined Enugu Ranges Football Club, and I respected that attitude. From the rivalries between the two clubs, his exploits as a central defender were very visible.”

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He continued: “Christian Chukwu emerged at the national level as a trustworthy and formidable captain of the national team who led by example.

“He was one of the heroes during the Golden age of Nigerian football when I was one of the Board Members of the Nigeria Football Association under the chairmanship of Chief Sunday  Dankaro as Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980 for the first time where Christian Chukwu as captain of the Green Eagles was declared the best player of the tournament. He led the national team in several battles, which endeared him to millions of football lovers.

“After his playing days, he showed his talents through coaching in Nigeria and abroad.

“I express my sincere condolences to the family he left behind, the football family and the country in general. He will be dearly missed.

“May the good Lord grant his noble soul eternal rest,” he noted.

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Remo Stars maintain ‘7Up’ lead over Rivers United

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Remo Stars are coasting to what will be their greatest moment ever, a win of the Nigeria Premier Football League title, as they recorded a 1-0 win over Shooting Stars in Ibadan in a match played behind closed doors.

In doing so, they achieved their sixth double of the season, having earlier beaten Shooting Stars in the first stanza of the league.

They maintained the seven-point lead over second-placed Rivers United, who also beat Sunshine Stars 1-0 in Port Harcourt.

After a ding-dong affair, Alex Oyowah scored the vital goal for Remo Stars from a right-wing cross from Ismail Sodiq.

In another match, Ikorodu City continued to work tenaciously to obtain a continental ticket as they held El Kanemi to a 1-1 draw.

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SUNDAY RESULTS

  • El Kanemi 1-1 Ikorodu City
  • Niger Tornados 1-1 Bayelsa United
  • Heartland 0-0 Kwara United
  • Plateau United 1-0 Akwa United
  • Rivers United 1-0 Sunshine Stars
  • Shooting Stars 0-1 Remo Stars
  • Bendel United 1-1 Nasarawa United

SATURDAY

  • Katsina United 0-0 Abia Warriors
  • Enyimba 2-1 Kano Pillars
  • Lobi Stars 2-4 Enugu Rangers

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