I just received the news that between 9:00 and 10:00 this morning, ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu, MFR, my bosom friend and team mate, one of the greatest football players in Nigeria’s football history, former captain and coach of Nigeria’s national football team, has passed on.
Babuje, Emmanuel Okala, MON, gave me the sad news a few minutes ago!
May ‘Onyim’ find peace with Our Creator in Heaven, and console his family.
Dr. Olusegun Odegbami, MON, OLY, AFNIIA, FNIS
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Christian Chukwu was not born; he was dug, chiselled, and yanked from a mother’s womb, and my guess is it happened at a time before ESG BS became a mantra and in the idyllic surroundings somewhere between Enugu and Oji River.
‘Naturally’, he emerged from the thick fog of a coal environment, his bum bum patched with more than a spot of mud and red and a No 5 birth mark that defined his uncompromising and stellar role in stark contrast with the white of his beloved Enugu Rangers that he usually started matches.
We squeezed through the turnstiles and forced our then skinny frames at the barriers at Ahmadu Bello Stadium, KD, Ogbe, Benin, Liberty IB, and of course Enugu Stadium in super hot conditions to catch a glimpse, lifted by henchmen of days yore, sometimes without tickets.
Chairman, before Heineken infringed on the TM! A defining captain and centre-back like no other. Germany had Brekenbuer, England had Moore, South Africa had Lucas Radebe as the chief. Italy had Gentili and Maldini and Baresi. Argentina had Zanneti and Co.
Capo was all of them rolled into one.
A leadership earned on and off, and a man for whom 90 minutes was only half of the stoic work put in. Thank you for a lifetime of joy… and the pain as supporters of rival teams.
Today, it is all about you and what you defined.
Ka o di. Laa na ndokwa.
Authour unknown
