Sports Enthusiast Blasts NFF, South-East For ‘Forgetting’ Okwaraji

Cyprian Ajah, a soccer enthusiast, Saturday, said the Nigerian Football Federation is not fair to the late Super Eagles utility player, Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji.

Okwaraji, born 19th May 1964, died on 12th August 1989 at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, while playing for Nigeria in a World Cup qualifying match against Angola. Okwaraji’, a holder of master’s degree in law, was a professional footballer.

Ajah told THE WHISTLER that, “One would have loved to read even a press release from our football bodies in honour of this great hero. But not in Nigeria where selfishness and incompetence are the hallmark. In other climes, a memorial service or football match would have been organised in his honour.

“Our prayers go to his soul and also his family members. His mother endured his death up until she passed on about two years ago in Enugu. Nigeria’s failure to acknowledge Okwaraji’s sacrifices is an indication that Nigeria is not worth dying for.

“The Igbo nation also doesn’t know how to celebrate heroes because it is said that charity begins at home. We will never learn anything, except political sycophancy that will take us nowhere. I doubt if anything has been done, even in his native state Imo, to immortalise him, but never-do-wells are immortalised for political gains.”