Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed the death of one of the soccer governing body’s executive Committee members, Honourable Chidi Ofo Okenwa, which sad event took place on Tuesday morning, at the age of 50, megasportsarena.com reports.
Okenwa, who was also chairman of both the lower division, Nigeria National League (NNL) and of Enugu State Football Association, had been diagnosed as having leukemia, and was said to have been restless throughout the night and slumped in the early hours before being rushed to a private hospital in Enugu, where he was confirmed dead.
A media statement by the NFF’s communications department recalled Okenwa as brilliant, humble, eloquent, witty, thorough and committed to the development of Nigeria Football at all levels, for which he evinced capacity, zeal and fervour, and gave his all for the good ending of any project or assignment in which he found himself.
Late Okenwa’s body has been deposited in a mortuary in the city of Enugu and as officials open contact with his family with regards to a decision on the burial rites, ahead of NFF president, Melvin Amaju Melvin Pinnick paid glowing tributes in solemn memory of the soft-spoken NNL boss, who was part of a meeting of the Executive Committee via video conferencing penultimate Friday, the same day he celebrated his 50th birthday.
Pinnick mourned: “This is a huge shock. Each and everyone of us on the NFF Board is in absolute grief. Chidi was a loyal soldier of Nigeria Football and was a leading member of our intellectual wing. This is a terrible blow.
“He was one man you can always rely on to give candid advice. We bounced ideas off him regularly and picked his brain on many issues because of his wide knowledge and decades of experience in football administration. We will sorely miss him.”
