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It is not of him
that wishes, or of him who is running and wants to wins, but of God,
who bestows his mercy on whomsoever he wishes. The news of the death of
Gideon Njoku came to me as a very disheartening shock – to put it very
mildly.

On the 1st of
October, 2010, after sharing the Save Nigerian Sports Initiative
(SANSI) and the W.W.W(we will win) FIFA 2018 World Cup visions with
some stakeholders, Njoku walked up to me and said inter-alia: “sir, I
want to be part of what you people are doing.” I felt so encouraged to
hear such a statement from an ex-international football player and
great coach, who has contributed tremendously to football development
in Nigeria. We agreed to meet in my office, the following week. And he
came.

My office is on the
4th floor of a building. The elevator does not function and I pray it
does not because I derive some degree of exercise climbing the stairs
to my office and I enjoy doing so.

So, Njoku had to
climb the stairs cases, in order to get to my office and that was not
funny at all. By the time he walked into my office, he was struggling
to breathe properly, and as I often tell all those who visit me, I said
him to him, “Please catch your breath sir”.

This took about two
or three minutes. Fred – my secretary, and Kingsley – one of my
assistants, remarked after my very fruitful meeting with Njoku, that
they were scared by the way he was breathing while with us in the
office.

I noticed it too,
because I remember calling his attention to his weight vis-à-vis the
way he was breathing, during our discussion. To my surprise, he agreed
and told me he had not been exercising well for about the past three
years. He said much more and left. His second visit to my office, was
when he brought a meticulously crafted proposal he put together for the
training of football coaches working with us. I wish I had the
opportunity to publish the proposal he wrote, so that Nigerians would
appreciate what they have lost. There is no doubting the fact that we
have lost a committed, sincere and experienced grass roots football
development technocrat.

Last moments

In December 2010,
Njoku was one of the guests of the General Overseer of the Redeemed
Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, at the special
prayer/thanksgiving service, for the revival of Nigerian sports.

During the
reception that took place after the service, he told sports writers and
others present that he was as good as being jobless. We heard him but
maybe a few hearkened and were sensitive to what he said. He left the
venue in Segun Odegbami’s vehicle. A few days after this last meeting,
he sent a text message to me, informing me of the death of his mother.
I sent my condolence to him in response. I called him after about a
week and he told me he was already in the village for the burial of his
mother and would be back in Lagos after the Christmas holidays. I
wished well and was looking forward to our next meeting.

On Tuesday January
11, 2010 around 7pm, I called his mobile telephone number and a
different voice answered me. It was his son. He told me the Great Njoku
was no more! I called Segun Odegbami who confirmed it and I wept once
more for Nigerian football. Well, weeping may last all night, but, it
is certain however, that joy will come in the morning. This is our
consolation.

In a related
article titled “More coaches to suffer stroke” written by Everest
Onyewuchi, on Tuesday 4th February, 2003 and published in one of
Nigeria’s dailies, Paul Onyeudo, of the Sports Medicine department in
the National Sports Commission (NSC), predicted that more coaches will
suffer stroke based on the health situation of Peter Fregene, a former
Green Eagles and Stationery Stores goalkeeper. One of the best this
nation ever had.

Making hay

Prior to Fregene’s
case, another ex-international and former coach of Udoji United
football team, Sam Opone, had died in 2001 as a result of stroke.
Another ex-international and former coach of Stationery Stores and
Union Bank football team, Austin Ofuokwu, had also been confined to the
wheel chair, due to stroke.

This last decade has ‘swallowed’ some of Nigeria’s legends. God willing, maybe some of them could have been avoided.

Yes, maybe. I believe that it is very essential for us to address some vital issues, as we try to console ourselves.

While I agree that
there is absolutely nothing we can do to revive our ‘lost’ heroes, we
owe ourselves the responsibility to protect those who are still alive,
as a means of assuring millions of young Nigerians, that the future is
bright for them.

To begin with, all of us in sports, whether athlete, journalist, agent, manager, trainer, coach, scientist,

administrator –
whether bureaucrat or technocrat, must learn to appreciate the fact
that it is our responsibility to ‘make hay while the sun is still
shining’, and by so doing, we ‘prepare for the rainy day’. This is not
all about having a viable pension or retirement scheme. It is not about
how many millions we have in our bank accounts or shares we have
bought. It is not also about the number of landed property we have
acquired, over the years, it has to do with taking very good care of
our bodies. Don’t be deceived please, no matter how rich you are, if
your body is not in good condition, it is not likely that you will live
to enjoy your wealth. We will deal with this issue later, by the grace
of God.

While I sincerely appreciate the call on the government to do
something as regards our legends, I wonder which arm of the government
is being referred to. Is it the local, state or federal government? I
laugh and ask myself if they know that this great nation has lost a
hero. By the way, who is going to be responsible for his burial? We
wait and see.