The untold story of a national hero, who died playing for Nigeria
His name is Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji, born on 9th May 1964, and he died of “Cardiac Arrest”. He slumped while playing for Nigeria, and never got up.
Fatherless at age 5, his mother still saved sufficient funds to send him to Italy for study, because of his exceptional brilliance.
By 23 he had both BSc and MSc in Law and at 25 he was going for his Doctorate in Law, then something happened! Outside his love for education, he loved football and decided to play professionally.
He started his career in Ukraine at age 21 before going on to play for 3 other clubs. In 1988 he was called to play for the Nigerian National Team, that’s where the problem started.
His Club was not in support of him traveling to play Nigeria and he said “I am a lawyer you know and you signed me to play football for certain conditions but I don’t think it included reselling my service to my country. You or your club cannot stop me from playing for my country. Let me tell you, I am going to represent my country whether you like it or not.”
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He continued representing Nigeria against the wishes of his club. He flew himself to and fro matches for Nigeria and refused match bonuses because he felt it was an honor, his club still didn’t like it but he persisted.
On the 12th of August 1989, during “Nigeria vs Angola” in Lagos, It happened! In the 77th minute, he slumped to the ground. He never woke up. and by the time he was taken to the hospital, he was dead! An autopsy showed he had a heart defect.
Now the other problem…. In Europe he had life insurance of over “4 BILLION DOLLARS” but there was a stipulation. He has to die in Europe to get the insurance. His family lost that money because he died playing for Nigeria in Lagos and what did Nigeria do for his family?
• 10,000 NAIRA Health Insurance.
• Abandoned National Stadium was named after him.
• The then Imo State Governor named a stadium after him. The stadium is an eye-sore.
• The National Assembly in 2017 promised to take care of his family but to date…Nothing!
He has an 81year old mother that saved everything she had to train him but lost him to Nigeria.
The National Anthem says…”The Labour Of Our Heroes Past Shall NEVER Be In Vain…” It looks like he would be in vain as the promises the president made 58 years ago have not been met.
He is a HERO
He was a NATIONAL AMBASSADOR
And I just hope and pray our leaders do the RIGHT thing.
Keep Resting In Peace.
Culled from TheMail Newspaper
