Passage of Christian Obi shocking, says Amuneke

Posted : 27 August 2024

Heartland FC Technical Manager, Emmanuel Amuneke, MFR, said he still found it difficult to find the right words to express his sadness over the demise of the club's former coach, Christian Obi.

The former Chief Coach of the Owerri club died in a road accident on Friday, August 23.

The Naze Millionaires were on their way to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, the venue of the Ifeanyi Ekwueme TICO/SELECT Preseason Tournament, when the club's main bus was involved in a road accident at Umunna, near Okigwe LGA, still in Imo State.

Although Amuneke was supposed to join the team in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, on Saturday morning to ensure other logistics were sorted before the club's first game in the tournament, which was eventually canceled, he quickly arrived at the accident scene and even coordinated the efforts to keep Coach Obi alive.

He also stayed throughout the entire process at the Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri, until the late hours of Friday to ensure that everything was properly handled.

Amuneke, who was close to tears over the tragic events, said he was still traumatized, especially by the death of Coach Obi. He wished he could turn back time and prevent the unfortunate incident.

The 1994 CAF Footballer of the Year stated that he had only kind words and positive remarks about the former Flying Eagles goalkeeper, with whom he had worked closely.

"Friday, August 23rd, was such a bad day for the club, with the accident and the death of Coach Obi.

"He was a nice person, almost to a fault, and having to describe him in the past tense now is so painful," Amuneke said.

"The tournament we were supposed to attend to assess the players we signed for the season has now taken a different turn.

"We cannot question God, but what I can say is that Coach Obi proved to be a great support system and someone we could always rely on.

"We had a series of meetings with the Imo Government on that same Friday to expedite the registration of our players.

"He was always very supportive and offered good advice.

"I was completely devastated when I received the distress call that the club bus was involved in an accident and learned about Coach Obi's circumstances.

"It was so unfortunate that it happened the way it did, but we will continue to cherish fond memories of him and how he helped the club."

Coach Obi was a member of the Nigeria U20 squad that won the bronze medal at the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship (now FIFA U20 World Cup) in the Soviet Union, beating the host nation, the USSR, on penalties in the third-place game after a goalless regulation and extra time in Moscow.

He was in goal during the third-place match, and his heroics in saving three of the Soviet Union's penalty kicks handed Nigeria a 3-1 win in the shootout.

It was Nigeria's first-ever podium finish in FIFA's second-most important tournament.

The late Obi was also part of Nigeria's team for the men's football tournament at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea.

Passage of Christian Obi shocking, says Amuneke

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