Dodo Mayana!

It is a ways Thursday night.
I am writing my article for the weekend.
My telephone retains interrupting me.
There is a flood of calls.

I the truth is possess frequently known, nonetheless now it dawns on me all every other time, that I am the drag-to particular person by many Nigerians for affirmation of recordsdata (mostly of the sad form) referring to Nigerian athletes (retired football players).

From the first caller, I now know why my telephone has been ringing and not utilizing a extinguish in sight. Of us are calling to possess a examine the sad recordsdata that one more retired football hero has died.

I the truth is possess no longer heard the rest myself from any source, so I quit my writing and fabricate a few calls.
The tips is moral.

‘Dodo Mayana’ handed on.

As soon as extra, my coronary heart is broken and very heavy. Oh no! No longer ‘Dodo’, my precise friend, my loyalist, the legendary Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Rufai, aka ‘Dodo Mayana’.

Between us we frequently shared this memoir.

It used to be in 1979, or so. I scored a goal against him at the finals of an FA Cup played within the morning against Stationary Retail outlets FC, at the National Stadium.

A last minute pass from Muda Lawal had found me my lurking gorgeous foot within the Retail outlets’ defence. A cozy tap had caught Peter Rufai on the irascible foot as he sprawled and stretched furtively to end the ball trickling into his goal. That ended the dream of the ‘Flaming Flamengoes’ to portray Nigeria in a single of the African Club championships.

Peter’s efficiency on that day used to be critical, stopping the deadliest frontline in Nigerian football at the time, comprising Owoblow, Muda Lawal, and ‘Mathematical’, except the dying minutes of the match. That efficiency earned the younger and flamboyant Peter Rufai his invitation to the nationwide personnel for the first time.

We became traffic ever since.

Three weeks within the past, I went to visit a legitimate friend who used to be hospitalised at the Federal Scientific Centre in Ebute Metta, Lagos. Radiant who I was, some personnel at the sanatorium knowledgeable me that Peter Rufai had been on admission for a while within the sanatorium nonetheless had been discharged a few days prior to; that he wanted his admission kept inner most, and that easiest only a few persons possess been allowed to visit him because he didn't desire a public fuss.

I attempted to reach him on telephone a few times after that nonetheless his traces possess been ‘dead’.

Peter’s death is an addition to a tragic chapter within the memoir of Nigeria’s retired athletes, how most battle to dwell to whine the tale accurate through their post-athletics careers; how they're assuredly downed by ailments deriving from their sports actions exploits. The series of victims defy the good judgment that as athletes they must no longer endure from the killer-diseases connected to an idle scheme of life – coronary heart connected diseases cherish high blood stress, diabetes, and weight problems that strike silently and suddenly.

There is a important need for research in Nigeria into why retired athletes die at somewhat younger ages because the proof round me reveals very clearly. The sports actions authorities lift out no longer appear to treasure the magnitude and seriousness of the topic, so they create out nothing!

In the first half of this year, very excellent sports actions heroes from the 1976 Olympic contingent and the 1980 African Cup of International locations squad possess handed on, all of them from one lethal coronary heart-connected illness or the assorted – Moses Effiong (football), Charles Bassey (football), Obisia Nwakpa (boxing), and Christian Chukwu (football).

I do know of many others that are currently and quietly struggling and struggling with with their successfully being prerequisites – Christopher Friday, Franklyn Howard, Henry Nwosu, Babatunde Obisanya, Emmanuel Okala, and so forth.

The death of Peter Rufai, at 61, is amazingly sad and very frustrating. While commiserating along with his household, traffic, followers and stakeholders within the sports actions industrial in Nigeria, I am challenged to now lift out what I had frequently felt wanted to be completed nonetheless never did. Old to then, however, there's this task.
Night time Of Tributes For ‘Chairman’ Chukwu, Others

A ‘Night time of Tributes’ is being organized for the four enormous Nigerian sports actions heroes, AirPeace Ambassadors, that died within the previous three months.

This particular evening will attend at the sphere of the ‘NIIA Sports and Diplomacy Wall of Reputation’ in Lagos established two years within the past by the NIIA at the side of AirPeace Airline that additionally funded the absolute best National monument.

On Monday, July 28, 2025, a high-profile evening of particular tributes, celestial music and prayers (funded by Airpeace Airline) shall be held to be aware and celebrate the lives of Christian Chukwu, Charles Bassey and Obisia Nwakpa.

Even supposing, Peter Rufai is no longer an legitimate AirPeace Ambassador, he's going to additionally be eminent for his carrier to Nigeria and to the game of football.

SOS Foundation!
In the next few weeks, with the Grace and Steering of the Creator of the Universe, and deploying the Goodwill and Have faith that I the truth is possess enjoyed from the Nigerian public, I shall be wanting for fortify from Nigerians to project into this uncharted territory. I shall field up a Foundation with the mission to, amongst assorted things, behavior research into the lives of retired global athletes from varied angles, doc, story and archive their lives, present entrepreneurial abilities programmes for them, handle their welfare factors and that of their dependents, form investment schemes for that will income them, and extra.

That’s the next portion of my like life, against the penchant of stakeholders in sports actions to attend out nothing nonetheless lament. Being the harbinger of sad recordsdata when athletes pass on has turn out to be a burden for me, a psychologically dampening and exhausting tell. There must be extra than that for me to attend out into the twilight zone of my life.

Customs Service boss elevated!

In the meaninglessness of this life, as we mourn so lift out we additionally possess precise reason to celebrate and be grateful to the Creator of the Universe.

Life and death drag collectively, cherish success and failure, cherish joy and disappointment, Siamese Twins all!

Final week, in a ways away Brussels, Belgium, most likely the most silent nonetheless largest supporters of sports actions model in Nigeria, used to be elected by the World Customs Organisation, WCO, as Chairperson to lead the worldwide organisation for the next three years.

It is a ways a first in history, that a Nigerian would earn such an elevated recognition for carrier.

As we congratulate this hardworking and visionary Nigerian ambassador, the Comptroller-Typical of the Nigerian Customs Service, Alhaji Dr. Adewale Adeniyi, we additionally wish him Allah’s particular guidance on this novel and extra task.