Senate, others mourn Amodu, Keshi

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Youth and Sports, Senator Joseph Obinna Ogba, was at the Glass House on Monday to commiserate with the football body on the deaths of Coaches Stephen Keshi and Shaibu Amodu.
Keshi, only the second man to win the Africa Cup of Nations as a player and as a coach, died in Benin City, Edo State in the early hours of Wednesday.
Amodu, four-time Coach of the Super Eagles, died in the same city in the early hours of Saturday.
Ogba, who was Member of the NFF Executive Committee during Amodu’s fourth stint with the Super Eagles, when he qualified the Super Eagles for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and won bronze medal at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, said: “Amodu’s death was a big shock to me, just as Keshi’s. Both men were institutions based on what they achieved with the Super Eagles.”
Ogba, who is also Chairman of the Ebonyi State Football Association, added: “I knew both men very well, for they were towers of excellence. It is a pity that at a time they still had so much to contribute to Nigeria football, they left us just like that.
“Death is a necessary end; it is a debt we all owe. However, we are sad because these gentlemen have died at a relatively young age, when they still had so much in them to give.”
NFF’s 2nd Vice President and LMC Chairman, Shehu Dikko, was also at the Glass House to sign the condolence registers, now placed side-by-side.
Dikko said: “It is tragic. Words are inadequate to express the grief and sense of loss that the NFF feels right now.”
Ogba had the added task of consoling former Nigeria Coach James Peters, who could not hold back the tears on seeing the photo of his long-time friend, Amodu, by the condolence register at the NFF secretariat.
“I’m too shocked for words,” Peters said simply.
Both men worked together at BCC Lions of Gboko, where Amodu assisted Peters before taking over from the latter.
Both men have worked together on CAF coaching license programmes over the years.
Former member of the NFF Executive Committee and Chairman of NPFL club, Abia Warriors, High Chief Emeka Inyama, lamented the death of both great figures within days of each other.
The Head Coach of the Nigeria U-23 team, Samson Siasia, was a sober figure at the Glass House.
Siasia said: “This is heartbreaking for me. I can’t say much now.”
Siasia played with Keshi in the Super Eagles for several years.
Both men were in the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations-winning squad as well as the 1994 World Cup team.
Siasia was in the Eagles’ squad coached by young Amodu for the ‘Wembley Friendly’ in November 1994, and was also superintended by Amodu for the two matches against Egypt in March this year following Sunday Oliseh’s exit.