By Segun Odegbami
The pain from the death of my friend lingers. It weighs me down. I hardly sleep through the night with a headache.
I am thinking of the meaninglessness of life, of human mortality, and the inevitability of death that ‘will come, when it will come’.
I wake early. My heart is pounding with grief. I head to the airport for my early morning flight to Abuja.
What happens next is fortuitous, a divine script. At the airport, I am allocated seat number 1C. We soon start to board. I take my front row seat. Others follow.
Then he embarks. His small retinue of aides indicate his status. He is wearing a simple traditional Igbo attire – a red cap on a red Isiagu and white trousers. This is not a small man. I recognize him immediately.
His seat is 1A, right next to mine.
I salute him. The broad smile on his face is no more than his usual dispensation of courtesies to everyone around him. He is a very friendly political leader. He takes the seat next to me.
I don’t waste any time at all.
‘Accept my sincere condolences, Your Excellency’.
He looks at me with some measure of surprise. Obviously, he does not know what I am talking about. It also confirms he does not recognize me.
‘The passage of Christian Chukwu’, I guide him. ‘I am Segun Odegbami’.
It adds up quickly in his head.
‘Ah, the Mathematical’. Recognition comes and lights up his face.
‘Thank you very much’, he says. ‘What a sad situation to lose one of the greatest heroes of this country, a legendary football player’.
He talks more about Christian Chukwu glowingly. He promises to support a befitting burial by the country for the born-leader and illustrious patriot. He recalls that Chairman Chukwu led a great generation of players in Rangers FC, IICC, Bendel Insurance and others, teams that played a big role in uniting the country in the years following the Civil War.
I tell him about Chukwu’s role, through his exemplary leadership of both Rangers International and the Green Eagles, of helping to heal the wounds inflicted on the psyche of Nigerians by the Nigerian Civil War.
Then he surprises me. He goes back in time to rekindle the magic of radio commentating: ‘Mathematical. He dribbles one, he dribbles two, he sprints down the touch line, he passes to Chukwu, he moves, oh, oh , oh……’.
He is actually running a commentary of an imaginary football match. Some of the passengers by our seats enjoy his sonorous rumbling voice, mimicking late Ernest Okonkwo.
He is obviously very happy to meet me. He says more than once as we settle down to a conversation that covers several subjects. It is as if we are long-separated friends running out on time to catch up.
We race through different subject matters until the plane taxis and lifts off into the darkening and pregnant clouds of Lagos at this time of the year.
Our conversation is like between two friends that have not seen each other for a long time, racing to catch up on things.
We talk about Christian Chukwu’s sad passage; his invitation to ex-Rangers players to the State House in Awka after he became governor; his support for the welfare of the Rangers players, a monthly stipend contributed by some of the South-East zone Governors. He desires that the stipend in increased. He tells me about his relationship with football. It is the only addiction he has.
He tells me he once cancelled an international trip whilst in transit in order to watch the Spanish El Classico on television between Real Madrid FC and FC Barca. Like me, he is a supporter of FC Barcelona. Up Barca!!
In his youth, he played football against his father’s wish, an old scar on his cheek-bone evidence of his defiance to play football on street pebbles.
He talks a little about his foray into politics, about Onitsha market and its poor reputation, plus the re-modeling of the city. There are steps to be taken to repair the image of the biggest public market in the whole of West Africa.
I ask him how he is able to run the State without borrowing a Kobo. That’s easy. He has prioritized his assignment to essential projects and has cut down on all waste.
He answers all my questions.
I am in his lecture-space.
He radiates confidence and happiness. His records of performance in almost 4 years will speak for him at the polls in his re-election bid.
The sound of the engines takes over. We go silent. By the time the plane gets to maximum height and starts to cruise comfortably, we are both taking a nap.
Abuja.
We resume our conversation as our plane lands in Abuja. Christian Chukwu is on our mind again. He led the Eagles at a glorious era in Nigeria, the 1970s and parts of the 1980s. He sees those years as half-filled, rather half-empty of opportunities to make Nigeria the greatest Black Nation on earth.
There is work to be done. Our responsibility is not to change the world but to play our parts in making a difference.
The only question he asks me is:’what do you do now?’.
I tell him – a little bit of this, a little bit of that.
I tell him about my only official portfolio is as Head of the Sports and Diplomacy Unit of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs. I tell him about the ‘Wall of Fame’ and Allen Onyema’s role in that endeavour that makes me an Air Peace Ambassador.
We both wonder why we have never met before when we have several mutual friends.
We exchange numbers.
We take a picture as the plane stops finally.
We walk together from the plane to the arrival hall of the Airport where we part ways and promise to keep in touch.
Through all of this time he is greeting everyone around, sharing a few words here and there with even total strangers, a smile on his face always. He is a great man.
It is a great personal privilege and invaluable experience to have shared an entire 60 minutes, or so, with the former Governor of the Central Bank, and current Governor of Anambra State, PROFESSOR Chukwuma Soludo.
As I drive into Abuja, I am thinking.
3 members of the 1980 team have died in the past 3 months – Moses Effiong, Charles Bassey and ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu!
May they find absolutely peace with the Creator of the Universe! Amen.
Dr. Olusegun Odegbami, MON, OLY, AFNIIA, FNIS
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