The Nigeria Football Federation has announced the death of one of their executive members, Hon. Chidi Okenwa, who was aged 50.
The NFF in a statement released on Tuesday 5th May 2020, said, Mr Chidi Okenwa who was a Member of the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation and Chairman of the Nigeria National League, died on Tuesday morning.
According to the statement from NFF, the late Chidi Ofo Okenwa, was also the Chairman of the Enugu State Football Association, and had been diagnosed as having leukaemia, and was said to have been restless throughout the night and slumped in the early hours of Tuesday 5th May 2020, before being rushed to a private hospital in Enugu, where he was confirmed dead.
A devastated President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick, paid glowing tributes to Chidi Ofo Okenwa, who was part of a meeting of the NFF Executive Committee held via video conferencing penultimate Friday. It was that same day that Chidi Okenwa celebrated his 50th birthday.
“This is a huge shock. Each and every one of us on the NFF Board is in absolute grief. Chidi Okenwa was a loyal soldier of Nigeria Football and was a leading member of our intellectual wing. This is a terrible blow.
“He was one man you can always rely on to give candid advice. We bounced ideas off him regularly and picked his brain on many issues because of his wide knowledge and decades of experience in football administration. We will sorely miss him,” Pinnick said.
“Brilliant, humble, eloquent, witty, thorough and committed to the development of Nigeria Football at all levels, Hon. Okenwa evinced capacity, zeal and fervour, and gave his all for the good ending of any project or assignment in which he found himself.
The remains of the late Chidi Ofo Okenwa has been deposited in a mortuary in the city of Enugu and the NFF is in contact with his family with regards to a decision on the date of the final burial rites,” the NFF statement added.