The Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Otunba Gbenga Elegbeleye has directed that one-minute silence be observed before kickoff at all NPFL Matchday 30 games this weekend in honour of Henry Nwosu, who died on Saturday morning after a five-day battle for his life at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos.
A former Super Eagles midfielder, Nwosu was 62 years old.
He was the youngest member of the 1980 Nigerian squad to Africa Cup of Nations, and was widely celebrated for his role in the then Green Eagles’ triumph for their first continental title.
The midfielder was known for his vision, creativity and technical ability, and went on to become a prominent figure in Nigerian domestic football.
Following his retirement from active football, the former international remained connected to the sport as a coach and mentor, helping to nurture younger players.
The NPFL boss described Nwosu’s death as a personal loss to him and a general loss to the club football family in the country.
Elegbeleye described Nwosu as ‘a personal friend whom i have maintained communication with right from my time at the National Sports Commission’.
When Elegbeleye was nominated for the Pitch Football Awards, Nwosu was one of the prominent voices that endorsed the NPFL Chairman, seizing the opportunity to narrate the personal relationship they shared.
In a condolence message, Elegbeleye described the news of the passing as ‘the death of a true ambassador of the domestic and national team football because he not only made his mark as a player in league clubs, he also coached some of the league clubs’.
On a philosophical note, the NPFL chief said that death is a human submission to the will of God, and prayed for the repose of his soul and strength for the immediate family to endure through the agonising period of losing a loved one.
Nwosu was a famed schoolboy football player who later featured for some of the dominant football clubs of the 1980s, including the defunct New Nigeria Bank and African Continental Bank.
