The wife of the late Technical Director of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) Amodu Shauibu, Kuburat, said at the Surulere home of the
former Super Eagles chief coach, that her husband before his death did not have
a history of High Blood Pressure and appeared to be lost by the reports in the
media that the former Orlando Pirates of South Africa coach died from
complications from being hypertensive.
“My husband was not hypertensive at any
point, so I don’t really know what all these news reports are saying. Over the
years, my husband had been battling very strongly with a Type B diabetics which
was the main history he lost weight drastically as he was placed on special
diet that burnt all the fat in his body.
“I am shocked he died suddenly without any
complaint of illness. He spoke to me on Friday evening at about 7pm and he was
very fine, with no crisis from diabetics. For the ailment, he had all the necessary
drugs and he knows when his blood sugar is high or too low. If he had felt
funny on Friday, he would have told me and he knows what to do to control his
blood sugar. So there was no crisis, I wondered how he would just leave us like
that.”
She noted that, when she spoke with her
husband on phone on Friday evening, she was even the one that suggested the
food he would take in the morning while breaking his fast and he confirmed to
me that he has told those who would prepare the food to wake him up by 5am.
“While ending our conversation, he told me
that he was going to a police station in Benin City to bail some of his kinsmen
from Okpella who were arrested. He hung up the call telling to call him again
in morning on Saturday, by 7am. But before 7am, my daughter ran to me that she
read a report on facebook that daddy had died, I didn’t believe it, I told her
to be calm that I will still speak with daddy as he said we should call him by
7am. When I eventually called my husband on phone someone else picked the call
and broke the sad news to me. I called the children together to break the news
to them and we agreed to be strong as daddy’s death was the will of God and
nobody should question God. That is where we are now.”
She added that, the eighth-day Fidau
prayers will also take place in her husband’s home in the village at Okpella.
Meanwhile, Amodu’s remains have been
interred in his hometown of Okpella in Edo State.
Tears flowed freely as the hearse which
conveyed his corpse from Stella Obasanjo Hospital, Benin, arrived his residence
on Shaibu Amodu Street, off Okeiwo Road, Okpella residence, around 1pm.
Shortly after the arrival, an Islamic
prayer led by Momodu Musa, chief Imam of Okpella, was conducted, and the
remains of the former coach was lowered.
Mohammed Sanusi, NFF general secretary, led
the federation’s delegation to the burial.
Abdulrafiu Yusuf, NFF’s assistant technical
director and Robinson Okosun, head of psychology, also attended the event.
In November 1994, Amodu first managed the
Super Eagles in an international friendly with England in which his team lost
0-1.
He took charge of the Super Eagles on four
occasions in 1994 and 1995 as well as in 1997, 2001 and 2002 and then between
2008 and 2010.
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