BY DANUSA OCHOLI
The death of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu in July 2024 has robbed Nigeria of one of her foremost leaders and sports investors and influencers. His death has no doubt created a huge vacuum that will be difficult to fill.
Iwuanyanwu was not just a lover and promoter of sports, he gave his all to it. He saw sports as a vehicle to promote national unity and cohesion, hence his great faith in the industry. In his tribute to the fallen leader, Friday Nwankwo Kujah, a FIFA-licensed agent, said Nigeria will miss a great patriot and club owner who contributed massively towards the sector’s development.
Chief Iwuanyanwu’s pervading influence and promotion of sports went beyond the frontiers of the country
Pastor Seyi Fasugba, who edited Sporting Champion and Daily Champion, described the late sports hero as a true patriot and one of the greatest Nigerians of his time. He said Chief Iwuanyanwu’s contribution to sports, including interventions and appeal funds for sports, will remain indelible in the history of the country and humanity.
To many, the late Iwuanyanwu really came into national consciousness when, in the mid-1980s, the then military government in Imo State handed over the state-owned Heartland Football Club of Owerri to him for better management and administration. Indeed, a major landmark contribution of Chief Iwuanyanwu to sports was his taking over the management of Heartland Football Club, which he renamed Iwuanyanwu Nationale Football Club. This became one of the most successful soccer outfits that trod Nigeria and Africa.
The professionally-run side went on to dominate Nigerian football scene as well as making tremendous impact in the continent. Iwuanyanwu became a household name not only in Nigeria but the continent and beyond.
His club side, under coach Alphonsus Dike and Team Manager Uche Ejomofor, provided the bulk of footballers for the national team and the fulcrum of the Super Eagles “Golden Generation” from 1994 to 2010. Some of the stars played pivotal roles in Nigeria’s 1994 Africa Cup of Nations success in Tunisia as well as the 1994 FIFA World Cup in USA. Players of Iwuanyanwu Nationale equally formed the bulk of the Nigerian team that won the 1996 Atlanta Olympics football event – the first side to achieve the feat from Africa and the Commonwealth.
Some of the players produced were Uche Okechukwu and Thompson Oliha who featured in Tunis ‘94 as well as in US ‘94 World Cup. Nwankwo Kanu, from the club, captained the Atlanta Olympic winning Nigeria football team. Other players from the Owerri-based side in the team were Mobile Oparaku, Kingsley Obiekwu, with Uhe Okechukwu as the approved over-aged player. The club produced other notable players such as Ishaya Jatau, Mikel Obi, Nicholas Ukadike, and Ndidi Alumina.
Chief Iwuanyanwu went further to develop sports with robust sports journalism. In his Champion newspapers, he assembled some of the best hands in the industry like Paul Bassey, Yemi Ojo, Emeka Obasi, Waheed Jinadu, Fan Ndubuoke, Seyi Fasugba, Sam John, Joseph Omeeremi, Alex Tuwagun, Demi Solaja. Under the leadership of Paul Bassey, the back page of the newspaper was dedicated to sports – something that was uncommon – almost a taboo, before then. Other papers followed this practice later.
Chief IwuanyAnwu encouraged his Reporters and Editors to cover most national and international competitions.
As fate would have it, I came closer to Iwuanyanwu FC while I was cutting my teeth in sports journalism in Benue State. Two of Nigeria’s foremost club sides by then: Iwuanynwu Nationale of Owerri and BCC Lions of Gboko, were to travel to Zambia and Mozambique respectively. While Iwuanynwu Nationale was to engage Nkana Red Devils of Zambia, the BCC Lions squared up against Gruppo Depirtivo of Mozambique. The Nigerian Football Association, NFA (now Nigeria Football Federation, NFF) of the time, had arranged a giant Hercules C-130 plane that carried the players and officials of the two teams for the semi – finals of their continental matches. This writer was among those in the military pane that made the more than eight-hour trip to Zambia, where we first stopped at Ndola International Airport before a bus came to ferry Nationale’s players to Kitwe in the Copper belt region of the country to play Nkana Red Devils. Those of us in the BCC contingent travelled to Maputo to play Gruppo Dezpirtivo. It was the year BCC won the Cup Winners Cup named the Mandela Cup to keep alive the struggle for the liberation of the prisoner of conscience. Nelson Mandala was released and even became the President of South Africa.
BCC Lions went on to win the much-sought-after Mandela Cup that year in 1990. Providence brought me closer and closer to Chief Iwuanyanwu when I left The Voice newspaper to join his fast-selling tabloid, Champion Newspaper, in Lagos.
The Chief later established a weekly sports newspaper, The Sporting Champion, with Paul Bassey as its pioneer Editor. Chief Iwuanyanwu promoted me the paper’s editor later when Mr. Bassey resigned. With my appointment, I was time and again invited by the Chief himself to his board meetings, even for handshake with him over the sterling performance of the paper entrusted to me and my team of able men like Fasugba, Yemi Ojo, Jinadu, among others.
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