Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amodu Shaibu, died early on Saturday. His death, which was confirmed by the NFF on its Twitter page, took place at his residence in Benin city. This comes only three days after the demise of another former coach of the Nigerian national football team, Stephen Keshi.
According to the NFF, the four-time coach of the Super Eagles had complained of chest pains on Friday night and had died in his sleep. This account of the sad event was corroborated by the Edo State Minister for Information and Orientation, Kassim Afegbua, who also said that he had been with Amodu the day before.
“We discussed Keshi. We went to pay condolences on Thursday and we were just discussing the ephemerality of life”, Afegbua said. It turned out to be his last conversation with the former coach. The commissioner told interviewers at the Stella Obasanjo Hospital in Benin that he was informed of Amodu’s death through a phone call he received at about 4;30 AM.
The Edo State Football Association, through its secretary Emmanuel Ajibola, also expressed shock at the news of the loss of yet another notable figure in Nigeria’s football scene.
Amodu Shaibu, who hails from Okpella in Esako East Local Government Area of Edo State, was born in April 1958. He managed the national team five times, including two stints in 2001-2002 and 2008-2010 during which he qualified the Super Eagles for the Football World Cup. Much earlier in his life, he played as a striker for Dumez and Niger Tornadoes football clubs; he also won the FA cup with BCC Lions of Gboko as a coach in 1989.