By Daily Sports on May 7, 2019

Edo State football community has been plunged into double grief and Nigeria as a nation has lost a former fine international player.

Wilson Oboh, the midfielder with silky skills and impressive vision during his hey days – which included caps for the Nigerian Flying Eagles of 1995 – died last week. It is understood Oboh had a car accident some months ago and suffered from complications from the accident which he never fully recovered from. He was 44.

Amidst the touching reactions to Oboh’s demise, a Benin City-based coach went philosophical, saying: “Life indeed is a strange place! While some are bowing down to a hurried exit, others are beating the drums of flirting felicity. True, life is a conundrum of two extremes. What matters, after all, is how we ended, when we ended and who we ended with. O Man of reckless vanities Embrace thy Maker.”

Just as Edo State football followers were coming to terms with sad passing of Oboh, a legend of the state’s darling club Bendel Insurance passed away on Sunday. George Omokaro (whose son Charles us the present captain of Bendel Insurance) had been bedridden for a long while before making the great transition.

Expressing shock on Monday over George Omokaro’s death, Edo State Football Association Board Chairman, Hon. Frank Ilaboya, described the death of one of his predecessors as a huge loss to the entire football family in Nigeria. He decribed the late football administrator as gentle and peace-loving man who contributed so much to the game of football in the state and country in general.

“I can’t believe George Omokaro is no more. He was a gentle and peace-loving football administrator who contributed so much to the game in Edo State and Nigeria. His exploits with Bendel Insurance in the late 70s to 80s and a stint with then Green Eagles will continue to remain a reference point.

“I pray that God will give those he left behind the fortitude to bear this big loss,” Mr Ilaboya added.

George Omokaro, who died in the early hours of Monday, May 6, 2019, was a member of the famous Bendel Insurance team that thrashed Rangers International 3-0 in the final match of the 1978 Nigeria Challenge Cup in Lagos.

Omokaro was a two-time Chairman of Edo State Football Association (2005 - 2009, and 2009 - 2011). He also served in various sub-committees at both state and national levels during the tenure of then Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) presidents, Alhaji Aminu Maigari and Sanni Lulu.

Ilaboya however thanked the Edo State Government for her support towards the late football administrator when he took ill.        

“The Edo State Government came to his rescue when he was ill, but death finally took him away,” lamented Ilaboya, who also used the opportunity to sympathise with the family of former junior international Wilson Oboh, who died last week in Benin City.

•Photo shows late Wilson Oboh when he was bedridden

Source Daily Sports

Posted May 7, 2019

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