Veterans mourn founding member, Austin Akosa

Members of the Association of Sports Veterans Nigeria (ASVN) say they received with shock the death of one of its founding fathers, Mr. Austin Akosa, who passed on at the weekend.

The Association’s President, Chief Jonathan Ogufere, said in a statement that Nigeria has lost a colossus in sports administration whose shoes will be difficult to fill.

“This is very shocking. Very shocking. It came out of the blues. We were never aware of his ill health not to talk of eventual death, the former President of West African Football Union (WAFU) said.

Ogufere went down memory lane, to the time Mr. Akosa was a co. staff in P and T, but later transferred his services to the National Sports Commission (NSC), where he excelled as Organising Secretary in many sports associations.

“He was that dexterous so much that wherever he found himself, he excelled. When I became WAFU President in 1988 until 1994 he was a member of the Organising Committee and he was an epitome of diligence, hard work and played a strategic role in the success of my tenure, advantage Nigeria,” Ogufere said.

The late Akosa was President of Nigeria Coaches Association from where he became a board member of the Nigeria Football Association.

He went on to become a CAF and FIFA match commissioner, a CAF Protocol officer and of course a founding member of the Veterans Association, whose main preoccupation is the fight for the development of sports in Nigeria in all ramifications, borne out of experience of members as past players, athletes, organisers, coaches, journalists etc.

The Veterans Association will want the family to take solace in the fact that their son, father, husband and grandfather lived a life worthy of emulation.

“The history book of sports in this country will not be complete without a page or two on the contribution of a man we loved to call “Suzy,” the President said.