Nigeria’s captain who led the country to its first-ever continental title at the 1980 Nation Cup has died at the age of 74.
He was born on January 4, 1951.
‘Chairman’ as the former defender was fondly called died on Saturday April 12 in Enugu.
The news was disclosed by his former teammate Segun Odegbami who revealed that Emmanuel Okala a former goalkeeper and teammate broke the news of the passage of the Legend.
Odegbami stated that ‘Onyim’ died between 9am and 10am Saturday morning through a WhatsApp post.
Chukwu featured for Enugu Rangers as a player and a coach and was an assistant coach to Clemens Westerhoff during the era of the Dutchman in 1994.
He would take charge of the team from 2002 to 2005 leading the Super Eagles to a third-place finish at the Tunisia 2004 Nations Cup.
Chukwu, a very jovial personality had series of life-threatening health issues especially in 2019 when US based Rangers grand patron Chief Benson Ejindu (MVP) intervened. Following Ejindu’s intervention other Nigerians like billionaire businessman Femi Otedola also moved in to salvage the situation.
