Not privileged to have ever watched him in action on the field as he mesmerised opposition defences and scored memorable goals, but I was very much opportuned to have known him personally.
Being my step-mother’s elder brother, Garba Okoye was an ‘uncle’ to me. He was, indeed, an endearing and affable figure. He loved children alot and vice versa. In fact, he gave me my first pair of football boots – an adidas – he bought from Germany where he went for a coaching course in, I think, 1977. It’s present that I really cherished, kept and used until it eventually worned out. I saw him last when he came to Kaduna for the National Sports Festival in 1977. He was then a chief coach with Plateau State Sports Council. During the festival he took us to watch a particular football match between Plateau and Niger States at the Police College football pitch, which was not faraway from our family house in the Marafa Estate.
So it was unbelievably shocking to hear the sad news on July 29, 1978 that Uncle Garba had passed away after sustaining fatal injuries from a ghastly motor accident along Lafia-Akwanga road. I can recall vividly the outpouring, widespread emotions that greeted his demise. It was absolutely sad and depressing.
Garba Okoye, one of the most exciting playmakers to have ever dorn the green-white-green jersey, he was also one of the few players that had an almost overnight transformation from the schoolboy game to being in the national limelight.
He led the Nigerian Academicals to the country’s first ever victory over Ghana in Kumasi. He scored the solitary goal as Nigeria won the encounter 1-0 in Accra and went ahead with another winning goal in a 2-1 victory in Lagos.
With his poise and indefatigable grace, Garba Okoye was easily identifiable on the field as he had a rolled up white handkerchief on his head.
With Mighty Jets of Jos, he featured in several Challenge Cup finals – without winning any.
The most memorable was in 1972 when, with five minutes left of play, Garba scored two quick goals to stalemate the match at 2-2 against Bendel Insurance. His equalizing goal was such a beauty that was saluted with a standing ovation and crowd-pitch invasion. He took the ball from his own half and dribbled five Insurance defenders before scoring the goal. It was a replica of it, Diego Maradona scored for Argentina against England in the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico. Incidentally, that goal was the last to have been scored in the Challenge Cup Final at the Onikan Stadium, the competition’s birthplace.
In the replay at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, the very first cup final to be played out of Lagos, his Mighty Jets of Jos still lost 3-2 to Bendel Insurance.
His last Challenge Cup match was in 1974, a 0-2 loss to Enugu Rangers. Garba’s exploits on the Nigerian scene saw him becoming one of the players at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968.
He had his first international cap in Nigeria’s away friendly game against Gabon on August 30, 1965. Nigeria won the game, 4-1.
In the course of his 17 caps for Nigeria, he scored five goals. He played his last international game for Nigeria in the away duel against Senegal on April 18, 1971. Nigeria lost the game 2-1 and failed to qualify for the 1972 Olympic Games. After his retirement from international football, Garba took to coaching and was a principal coach in Plateau State when he died at age 30.
Garba Okoye represented the cherished ideals of the Academicals programme and embodied it. Segun Odegbami writing on his choice of the best 50 footballers in Nigeria’s 50 years on October 9, 2010 in his Weekly Trust column described Garba Okoye as one of the best all-round footballers.
He wrote: “He rose to become in my humble opinion, one of the best all-round footballers in NIgeria’s 50 years history. Those who saw him play would easily testify that Okocha, the passing and vision of Oliseh, the leadership of Chukwu or Keshi, and the scoring ability of Thompson Usiyen, all rolled into one.”
In 1965 he led his Jos teammates to the national team to take on Ghana Academicals. From St. Theresa’s Jos, came Peter Anieke, a 6ft plus lethal striker with Tony Igwe, a quality right back. Segun Odegbami, later known as “Mathematical” was also to come out of St. Theresa’s later. So also were Tijjani Salihu Nakande, a terrific striker, who shoots with both feet and scored spectacular goals and Yakubu Ibn Mohammed.
Muyiwa Oshode, Shamsudeen Olowoshode and Tunde Disu came from Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Lagos. The incredible goalkeeper Lawal Inuwa Rigogo came from a secondary school in Kano, while Segun Olumodeji, the rock of Gibraltar at the heart of the defence came from school in present day Kogi State.
The critical point here is that a bunch of school boys that beat their Ghanaian counterpart home and away in 1965 had two years later in 1967 had become the nucleus of Nigeria’s national team and actually played in the 1968 Olympic football event, holding mighty Brazil to a 3-3 draw in Mexico.
Complete with older and experienced internationals, Sam Opone, Sebastine Broadericks, Paul “Wonderboy” Hamilton, Mohammed Lawal, Peter Fregene, Duro Adigun etc, the Eagles stopped Ghana especially from humiliating us 6-0, 5-1 as their predecessors in the time of Fabian Duru used to suffer.
The 1965 Academicals team served the Green Eagles till 1972 when new blood, new talent pushed into the team but Tony Igwe and Austin Ofuokwu remained a while in the team. Peter Fregene and Peter Anieke were still good enough, but their somewhat rebellious nature made them unpopular with officials and selectors otherwise they could have made the All African Games football gold winning team in 1973.
They gave way to less colourful but effective successors in Emmanuel Okala and Eyo Essien for Peter Fregene and Sunny Oyarekhua, and Kenneth Olayombo for Peter Anieke.
Interestingly, a new set of academicals players had emerged again. Josiah Dombraye and Sunday Izevbigie from the Midwest (Bendel) Academicals of 1970 and 1971 respectively had moved up to the Green Eagles by 1972. Joining them from the East Central State Academicals of 1971 was Dominic Ezeani who walked straight into the central defence, displacing skipper Godwin Achebe and then pairing Victor Oduah as new skipper.
Haruna Ilerika the dribbling wizard of Zumraltu Ahmadiyya Secondary School had all the way created waves with his team-mate Tajudeen Ajagun. Had Ajagun gone to play for Stationery Stores FC like his more illustrious team-mate, Ilerika, he too would probably have stepped up to the Eagles.
At ECN, later NEPA Lagos, the politics of the game put him down the perking order for the striking roles which had Sunday Oyarekhua (Police Machine Team) Kenneth Olayombo (Lagos Garrison Organisation) Sunday Izevbigie and Sam Ikedi (Bendel Insurance).
Morton Owolo, a left back from Hussey College Warri claimed left back position in some matches too. Waiting in the wings to claim shirts were Academicals from the East-Central state after Dominic Ezeani broke into the Eagles, his team-mates, Patrick Ekeji, now Director-General National Sports Commission, Christian Chukwu, later Captain of the Green Eagles that won the African Cup of Nations for the first time in 1980, Kenneth Ilodigwe (alias Kendo), Obed Ariri (later Captain of Vasco Da Gama FC, Enugu, and Godwin Ogbueze arguably one of the most gifted centre-forwards Nigeria’s football has ever seen. There were other great talent in the East Central State team like Tony Uzoka, a left winger, Keeper Ahamefuna Umelo, Chukwuma Nwankwo and John Azinge.
And with other states throwing up quality talent like Clement Okwufuleze, Patrick De Adinkwe, Raphael Uwechie (a great keeper now a pilot), Patrick Ezeocha, all from the Midwest (Bendel),
From the West, goalkeeper Zion Ogunfemi had his hands full because Emmanuel Okala and Eyo Essien were not just going to quit. But Tunde Balogun, son of Teslim Balogun, the football legend, a great mid-fielder and wing player emerged too from the Western State Academicals team. Had he stayed a little longer he would have displaced Yakubu Mambo and Gideon Njoku from the right wing position in the Green Eagles.
That did not happen because Tunde Balogun joined another striker from the West- Yomi Bamiro (Shooting Stars), Sunday Izevbigie and Muyiwa Sanya (Bendel Insurance), Kenneth Ilodigwe and Dominic Ezeani (Enugu Rangers) and Ghana’s Sam Ayi Akwa (a left back) to proceed to Howard University on Scholarship.
One season later, Ben Popoola, Segun Adewale, Olumeko (a Keeper), Damian Ogunsuyi and Emmanuel Egede (alias Tailor) all from Bendel Insurance, Godwin Ogbueze and Damian Odoh (Enugu Rangers), Obed Ariri (Vasco Da Gama Enugu) all went to Clemson University in the United States on Scholarship.
From the Lagos axis we had Emilo John and Keeper Manuwa who had followed Ilerika to knock on the doors of the Green Eagles. So also did Keeper Marcelus Obinatu, Tunde Martins, Kwame Senaya, Tony Eyo, Tex Egbedi (now a top class Fashion and Trend Consultant/designer),
Isaac Annan, Fred Obadiaru, Bernard Mensah, Kehinde Oworu and Maxwell Yebrufra whose winning goal in a Lagos State Principal Cup match made front page headline in Nigeria’s leading daily newspaper at the time, Daily Times.
Adokiye Amiesimaka, fondly called Chief Justice and a former Attorney-General in Rivers State is a product of Academicals football and so was Thompson Usiyen, Nigeria’s best striker in my opinion. Such was the strength intensity, excitement, talent flow and attention-capture capacity of academicals football those days. It provided empowerment through well-paying jobs and scholarship to American Universities.
Academicals football, nay schools sports is it and there is the strong need to revive it because apart from being a veritable well-pool of talent for the Eagles, it reduces if not banishes entirely age-cheating while opening avenues for further education and scholarship schemes locally, as well as in America and Canada.
