First son of late Green Eagles captain and coach, Christian Chukwu, Christian Chukwu Jr, shares the life and times of his father.
He also speaks on the 1980 AFCON-winning captain’s life at home, away from his celebrity status, his alleged unpaid salary by the NFF and more.
Excerpts:
Can you share the last moments of your father here on earth with us?
His last moment was very peaceful, we didn’t expect it but it came. It is the will of God. The time he passed away was very peaceful. He had some crises and we rushed him to the hospital, unfortunately he passed on.
Did he share any information with you or the family before he died in terms of his career or otherwise?
He didn’t expect to die, so he wasn’t prepared to share anything. We were optimistic that he will recover because we were talking; everything was nice before he had a little crisis before we took him to the hospital. It wasn’t really serious and like I stated earlier, we were not expecting him to die, so, it just came up. So, he didn’t talk to us about his career.
He complained about being owed by the Nigeria Football Federation, do you know how much he’s being owed and what efforts are being made to get being paid?
He didn’t also share his business life with me. He carried it personally and that’s how my daddy was, he carried it personal. He didn’t share it with us.
Now you said he didn’t share such information with you, will your family write the NNF requesting that they should pay the family whatever your father was owed by the football body?
We should, we will make a request and hopefully the NFF will do the right thing.
How did the family cope during the time he was owed until his demise?
It was hard; it is been hard but not all that hard. My father tried as much as he could but thanks to God most of us had gotten paid jobs. So, it’s been hard but he tried his best to make us not to feel whatever that he was owed. He was covering us, trying his best.
Was he bitter about being owed and did he forgive those who owed him knowing that he worked for it?
My father was always to himself, he didn’t like to share the burden he was battling with but he kept us apart from him and the NFF. So, I don’t know much or how he was feeling it. He tried and tried to the extent that he said ‘let everything be to God’ to fight for him. He fought to that stage.
He was named Chairman on the field of play. Away from the glamour what sort of father was he?
He was a very calm, loving and caring father. He was good in listening to us the children, even to the extent we were surprised by the way people respected him more than the way we respected him. It was like he had authority outside but with us he made everything easy, very easy with us. He didn’t bring his chairman status to the home, in the house, he was very calm. He solved our problems when we had any. It was because of us he retired from coaching outside the country. He coached so much outside – Kenya, Lebanon, Algeria – and it was because of us that he decided to take a break to come down and stay with us and train us. He tried his best as a family man, he was a good and wonderful father.
How did the family relate with him when he was outside the country coaching?
He will always call and we will talk for very long periods of time. That was when there was NITEL landline, we will open it and everyone will take their turns. I will talk, my elder sister will talk, my younger sister and everybody will talk and he never missed whenever he had the chance or had free days off work, whether it was in the US, Lebanon or Kenya, he would always try to come back and stay like one or two months before going back.
Do you think he was well treated by the government after his efforts?
For me, I don’t think so.
What are those things you would have expected the government to have done?
It is not only my father that was affected, it’s same thing that happened to all those in their age grade that tried and suffered as Jim Nwobodo had rightly said. They are supposed to have a programme to feed all of them, those of the 1980s, almost all of them are above 70, they should feed them and have a programme for them – proper healthcare, maybe some allowances and that stuff. They were supposed to have a programme where all of them would get something after trying and stressing their lives for the country.
Multi-billionaire businessman Femi Otedola assisted your dad some years ago when he had health challenges by flying him to the UK for medical treatment. Were you surprised?
We didn’t expect that much – my daddy found grace in the hands of a Yoruba man because the money he brought wasn’t small money and I also thank the Enugu State Government for doing their own part when he was admitted at the Special Hospital; they did their own part and I thank Femi Otedola. We have thanked him before and we are still thanking him for what he has done because we would have lost him then but God used him and the Enugu State Government to give him the more years that we enjoyed with him till he died.
As the first son do you really feel his absence considering the burden of taking decisions on issues concerning the family and solving problems?
Yes, I am not supposed to be talking to you if he was alive. I am not supposed to be talking to all these media personalities, he was the one shading me from them all, I was just doing my work in Port Harcourt and all over the place. If I just come home we greet, we talk but now he is not I have to restructure the way I do things and find a way to fix them because the duty has changed. So, I will try to fix, take care of my family and other things.
When your father was alive did have preference for any of his children?
You know fathers usually have preference for their female children while the mums prefer their male children. My daddy had preference for the ladies; he believed that we (men) could find a way to work out at things to become a man, and to try to learn. He was trying to make us become men looking at the time, like this day and onwards he will not be around with us.
Your dad made his name in sports, are you a sports lover?
Yes I am a sports lover. I played football but when I graduated from school after studying engineering, I lost interest in playing professional football. I still love sports but I have a career in engineering now.
Which clubs did you play for?
Before school and when I left school I played inter-school football: inter-secondary school matches. I went for Pepsi Academy trials but it was during my school days – inter-seminary school competitions that I had an ankle injury and after that I saw that football wasn’t easy and my father advised me. I remembered him saying when he played all through his life till then, he didn’t have such an injury and for me having an injury like that maybe I had to go to school first and graduate. And I obeyed him and it favoured me because I have seen most of my friends that followed football till now but they don’t have any problem. He will always advise people, that even if you want to play you must have a second plan, a Plan B, you must go to school or you must get a handwork so that if football doesn’t work you can follow the Plan B, football is not for everybody.
How do you people relate with your mum especially now that your father is no longer around?
We don’t have any problem with our mother; she is the one that trained us majorly like I told you earlier that my father travelled a lot. She is the one that knew all our lapses and all the things, so it will be easy to relate and to also take care of her. It is for us to take care of her now and not for her to take care of us. It is our duty to take care of her now. – Culled from Punch.
