Death Stalks Nigerian Sport, Claims MJ, Onyenwenwa

Falcons’ Coach, Omagbemi, loses son in swimming pool

Another pall of darkness enveloped the Nigerian sports scene yesterday following the deaths of the first Director of Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (PGAN) Matthew Jacob and Lizzy Onyenwenwa, a former NFF Women Football Secretary. Head Coach of the Super Falcons, Florence Omagbemi also lost her 15 year-old son, Samson Omagbemi Atamako.

Lizzy Onyenwenwa was reported to have passed on at the National Hospital in Abuja early hours of yesterday.

Until her death, she was an acting director of planning at the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Samson Omagbemi reportedly got drowned in a swimming pool at a hotel in Effurun, Delta State, where he along with classmates, had gone for an after their JSS 3 examination party.

MJ, as the former PGAN director for fondly known, also died yesterday morning in Lagos after a brief illness, aged 74.

Jacob will be remembered for shaping professional golf in Nigeria after receiving the baton from where Englishman, John Norsworthy, who established PGAN in 1968.

Through hard work and consistency, he rose from being a caddy to become one of the best regarded administrators in Nigeria’s golf history.

Some of the country’s professional golf icons including Peter Akakasiaka, Tony Uduimoh and Bello Seibidor were evidence of his administrative acumen.

As the Director of PGAN, he presided over the organisation of several editions of the national golf championship, the Nigeria Open, until the last edition was held in 2001, after it was rested for five years (1995 -2000).

He was ousted in 2002 as the director and replaced by Uduimoh in the wake of the crisis of leadership that split the ranks of the association and made many sponsors to back out from professional golf.

He was also the first Resident Pro at Ikoyi Club 1938, where his pro-shop, named after him, stands as a legacy in his memory.