Christian Obi, a former Nigeria goalkeeper and head coach of Heartland FC, has died in a ghastly accident.
The fatal accident occurred on Friday, August 23, at Umunna, near Okigwe, Imo State, when the club’s players and officials were on their way to Abakaliki for the Ifeanyi Ekwueme TICO/SELECT Pre-season Tournament.
The club in a statement said: “The heart breaking day saw the Heartland FC team departing the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri for the preseason Tournament with enthusiasm at around 3:30pm in three vehicles but at about some minutes after 4pm, one of the vehicles rammed into a carelessly parked truck in its attempt to evade an oncoming vehicle.
The driver tried as he could but the impact of the collision caused a sudden shock to our coach, Christian Obi who was unconscious with a slight injury to his right leg upon evacuation from the badly affected part of the bus.
Coach Obi and other injured players were rushed to the nearby hospital at Okwelle in Onuimo LGA of Imo State but despite the best efforts of the medical personnel our revered coach gave up the ghost.
Coach Obi remains have since been deposited at the Federal University Teaching Hospital, (FUTH) morgue in Owerri while the injured have been referred to the same hospital for more proper care.”
Aged 57, Obi, who coached the team last season, was a Nigeria youth international goalkeeper who competed in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
