The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has expressed shock at the death on Monday of former NFF Secretary General and one –time Member of the NFF Executive Committee, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi.
Reports on Monday morning said the 66 –year old former international defender passed on after a brief illness.
“I cannot find the words as much as I try. A very big tree has fallen in Nigerian Football and we are all devastated. If the NFF had a flag of its own, it would fly at half-mast for several weeks.
“Chief Ogunjobi was one of the strongest pillars of association football in Nigeria and the entire Nigerian Football fraternity will miss him badly. The Members of the NFF Executive Committee, Management and Staff of the NFF, Members of the Congress, eminent football stakeholders and other workers in football in these shores are in shock,” President of the NFF, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, said on Monday.
In the same vein, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung has described the news of the death of former NFF scribe Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi as shocking.
Dalung in a statement described the former Osun sate Football Association Chairman as a humble technocrat who dedicated his life to the administration of football in Nigeria.
“I’m shocked to hear of Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi’s death. I saw him last year prior to the NFF elections. He came to personally inform me of his intent to contest the NFF presidential elections.
“He was a seasoned administrator and had contributed immensely to the development of football in Nigeria especially in his home state Osun.
“I commiserate with his immediate family members, the Osun State football Association and other football stakeholders who knew or worked with him. He has left an indelible mark and a vacuum in football administration in the country. May God grant his soul eternal rest and his family, the fortitude to bear this loss.”
