Another death has been recorded in Nigeria’s sports fraternity following Wednesday’s passing away of former Falconets coach, Dan Evumena.
According to close associates, Evumena, one of Nigeria’s foremost women’s football coaches, died after a ‘brief illness’ at the Federal Medical Center, FMC Asaba
“While confirming Evumena’s death to PREMIUM TIMES, Mansur Abdullahi, another respected women’s football coach and former Assistant Coach of the Super Falcons and Flamingos said the death was painful.
“Well, he was a hardworking person, he was dedicated to his job, and he was a disciplinarian. He was a senior citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because he was retired from civil service as a senior immigration officer,” Coach Mansur told PREMIUM TIMES.
“He was my coursemate; just last year we graduated from London University in Sport Management. It is quite sad.”
Journey of no return
According to Coach Mansur, the late Evumena fell sick just before Christmas and sadly never got over it.
“He fell sick on the 24th of last month and a few days ago, he went into a coma and gave up,” he lamented.
Though pained by his death, the legacies of Evumena who led the Falconets to the quarter-final stage at the 2008 World Cup will be remembered by all.
“When it comes to coaching, he’s a sound tactician. There are no two ways about it and he is a disciplinarian.
“In every aspect of life, if one is not disciplined, then you should forget about it. It is quite sad.
“He is a former president of the amalgamation of women football coaches of Nigeria and former chairman of Delta State Football Coaches association. In fact, he is the immediate past chairman.” Coach Mansur recalled.
Death is inevitable
While mourning the death of another sporting figure, Coach Mansur advised all to always have it at the back of their minds that death is inevitable.
“Death is certain. It’s unfortunate that it is our turn in the sports industry, a lot of us are going.
“You can imagine within a short period, in less than two weeks, we have lost a serving chairman and a past chairman of a state association.
“It’s not about the industry, it’s about death and this is a call to every fellow human being to think about his death because definitely we came to this world at a different time and we will also go back one day” he concluded.
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