I AM still in deep shock.Four days ago I was in Abuja when a journalist called and informed me about the death of Sunday Bada. I was numbed in pain and shock. My work for that day terminated immediately, followed by an explosion of questions. How' Where' When' What' No, Sunday Bada must not, and cannot, be dead. The country needs him too much. People like him should not die like that. How can a young, healthy, very active, recently retired ex-international athlete, and a serving police officer die under such an unusual circumstance' He had not been sick.He was at a marathon meeting that evening at the National Stadium in Lagos with several other sports administrators who testified that, in his usual boisterous self, he had played a very active part in the meeting of that day without any visible sign or indication that anything was wrong with him.They said that he excitedly left the meeting at about 8:30 pm to pick up his wife at the airport. She was to arrive that evening from an overseas trip. The rest of the story was narrated by his cousin.Sunday was driving himself. On the way he felt very uncomfortable with a sharp pain on his side. He parked his car by the side of the road and rang up his cousin who advised him to wait where he was till he arrived. The cousin sped there and met him in his car weak and gasping. He then drove him quickly to a hospital less than 400 metres away. At the entrance of the hospital, before any help could even be sought, the man died. The period between when he left the meeting and when he was pronounced dead was less than two hours! Is that how a true African legend of athletics is supposed to die' Let me tell you about him.I am shocked to learn that he was only 41. Until he retired from active athletics some seven years ago he was one of the true greats of African athletics. In a career that spanned over 16 years he was Nigerian Champion, African Champion and World Indoor Champion at the 400 metres event. At several meets he won Bronze, Silver and Gold medals at national, African, Commonwealth, World and Olympic Games, with the Gold medal won in the 4 by 400 meters relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympics being his greatest achievement.He was a three-time Olympian and set national and African records some of which remain unbroken till this day. Since he retired he has not rested from athletics. He has been very involved at technical and administrative levels in the country. A few months ago, he was elected Secretary-General of the Nigeria Olympians Association in recognition of his enviable place as a former captain of Nigeria's Olympic contingent to the 2000 Games and for his exemplary conduct as one of the successful Olympians whose careers were untainted by any misdemeanour such as use of banned substances.Add to that his other career as a policeman in one of the disciplined forces (the Mobile Police) where he rose to become a Superintendent in charge of Nigeria's busiest land border, the gateway to West Africa at Seme! Such a person should not die so young.That's particularly why his death is so painful. Having acquired and garnered all these experiences, when he was ready, at the dawn of impacting them on the teeming young athletes in the country, death suddenly came calling like a thief in the night! His death is hurtful and truly a great loss to the Police force, to athletics, to the youths, to his friends, family and to the country as a whole.Sunday Bada was my friend, a co-Olympian and colleague in the 'business' of sports development. Perhaps, because we belonged to different generations, we never socialised together enough for me to know him more closely than I did even though we were always interacting at critical times along the national circuit of sports administration.In the early 1990s when my restlessness to impact on Nigerian athletics took me into the realm of athletes' management, he was to become the fifth athlete in my camp. I had registered with both the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), as an athletes' representative and had taken under my wings Chioma Ajunwa (she eventually won Gold at the Olympics) and Charity Opara (she won an Olympic Silver medal). After the Olympics in 1996, I attracted Innocent Asonze (one time Nigeria's fastest man) and Mercy Nku (one time Africa's fastest woman) to my team.But it was Sunday that I was most interested in managing. I invited him to my office for a discussion and our conversation was very frank and very revealing. He was a man who had his neck firmly on his shoulders. He knew exactly what he wanted, how he wanted to achieve them, and how he was going to shape his future. Without telling him that my mission was to recruit him, I praised him for his foresight and for letting me into his dream. I encouraged him to follow his dream in his own way.He proved my conviction right by going on soon after that to become the World's fastest man indoors, and to win an Olympic Silver medal that turned to Gold when the American winning quartet were disqualified several years after the Olympics for doping charges.Nigeria and indeed the whole of Africa mourn a great African athlete. I wish he could just wake up for a moment to glean the world as it mourns him genuinely, with all the encomiums showered on him from around the world by those who knew him in the course of this life. He would have gladly gone back to his 'sleep' and to eternal rest knowing that he was appreciated. That's why, it is my thought this day that Nigeria has a responsibility to its heroes all over the country; to bring them out from time to time and make them serve sports in useful ways, and also to celebrate them so that they are remembered whilst they are alive.Sunday Bada's death is another reminder of our mortality. We must remember there is a whole army of other great African athletes who need to be constantly celebrated so that they can become beacons, mentors and role models for coming generations.From My Mail BagRe: The Return Of El-Kanemi WarriorsThanks for visiting Borno State; and for the beautiful write-up. However, please note that since the present crisis started, no youth corper was killed in Borno. I have been in Maiduguri since the present crisis started and the only case related to a youth Corper, which I can remember, was when one youthCorper was injured during the elections due to an explosion at a polling station in the Maidokiri area of Maiduguri. Youth corpers were killed in the post election violence in some states of the federation, not in Borno State. Check with the NYSC headquarters. For your information, there was nothing like post election violence in Borno State. Please check your facts.Thanks once again for writing a generally true reflection of the situation on ground in Maiduguri. Many people still think the city is a no-go war zone but you have seen the reality and told Nigerians, who care to read.agshettima@gmail.comMy ResponseI am truly sorry if the opinion I expressed happens to be wrong.
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