Heartland Football Club has confirmed the death of head coach Samson Obi who died after an auto accident.
In a statement issued in Owerri, the Imo State capital and made available to newsmen on Saturday, the club’s media officer, Tunde Liadi, confirmed the incident.
Liadi stated that the accident occurred at Okwelle in Onuimo Local Government Area of Imo at about 4pm on Friday.
According to him, the accident occured when their Coaster bus collided with a stationary truck while trying to avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle.
There were at least 20 members of the team in the bus and some players sustained various degrees of injuries.
The team was reportedly on their way for the TICO/SELECT Ifeanyi Ekwueme Preseason Tournament taking place in Abakaliki, Ebonyi, when the accident happened.
According to Liadi’s statement, the driver tried his best to avert the accident, but the impact of the collision caused a sudden shock to the coach, which made him lose consciousness, with a slight injury on his right leg at the time he was taken out of the badly damaged bus.
Obi and other injured players were immediately rushed to a nearby private hospital for medical treatment.
Liadi expressed regret that the highly respected coach later passed on while the medical team was making a frantic effort to resuscitate him.
“The heartbreaking day saw the Heartland FC team departing the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, for the pre-season tournament with enthusiasm at around 3:30 p.m. in three vehicles.
“At about some minutes past 4 p.m., one of the vehicles rammed into a carelessly parked truck while attempting to avoid an oncoming vehicle.
“Words alone cannot fully capture how the news of his death has thrown everyone at the club into deep mourning because of how precious he was to the club”, he stated.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that Obi‘s remains have since been deposited at the Federal University Teaching Hospital (FUTH), Owerri morgue, while the injured players were referred to the same hospital for proper medical care.
Source: Vanguard Online
