.Special tribute By Segun Adenuga

We have cried, we have mourned and we have stopped mourning and crying and now set on the path of celebrating the life and times of Nigeria’s patriotic soccer impresario, Henry Nwosu (MON).

I knew the late Henry Nwosu from his secondary school days at St. Finbars College, Akoka, Yaba under the guidance of the famous Irish-born missionary, Rev. Father, Joseph Dennis Slattery.

Father Slattery, who had earlier performed well at St. Gregory’s College, Obalende in the early 50s had a bunch of stripling teenagers with passion for football, in which Henry Nwosu was one.

As a school-boy soccer whizkid, Henry Nwosu started attracting attention of football lovers both inside and outside his school compound. He had first played for a flourishing local outfit Johnson White together with his boyhood friends like the big boss Late Stephen Keshi, Franklin Howard, Sunday Edema Benson, Obe Adedeji and Brown Okegbe, who was a goalkeeper.

As a football connoisseur and sports journalist of note, I drew the attention of my colleague, Joe Audu of the Evening Times fame for an early exposure of the lithe soccer sensation Henry Nwosu. Interestingly, Joe Audu was a good friend of Mr. Kpotie, one of the famous lecturers in St. Finbars at the time. The year 1980 was Nigeria’s glorious football period as we prepared to host the Nations Cup for the first time, and also sent our junior players to partake in an International Soccer Championships in the Scandinavian country of Sweden under the sponsorship of Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), with Mr. Spencer Tony Eke leading. 

The name of Henry Nwosu came up as one of the players to be recruited for the GOTHIA Cup in Goteborg, Sweden, before a dramatic turn of events decided otherwise. As we, members of YSFON, Tony Eke, Kayode Abiade and Dokun Abidoye were dilly-dallying or procrastinating on what time to invite Henry, we received a shocker from the country’s football authority, NFA, extending an invitation to the pint-sized Henry Nwosu to join the Green Eagles – thus becoming the second youngest Nigeria’s soccer-rising star after Richard Wilson of Kings College, Lagos, who in 1938 featured for Nigeria against Gold Coast, now Ghana, in a ceremonial match dedicated to the opening of Nigeria’s First Football Stadium, Onikan, Lagos. Though Henry Nwosu could not join YSFON, but the team left the

country with a set of young footballers like Taju Disu, Alphonse Akhahon, Tarila Okovowanta, Christopher Anigala, Muyiwa Oshuntolu, Femi Olukanni, Paul Okoku, Patrick Udoh, Monday Onyekachi, Dipreye Tebowie, Aliu and Felix Egogo.

The team, under the supervision of Nigeria’s 1949 UK Tourist player, Peter “Diamond-toed” “Baby” Anieke as Coach, played a scintillating brand of soccer and won the tournament, with Felix Egogo scoring most of the goals.

A chronological data on Henry Nwosu football career revealed he had played 56 Grade A matches for his country, spanning a period of one decade, 1980 – 1990. He made his debut on 26, January 1980 in a friendly encounter against the Lone Star of Liberia at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, where Segun Odegbami secured Nigeria’s 1 – 0 victory.

Henry Nwosu, being the youngest player in the squad was carried soldier-high by fans at the end of the match. 

A week later, to be precise on 2nd February, Nwosu received the nod to feature for Nigeria in another friendly match, this time, against the dreaded Indomitable-Lions of Cameroon at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, which resulted in a goalless stalemate. 

Then came Henry’s real baptism of fire when coach father TIKO listed him in the squad that would play Tanzania in the first of five matches Nigeria were to play in the finals of the 1980 Nations Cup. Henry discharged himself creditably and earned enviable plaudits from the appreciative Nigerian soccer fans as the country cruised to a 3 – 1 victory, courtesy Muda Lawal, Ifeanyi Onyedika and Segun Odegbami’s goals.

Henry consequently became a member of the victorious Green Eagles that won Nigeria’s first soccer laurel in the Nation’s Cup history, and became a proud owner of a duplex, courtesy, the Federal Government of Nigeria with Shehu Shagari as President. 

Henry, a footballer of leisurely excellence, played the game in generational format, playing with famous brothers in Nigerian football at different periods of his storied career. Can you imagine Henry playing with Emmanuel Okala and Patrick Okala, Segun and Wole Odegbami, Alloy and Andrew Atuegbu, Monday and Augustine Eguavoen.. Incredible.

I have fond memory of a day, to be precise, 11, July 1987 when Henry Nwosu turned to a ‘dribbling magician’, spraying passes with effortless ease and making the National Stadium turf looking much bigger than its normal size for the bemused Liberians who bowed to a humiliating 4-1 defeat, through Samson Siasia’s hat-trick and his Nwosu’s scissors-kick that increased Nigeria’s goal tally to four. That was during an Olympic qualifying game in Lagos. If the year 1987 was a particularly good year for Nigerian football, Henry Nwosu should have the lion share of the glory, because he led the Green Eagles as skipper and performed creditably in ten consecutive matches played around the continent.

I have had the opportunity of watching the pair of Henry Nwosu and Wole Odegbami, the duo of Henry Nwosu and Chibuzor Ehilegbu, the telepathic understanding between him and Fatai Amoo, the to-me-to-you ball play between him and Friday Ekpo…. And it all boiled down to free-flowing attacking football.

A fine passer of the ball, Henry could conjure a goal from an impossible angle as he did during one of his tough matches whilst playing for ACB in the final of Lagos State challenge Cup in 1985. 

A notable football figure with Stade Abidjan of Cote D’Ivoire and a familiar face with Racing Baffoussam of Cameroon in Yaounde and Douala, Henry played soccer to an appreciable level, leading Benin City NNB to beat Sekondi Haasacas of Ghana in Accra for the WAFU CUP. In a career spanning over a decade, 1980 – 1991, Henry Nwosu  played in 24 Nations Cup Matches, 10 Olympic games matches, five (5) world cup matches and 15 friendly matches, scoring six goals before hanging his boots in 1991. At the twilight of his career, Henry Nwosu still commanded the respect of the football aficionados when he sponsored and played for “South Africa” in the 20th Edition of the Ajegunle Mock Nations Cup final in 1994, beating another team with the moniker Botswana to win the Cup. Hey, where were you when Henry Nwosu played for the darling club of Lagos, Stationery Stores in an Oba Cup duel.

I cannot, and I would not end this tribute without showering encomiums on the Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Governor, Olusola Babajide Sanwo-Olu who, at the time of need, came to support Henry Nwosu. I did not know how supportive the Governor was, but Henry Nwosu told me I should thank the Governor for him and his family while he was alive. 

Henry’s remains would be laid to mother earth at his home in Imo State on 6th June, 2026. 

Henry the great sleep well in the bosom of the Lord

Until we meet to part no more.

Segun Adenuga is a veteran journalist and sport encyclopedia