By Tony Eluemunor
First, Mr. Nkemchor Emmanuel Chukwuma Osu, simply known as Nkem Osu , doesn’t in any way look like someone who is up to 70 years old. The burden of that age is far away from him…at least as far as signs of age on a normal human frame is concerned. His face is still radiant, especially when lit up by his trademark smile. His feet, though they won’t be nimble on the football field as they once were, look strong in movement as his gait is straight. Nkem Osu might one day do the world a favour by telling us from which fountain of perpetual youth he has been drinking from.
Second, many may actually be wondering how Nkem Osu should be not much older than 70 years old…and they would be right. The truth is that the man under reference is among those who acted or are wiser than their age. This is true for he took off rather early in life, mingling with people much older than him.
Third, he is a man of many parts; a journalist’s journalist, a retired footballer, an accomplished sports commentator, sports administrator of note, PR guru to many top flight entrepreneurs and bureaucrats, a politician of note, etc, etc. Yes, Nkem Osu is the sort of man you could confidently say any day that he has done this and done that – and he must have done them exceedingly well.
Hey, may we please pan back to the beginning. Mr. Osu from Issele-Uku town in the Aniocha-North Local Government Area of Delta State, came into the world on 21 April 1955. As his father was a teacher, it was not surprising that Nkem started school much earlier than his mates; when he was just four years old. That early in life, too, he started listening to the news and sports commentary on the radio. Not surprisingly too, he was usually on hand to watch inter-house and inter-school sports competitions and football matches and from there he became a remarkable authority in the school sports history of the Midwest and Bendel states of the late 1960s to the 1990s.
That Nkem Osu later played competitively at the national level helped to make him an oracle of Nigerian football. Many Nigerians do remember that Bendel Insurance Football Club of Benin was at its height in the closing years of the 1970s decade – winning the 1978 Challenge Cup and the 1979 National League title. What is largely forgotten is that in 1977 the P&T Rockets of Benin caused an earthquake by defeating Bendel Insurance in the quarer final stage of the challenge cup state level competition at the Warri stadium…and Nkem Osu was in that rare team which bested the much-storied Bendel Insurance.
Before then, he had even captained the Aniocha-Oshimili local governments teams which was based in Ogwashi-Uku. Nkem said “the goalkeeper of that LGA team, Dr. Austin Izagbo alias Jaguar, later Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development during Ibrahim Kefa’s administration, 1994 to 1996, not only watched out for me every time but made me consultant on Sports Media, especially during Kefa’s Tennis Classics and the Abacha/Useni National Hockey tournaments.
Izagbo was goalkeeper, I was right full back defender alongside the remarkable and dependable Austin Ikechukwu from Idumuje Ugboko, alias Broken Bottle, the left full back defender, now Dallas, Texas, USA-based. Austin Ikechukwu was a talent destined for the national team but he left for the US to further his education and prepare a better life for himself and family.”
Nkem Osu had his primary school education at the Local Authority Primary School, Issele-Uku, attended the Pilgrim Baptist Grammar School Issele-Uku between 1967and 1972 and the Anglican Grammar School Ubulu-Uku, 1973-1974. So, he was in secondary school in the heady days of school sports in Nigeria and he became an authority on the sports records of that era and the sports boys and girls who set the sports grounds on fire with their stellar performances in those days. Of course, Mr. Osu was a star performer in the football field within that period as he became a star in his own right owing to his wonderful performance despite his young age and slight body build.
On leaving school, journalism enchanted Mr. Osu’s very soul; and that didn’t happen by accident. His father Jerome Jechukwu Osu, of Ogboli quarters, Issele-Uku, a renowned educationist for decades, used to tell Nkem and siblings to monitor the radio news when he was away from home or was going to the bathroom. So, from a very early age Nkem knew the wonders of radio news and sports announcements as he was glued to the radio as his father monitored the local radio stations and the BBC news announcements and sports programmes. Nkem later ended up playing football at the topmost level and he would later be a sports commentator.
Mr. Nwosu holds a HND Diploma (with Distinction) in Mass Communication. Earlier, he had earned a Diploma in Journalism at the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, Ogba- Lagos.
Though Mr. Osu has been this and that (a businessman, PR guru, political aide to various top politicians, it is in journalism that he made his most heightened mark. His path with your columnist crossed in the newsroom of Grapevine Magazine, which has now been rested. I was the Editor there and he was in charge of sports. Yet, it remains ever etched on my mind that when I wanted the very first political reportage that would showcase the magazine to the world, it was Nkem Osu who knew the source that would give us the most sizzling insider details on Nigeria’s leader of that era, Gen. Sani Abacha. Nkem and I took off for that Army General’s residence by 9:PM and returned to the office by 3: 00 AM with satisfaction written all over our faces
Nkem Osu cherishes his role as Chief Press Secretary/ Adviser on Media to the Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, 2011-2014. One day, while I was on a visit to Asaba, the late Mr. Sunny Ofili, a friend I met in the United States of America where I “roomed him” for three months, invited me to meet with the Speaker, Chief Victor Ochei.
Though Ochei’s Chief of Staff refused me entry into the speaker’s inner office that day, it was a great consolation to me that I saw Nkem Osu in the outer office, resplendent in a blue-coloured sharp suit and shiny shoes.
It would take almost 20 years for me to actually see Engr. Ochei face to face; we met when he visited Chief Ibori’s Abuja home.
Ochei, rather than to earth, said he had heard very much about me from Sunny Ofili and read me avidly. I told him that Sunny often sought my opinion about most of the things he did for Chief Ochei as the then Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and that Sunny had even discussed the project that had not taken off before he died in a car accident; the Midwest Herald Newspaper. He wondered why Sunny Offili didn’t bring me to his office, and I replied that Sunny attempted to do so but his Chief of Staff decided otherwise.
It is likely that the reader never knew of Hon. Nkem Osu, the politician. But he was once the Secretary to Aniocha North Local Government. That was from October 2007 to May 2008.
Mr. Osu’s journalism career took off from Radio Nigeria/Bendel Broadcasting Service Benin-City as a Studio Manager which he combined with making live broadcasts. He also handled production of sports and features programmes, etc; November 1977-November 1982. He was at Nuel Ojei Holdings Limited Ikeja, Lagos, as Public Relations Officer, 1983-1988 but joined African Concord Magazine as Researcher/ Reporter, 1991-1992. He served at Champion Newspapers Isolo, Lagos, as Sports Journalist November 1993-October 1996. He was at the 8th All-Africa Games Organising Committee (COJA) Feb-Dec 2003 as Secretary, Armed Forces Project Unit. As a sports administrator, he was Chairman, Delta State Volleyball Association 2000-2003.
Yet, one national assignment which fills Nkem Osu’s heart with joy is his role as Nigeria Olympic Committee, Media Officer/Consultant, Nigerian Contingent at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games May-October 2000.
While it would be evening in Australia it would be morning in Nigeria
and Mr. Osu would be dishing out news and tidbits fresh and hot from the Olympic pre-training and Olympics venue. In fact, he actually lived in the Olympic Village with the sports contingent. Oh yes, he also cherishes his role in the FIFA U-20 Football Tournament; he was Announcer, at the Lagos venue which hosted the opening and final matches of the tournament at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. November 1998-April 1999. So, the entire world heard the voice of this remarkable man who has served his nation remarkably.
In all, Nkem Osu’s stint with media reporting and writing spans over four decades, with incredible experiences in the print, electronic, marketing and the new media spheres of journalism. His advent began in 1977 with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Benin-City, during which his resourcefulness and resilience became his tools to the fore. In five years, his incursions into the various departments of the renowned broadcast medium, made him a reputable Studio Manager in the Production Department, an astute Sports Producer and Commentator in the Features/Outside Broadcast Department, and an overall perceptive Radio Programme Producer.
Nkem Osu edited, produced and published the Nigeria Olympic Committee News, a quarterly news publication between 1998 through 2002, and earned his appointment as Media Officer of the Nigerian Contingent to Sydney 2000 Olympics in Australia.
What has not been on record is that Mr. Osu has served as the unsung source for the journalists who write on Midwest/Bendel and Eastern Region/ East Central states school sports from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Nkem would reel out names and schools and sports events, not forgetting the champions and their rivals. When I was writing about Mr. Clement Okwufulueze (Piccolo), a member of Nigeria’s 1971 Academicals, I contacted Mr. Nkem Osu who told me that St. Anthony’s College, Ubulu-Uku which later emerged Mid-West secondary school football champions in 1969 defeated Ika Grammar School, Agbor 1 -0. Please wait for this – that Ika Grammar School’s goal keeper in that football match left for Lagos for his HSC and was Nigerian Academicals goalkeeper in 1971. He gave me the goalkeeper’s name and his home town- Mercilus Obinatu, from Obiaruku, Delta State, alias Thunder Catcher. There’s a lesson there; Ika Grammar School had one of the best teams in the Mid-West State that year.
Now, your columnist says thank you Nkem Osu for your labour of love to both journalism and sports over the decades. You have always delivered whenever I disturbed you about peoples and events concerning school sports in Midwest/Bendel and East-Central states, of that long ago era when records were not well-kept. Nigerian journalism would have been poorer without you.
On the magic behind his ageless looks, Nkem Osu said: “I Live One Day At A Time”.
* Tony Eluemunor is a journalist.
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