By C. DON ADINUBA

The legendary goalkeeper Emmanuel Okala marked his 71st birthday anniversary on Tuesday, May 18.

Okala manned the goalpost for Enugu Rangers International FC in the years after the Nigeria-Biafra war, and thus helped to lift the spirit of the Eastern Nigerian people.

He was the goalkeeper for the Green Eagles of Nigeria when the team won her first continental trophy as the gold medalists at the 2nd All-Africa Games staged in Lagos in 1973. In his time, Rangers International became the most dreaded team in Nigeria, winning the coveted Nigerian Challenge Cup on three consecutive years from 1974 to 1977.

Okala was the first ever winner of the African Footballer of the Year Award in 1978 as adjudged by the African Sports Journalists Union (ASJU).

He won five National League titles, four Challenge cups, and the 1977 African Cup Winners cup in 1977 with Rangers.

Born in Ogbe-Otu, Onitsha, in Anambra State on May 17, 1951, Emmanuel Oguejiofor Okala started playing as a left-winger before playing in goal where he conquered the world.

He retired from the national team, the Green Eagles, in 1980 after winning the gold medal in the African Nations Cup played in Lagos, Nigeria.

In his heyday, he was lionized with praise songs such as “No Okala, no Rangers!” and “No Okala, no Green Eagles!”

The journalist Uzor Maxim Uzoatu recalls meeting a Congolese soccer fan in Pittsburgh, USA, who asked if the goalkeeper Emmanuel Okala is still alive. When told Okala is alive and thriving, the Congo man said: “Okala is the greatest ever goalkeeper that ever lived because in a match played in Brazzaville on July 13, 1975 between Congo and Nigeria in which the Nigerian striker (Sunny Oyarekhua) scored in the first minute, the rest of the match was played inside the Nigerian penalty-box with our rampaging Congolese players peppering Okala with all kinds of shots. Okala could not be beaten. Nigeria won the match 1-0!”

I raise 71 toasts to the Living Legend Emmanuel Okala!

•C. Don Adinuba is immediate past Anambra Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba

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