He was a sports writing legend and a veritable football administrator of extraordinary savvy. His penchant for truth was uncommon in the annals of sport-reporting in Nigeria. He was known as Mr. Truth by many Ghanaians, especially Mr. Kofi Badu, the iconic Sports Editor of the Ghana Times in the 1950s.
When the news of the demise of one of Nigeria’s greatest sportswriters, Peter Chukwuma Osugo at the ripe age of 92 came to me from another celebrated sports icon, Chief Jonathan Ogufere, I could not but remain resolute in the saying that “death is a necessary end”.
Born in Port-Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State in 1929, Osugo had his secondary education in Minna, Niger State, and also attended the famous St. Gregory College in Lagos.
As a geological surveyor in Kaduna, he was appointed as Technical Assistant, analyzing rocks, courtesy of his brilliance in chemistry during his college days. He took an early interest in politics in Kaduna and became leader of the Zikist Movement, Kaduna Chapter alongside foremost labour leader Michael Imoudu.
A protégé of Dr. Azikwe, Osugo joined West African Pilot, the tabloid established by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1937 as a political tool. He was discovered during a sports competition hosted by the Great Zik of Africa at which he was asked to stand-in for the sports editor. Following his brilliant reportage of the competition, he was asked by Zik to be moved to the sports desk.
Fondly called PECOS, an acronym from Peter Chukwuma Osugo, he became very popular with his weekly column on the Daily Times, first as a sports editor and later as editor Sunday Times.
As a 16-year-old pupil of St. David’s School, Lafiaji, Lagos, I was among the crowd of over 20,000 that watched the annual Jalco Cup involving Nigeria and Ghana at Onikan on October 25, 1958. It was there, Osugo displayed honesty by jettisoning rabid nationalism in calling a spade a spade by reporting what actually happened at the match.
A Briton, Basil Stallard was the referee of the annual JALCO CUP between the two British colonies. The referee was accused by Ghana of refusing two of the four goals scored by the Black Stars. He was also castigated for sending Ghana Captain Charles Kumi Gyamfi out of the game for merely asking Stallard why he disallowed his team’s goal scored by Mohammed Salisu. It was only Osugo amongst the horde of Nigerian sports journalists at the match, who in his report of October 26, 1958, in the Sunday Times, that said it as it was when he castigated the shoddy manner Basil Stallard handled the match. The Sunday Times headlined its story on the match “Nigeria beat Ghana but it was a hollow victory”. ‘Only one Nigerian goal should have been allowed. Ghana in my opinion won this match,” Osugo remarked.
An admirable football administrator, Peter Osugo became the Team Manager of Nigeria’s “Red Devil” and changed the name to Green Eagles in the early 1960s, and led the team to the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, playing a pulsating 3-3 draw against Pele-led Brazil. He was also the Team Manager of the famous Stationery Stores of Lagos, where he transformed the local club to the Zenith of African football, giving the club a cherishing nick-name “Flaming Flamengos”.
When he was saddled with the responsibility of handling Stationery Stores in the mid-1960s, he recruited players like Peter Fregene, Sam Opone, Jerry Azinge, and Abu Malaya from the sensational Amukpe F.C. of Sapele to bolster his club.
May his gentle soul have eternal repose.