By Harry Iwuala
I had to search for a picture of Jerry Okorodudu (late now) with a cheerful look. In all the internet search, this was the closest and the reason isn’t hard to decipher.
Jerry had it rough in this world from his amateur boxing times when we believed he was robbed in an Olympics quarter finals fight against a South Korean to when he alleged he was hit with a juju fist in a fight with Joe Lasisi, it was always a life with odds stacked against him.
To even work as a boxing coach was another fight to the extent that he once travelled for Games as part of the national contingent but was denied some allowance. I’m not sure if he still got paid after leading several campaigns to get his due.
For us as Sports Journalists in those years, Jerry and late Brown Ebewele were our comrades in exposing corruption in the Sports Federations and the supervising ministry. Agreed sometimes, there were elements of furthering their personal interest in the revelations but it often turned out that others, especially athletes benefited from such stories. Ebewele was luckier including the fact he had University degrees that enabled him get appointed into higher offices by his state government in Edo. Not so for Jerry, it was always a struggle to keep body and soul together as he was never offered a full time coaching job either by the Sports Ministry or his Delta State but always ad-hoc jobs.
Who would believe that an Olympian could not have access to healthcare and how was it not possible for us to raise ₦1.6m to pay for the required surgery? Why would a hospital refuse to save life first and seek payment after? What exactly does the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) do except to play politics of fight for office and collect International Olympic Committee (IOC) grants for self aggrandisement?
To borrow the popular social media retort; Nigeria happened to Jerry.
So, it ends for the flamboyant jerry curled Jerry Okorodudu, the guy we recall tried to add glamour to Pro boxing in Nigeria but came short. In death, there’s no pain, no suffering and all struggles get buried. May he truly find rest.
….A sports journalist, a former globacom staff and now a sports marketer with NPFL wrote in from Lagos.
