The cheery news was given by the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Melvin Amaju Pinnick who has picked all the former Nigeria international’s hospital bills and relocated him to a better equipped one.
‘’By next week, Oruma will move into my house before they finish furnishing the three bedroom flat where he would stay’’, the NFF President confirmed to us. His story is a pathetic one and we cannot allow him to die. I am rendering this help to him from one Warri man to another.
We are Warri Ambassadors’’. Pinnick said that the former Golden Eaglets’ 1993 FIFA U-17 World Cup winning captain was recovering well. ‘’All we need to do is to show him love. I ate with him. He’s stable. The NFF will include him to play a role in our award ceremony coming up soon.
Thereafter, we’ll include him in the U-20 national team. Come June, we’ll also include him in the contingent to Russia to cheer the Super Eagles’’. I’m still talking with some of the clubs he played for to allow him come and do a coaching course with them’’. Pinnick’s personal Foundation are footing the bills for his rehabilitation.
Oruma featured for Nigeria’s U-17, U-23 and the senior national team, winning the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1993, the Olympic gold in 1996 and two bronze medals at the African Cup of Nations in 2002 and 2006. At club level, he starred for RC Lens, Nancy, Samsunspor, Nimes, Servette, Sochaux, Marseille and Guingamp, and Kavala FC of Greece before he retired on November 26, 2010.
The NFF President who led members of his exco in another landmark agreement with WAPIC Insurance prayed that Super Eagles players could maximise the benefits of having WAPIC to have a better future through proper pension fund.
‘’ On the World Cup preparation, Amaju showered praises on Sports Minister Dalung and the Federal Government for their massive support and creating an enabling environment for football stability and prosperity in Nigeria.
(VANGUARD)