Former Nigerian captain, Sylvanus Okpala, has described the late Henry Nwosu as one of the finest footballers ever to grace the game, saying that the former New Nigerian Bank and ACB of Lagos star was way above his time.

Okpala and many other former internationals, including David Adiele, Emma Osigwe and Frank Onwuachi, were present when Nwosu was laid to rest on Saturday at his country home in Umukwoma, Naze, Imo State.

His interment followed a funeral mass and a lying-in-state at the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri.

The burial rites spanned several days, honouring his contributions to the Green Eagles and his historic 1980 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) victory.

Part of the rites was a night of tributes at Saint Finbarr’s College, Akoka, Lagos, on June 4; a service of songs at his hometown in Naze, Owerri, Imo State and a novelty football match featuring Lagos Legends and Imo Legends at Dan Anyiam Stadium before the interment.

Okpala, who was also present at the service of songs in Lagos, told The Guardian that Nigeria lost in Henry Nwosu one of the greatest gifts God bestowed on the country.

“I started playing for the national team at the same time as Nwosu. We were the first set of under-20s between 1978 and 1979.

“In that team was Stephen Keshi, Bright Omokaro, Humphrey Edoboh, Frankline Howard, Edema Benson and some others.

“I was the captain of that team, which was Nigeria’s first U-20 side. We didn’t make it to the U-20 World Cup as we lost to Guinea in the final qualifying game.

“Henry Nwosu was a mathematician; he was extraordinary as a footballer. But he exhibited only about 45 per cent of his talent, and people felt that he was a fantastic player.

“You can imagine what he would have been if he had played up to 75 or 80 per cent of his talent. He was recorded as one of the best players to be produced in Nigeria.

“Nwosu was in the class of Messi and Maradona. He could dribble inside the box because he was a tight-knit player. But one thing that made him different from Messi and Maradona was that his right foot was equally as good as his left.”

Reminiscing on his first meeting with Nwosu, Okpala said: “If you saw him play fully, you would understand that I am not exaggerating.

“I remember our first training session when we were doing screening in 1978… You know, he only played for 10 minutes, and the coaches told him to sit outside because he showed them what surprised them.

“They only brought him back to training when they had selected the rest of the team. That screening featured more than 40 players from across the country, and Nwosu was the first to be picked out.”

Okpala recalled that more than half of the 1979 U-20 team made it to the national team, with about five of them going on to captain the Green Eagles.

He said, “Keshi captained the Green Eagles the longest; Nwosu and Omokaro also led the team at different times; I did too, leading the team to the 1988 Olympics and many other games.”