Samson Emeka Omeruah (14 August 1943 – 4 December 2006) was an air commodore of the

Nigerian Air Force The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is the air branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the youngest branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is one of the largest in Africa, consisting of about 15,000 personnel and aircraft including eight Chinese Che ...

,Nigeria: Samson Emeka Omeruah [1943-2006]
Daily Trust, Retrieved 21 September 2016 he served as governor of

Anambra State Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi State ...

from 1985 to 1987 and as Minister for Information, Youth, Sport and Culture in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

during the regimes of Generals

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

and

Abdulsalami Abubakar Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a Nigerian statesman and retired Nigerian Army general who served as the ''de facto'' President of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff between 1997 and 1998. He succeede ...

. He was a chairman of the

Nigeria Football Association The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's football governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football team in 1949. It joined CAF in 1959 and FIF ...

Nigeria's top football governing body and still regarded as its most successful chair. He was also the minister of Sports when the Nigerian

Golden Eaglets The Nigeria national U-17 football team known as the Golden Eaglets, is the youngest team that represents Nigeria in football The team is the most successful in international football for their age group winning a record, five FIFA U-17 World C ...

took home the FIFA under 17 world championship cup. He returned to the position in 1994, in time to see the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

make their first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and win the 1996 Olympic gold medal. He was one of the proponents of privatizing the game in Nigeria and removing control from state governments. Apart from this, he championed the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) programme of the Buhari regime between January 1983 and August 1985. He was a committed Christian of the Methodist faith and earned a PhD from the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

in addition to degrees from Punjab University, India and

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

in the United States.

Personal life

Omeruah is from Nnono Oboro in Ikwuano local government area of Abia state. His brother

Paul Omeruah Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

was a former military administrator of Kogi state. Omeruah had four children and the second of these is

Chioma Omeruah Chioma Omeruah (born 14 May 1976), better known as Chigul, is a Nigerian comedian, singer and actress who is known for her accents and comedic characters. Life and career Omeruah was born in Lagos to Igbo parents. She moved away whilst still a ...

a.k.a. Chigul who is a linguist and a comedian despite her fathers insistence that she took law as her career.Watch Chigurl talk about chasing dreams
31 December 2014, Uunista, Retrieved 21 September 2016 He died in London after a brief illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omeruah, Sam 1943 births 2006 deaths Nigerian footballers Nigerian Air Force officers Governors of Anambra State Auburn University alumni Federal ministers of Nigeria Nigerian sportsperson-politicians People from Zaria University of Lagos alumni Association footballers not categorized by position