{"id":159190,"date":"2025-04-13T10:18:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T09:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns"},"modified":"2025-04-15T13:13:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T12:13:04","slug":"christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns","title":{"rendered":"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Football Team, the Green Eagles, Christian Chukwu, as the loss of a national and international football icon.<\/p>\n<p>Akpabio stated this in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom.<\/p>\n<p>According to Akpabio, \u201cWe mourn the loss of a Nigerian football icon, Christian Chukwu. As a pioneering defender and former Green Eagles captain, he etched his name in the annals of Nigerian football history. His leadership, skill, and dedication inspired countless fans and paved the way for future generations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m deeply saddened by his passing. He was a legendary Nigerian footballer, and his contributions to Nigerian football are immeasurable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn behalf of the Nigerian Senate, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and the entire football community. May God grant them the strength to bear this irreparable loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMay Christian Chukwu\u2019s soul rest in perfect peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Football Team, the Green Eagles, Christian Chukwu, as the loss of a national and international football icon. Akpabio stated this in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom. According to Akpabio, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":159189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[621,2330,254],"class_list":["post-159190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-akpabio","tag-christian-chukwu","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Foo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Foo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-13T09:18:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-15T12:13:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"559\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-13T09:18:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-15T12:13:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns\"},\"wordCount\":183,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Akpabio\",\"Christian Chukwu\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns\",\"name\":\"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-13T09:18:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-15T12:13:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Foo ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":559,\"caption\":\"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns - Nigeria","description":"President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Foo ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns","og_description":"President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Foo ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-04-13T09:18:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-15T12:13:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":559,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns","datePublished":"2025-04-13T09:18:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-15T12:13:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns"},"wordCount":183,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg","keywords":["Akpabio","Christian Chukwu","Nigeria"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns","name":"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-13T09:18:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-15T12:13:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the death of the former captain of Nigeria\u2019s Men\u2019s National Foo ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744527252.414813.jpg","width":1000,"height":559,"caption":"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/christian-chukwu-we-have-lost-a-football-icon-akpabio-mourns#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christian Chukwu: We have lost a football icon \u2013 Akpabio mourns"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}