By Segun Odegbami
This is very hard for me to do.
I have been unable to accept the reality.
I cannot start to think and then to write in the past tense about one of the very close and most beloved friends in my life.
I am attempting to add my heavily-laden voice to those of wailing friends and family who must be shedding their own tears as they pay tribute to a very special human being that I was lucky to meet and make my friend almost 20 years ago.
Steve Kojo Mawuenyega and I met over a ‘crazy’ idea that I had – that 4 or 5 West African countries can pull their resources together and organise the 2010 World Cup of football that had been ceded to Africa by FIFA. This was in 2002.
The idea was that the friendly neighbours in the West African sub-region will use the opportunity to host the global event to fast-track and facilitate the actualisation of the vision of the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity, to build a continent that will be united, strong and economically viable enough to compete on all fronts with the rest of the World within a generation. This one was to be an ambitious 7-year project, from 2003 -2010.
It was unthinkable to most people that the greatest single event in the world could come to Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cote D’Ivoire or Cameroon and Nigeria, in a unique multi-nation World Cup hosting arrangement that was unheard of in the world at the time. Yet, it would literarily convert the West African sub-region into a massive construction site of unprecedented scope, a borderless sub-region with a single currency, a common security-apparatus, a common visa, a super-highway and rail system linking the capital cities, a common airline and a common economic and cultural community! In short, the equivalent, almost, of today’s European Union.
Only very few persons in the world caught the vision. After meeting Steve and his group for the first time, he, in particular, became not just a convert but a disciple of the project, my personal friend and a co-traveller on a very eventful journey.
Steve loved big dreams.
This one was such an out-of-this-world-idea that it took the President of FIFA, Mr. Sepp Blatter’s description of the idea as ‘absolutely brilliant and doable’, to convince the Nigerian government to accept the concept and share it at a consultative level with the other 4 countries.
The President of Nigeria in 2002, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, signed the letters addressed to his counterparts, the Presidents of the 4 partner-countries in West Africa, to be delivered by hand. As the major promoter of the idea, I was made to lead the delegation of 8 Nigerian officials to deliver the letters and sell the idea to the countries.
We left Nigeria by road in a convoy of government vehicles and headed to Cotonou in Benin, Lome in Togo, and then Accra in Ghana on our first hop.
In Accra, there was already a team of young, successful Ghanaians, major players in the Ghanaian football, business and diplomatic sectors, set up by President John Kuffour, to receive us.
That was the first time I met Steve Mawuenyega. He was Vice-Chairman of Accra Heart of Oaks FC and a member of the Ghanaian delegation.
The meeting went so well that for the next 9 months, we met intermittently in Accra, Abuja and Lagos to deliberate on the possibilities, the feasibility and viability of hosting the proposed World Cup in West Africa.
Amongst the very high-flying Ghanaian group, Steve was one of those that immediately grasped, appreciated, embraced and, later, ‘owned’ the concept of a multiple-nation World Cup. Today, the rest of the World have woken up and are only just catching up. From the 2026 edition, the World Cup will be hosted by multiple countries. We saw the future first, and Steve was one of the sharp visionaries that first understood and promoted the concept.
Unfortunately, one year into what was an exciting adventure for us all, the project was shot down on the tarmac of implementation by the adverse, unrelated effect of the domestic politics playing out in the leading host country, Nigeria, at the time.
Fortunately, my relationship with Steve had gone beyond the World Cup and was now cemented forever. We became not just very close friends but family as well.
Steve and I gravitated towards each other from our very first meeting.
He was such a dreamer that in business, politics, sports and diplomacy he saw the road ahead well before most others. In those fields, the records of his exploits, his industry and his successes were a testimony and always reflected in his life and style.
I took to Steve like bee to nectar.
He clearly saw the possibilities and prospects of achieving the African dream of the great Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his generation of co-travellers in the continent – Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenyatta of Kenya, Selassie of Ethiopia, Balewa of Nigeria, Senghor of Senegal, and so on, through the power of sports, just as the great Nelson Mandela did in 1995.
Many years later, in 2016, when I decided to contest for the position of FIFA President, Steve, the ever-positive spirit and believer in endless possibilities, led my group of international backers and supporters. He was the first person I shared the idea with, and in his nature, he took over the project and started to run with it. He took me to see every person that mattered in sports and in government in Ghana at the time, and was my loudest voice in the media.
Steve was a genuine Pan-Africanist and patriot. He always talked about his roots, particularly the influence of his father who was a renowned diplomat during the Nkrumah era, I believe. Little wonder he also became an international ambassador, his last assignment being that of Honorary Counsel for Serbia in Ghana, up to the time of his passage.
Steve was smart, very smart. He was tall and dark with beards tinged of with grains of grey. So also were his curly black hair with some silvery greys that gave him a senior’s look and accentuated his handsome features, his clean-looks, his calmness, confidence, classic dress style, soft but very measured and articulate expressions. He had a touch-of-class in everything he did, carried himself with the air of an Aristocrat, a combination of chivalry, royalty and intellectualism.
He was a man of high morals, principles and integrity, of exemplary conduct and good character, a family man to the core.
Outside his family the only other interests I experienced with him were in sports, business and more business, and power politics.
He loved and respected Penny, his beautiful wife, with an undying passion. His three children, Xolasie, Seyram and Elinam, were the centre of his universe. His life revolved around their wellbeing and welfare.
My relationship with Steve strengthened and sustained for almost 20 years since the first day we met.
He was always a devout Christian even though he did nit wear it around him like a garment.
His recent daily, spiritual postings on social media became my morning devotional tonic, and his mastery of the scriptures was a part I did not know about until recently.
I received his daily messages until 3 days to Christmas. His last posting to me was on December 22 when they suddenly stopped coming.
The end of the 2020 festivities and the disruption of normal life by the Coronavirus pandemic were a major distraction, until the sad news came shockingly via a so ial.media platform that my friend and brother, Steve Mawuenyega, had passed on. It was one death that would not sink in, and still has not, even as I write these few words.
In my family, particularly my wife, Oyinda, who was extremely fond of him and of Penelope, we would miss ‘Unclè Steve’ as Oyinda always fondly called him.
Our two families had integrated. We visited each other a few times in Lagos and Accra. He hosted my family during the African Cup of Nations in 2008 in Accra.
We spent one end-of-year together by the Atlantic Ocean beachfront of the La Campagne Tropica Holiday Resort in Lagos. That treat of sun and sand remains one of the most memorable times we shared together. We were hosted by a mutual friend, owner of the resort, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye.
His son, Seyram, now my ‘adopted’ son and friend, is one of the most knowledgeable people I know on the subject of the English Premiership and football in general. He is truly his father’s son, but, whereas Steve was a die-hard Manchester United fan, Seyram chose to support Chelsea FC. Steve never could win an argument between them which was the better team.
Our conversations, Seyram and I, on telephone were always a test of my knowledge of football and my wits. The ‘boy’ is a chip off his father’s block – always a great delight to talk with.
It is extremely hard for me to think that Steve is not around any more to pick up my calls with his ‘ my broda’ salutation; that he will not be around to pick me up at the Kotoka International airport and take me to any one of his favourite hotels, and food joints in Accra (he knows all the best ones), and to have conversations with a whole legion of people in high places that he knew and interacted with in his incredible social engagements. Once we drove to Tema to celebrate Penny’s birthday in her absence (she has travelled to the Camwroon) with Penny’s mum and her beautiful sister(s) and their special cuisine and uncommon hospitality.
I refuse to be sad as I think about Steve and write this. Steve was a jolly good fellow, a great guy, a great man, and a great friend. He would not want too much grief around his home, and would want to be remembered and celebrated for his contributions to humanity and the good life that he lived during his sojourn on earth.
I believe that the angels will recognise one of their own, and will line up by the entrance into heaven, to welcome him as he arrives home to his Father, the Creator of the Universe.
Travel well and peacefully, my friend and brother, Stevo!
