Dr Cairo Ojougboh, a former Member of Parliament from Delta State in Nigeria, died suddenly while watching the match between his country and South Africa, in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN/ AFCON 2023) takes place in Côte d’Ivoire.
The politician, who was also the leader of the All Progressives Congress, was reported to have died on Wednesday in the evening, One of the people close to the politician said “Cairo Ojougboh, who used to be a medical doctor, died during the match between Nigeria and South Africa”.
He said, “The problem arose when they gave a penalty to the Nigerian team. Dr Ojougboh is said to have screamed loudly, and immediately fell to the ground due to a sudden cardiac arrest, South Africa scored a goal. As of press time, there was no official statement from the family of the deceased about his death.
But the Secretary of the Agbor Community Union, Mr Augustine Ekamagule, confirmed the news of the death of the politician from Delta State.
“According to the President of the ‘Agbor Community Union’, Laurence Onyeche, Dr Ojougboh died after falling in Abuja, while he was watching the match between Nigeria and Africa”. He said that a member of Ojougboh’s family called him at about 9:00pm, Thursday, February 8, 2024, and told him that Cairo Ojougboh had passed away.
He said, “That person from his family, said that Ojougboh was watching the ball, immediately South Africa scored a goal, he screamed loudly, and immediately fell to the ground. Everything was done to help him breathe again, but it didn’t work. At nine o’clock at night, the family announced his death.”
Friends of the deceased and fellow politicians, immediately started sending messages on social media expressing their grief over his death.
President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria and Atiku Abubakar who campaigned for the position of President in the last election, representing the ‘People’s Democratic Party’, have issued declarations showing their respect for Dr Ojougboh.
