The spirit in the camp of Abkama FC of Maiduguri was very high when the players and officials left the city to honour an away game fixture In Nationwide League Division Two against Gombe Lions in Gombe state. The players and officials of the team were very optimistic of a favourable result.
Sadly, their vehicle was involved in a fatal accident that claimed the life of Umar Musa Bature, a player with the team. Some other players and officials suffered various degrees of injuries, but were fortunate not to have been dwelt with the cruel fate that came upon Bature, who died and left behind his beautiful wife, pregnant with their second child.
Back home in Maidiguri, Hauwa Bature was expecting to hear the news that her husband and his teammates had arrived to Gombe for the crucial encounter, but it was a devastating information that her husband had gone on a journey of no return that was delivered to her. She was shattered and her world appeared to have crumbled. Thick darkness of sorrow had enveloped her family . She became worried on how she would cope with her pregnancy and also be able to take care of her family in the sudden demise of her husband, their breadwinner.
Her fears were allayed and her worries disappeared. Her face that has not reflected joy and laughter since the death of her husband last year began to glow again, as her heart got thrilled with the information that Nationwide League One (NLO) in partnership with Standard Alliance Insurance Plc will pay the premium death benefit of her husband to help her in taking care of two children left behind by Umar, her husband.
Everything was confirmed last week Thursday when Mohammed Alkali led board of NLO and Mrs Haduza Hamza, the Regional Manager of Standard Alliance Insurance stormed Maiduguri to pay the Assurance benefits of her husband to her and other players and officials that were victims of the crash.
The brief event happened in a jiffy during the half time break period of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL ) game between Elkanemi Warriors and Akwa United, which ended 2-0 in favour of the host team. However , a much bigger victory in the welfare of players in the Nigerian league was witnessed when Mohammed Alkali , the chairman of NLO handed over the dummy cheque of N500,000.00 ( Five hundred thousand naira ) to the widow of Umar Musa Bature at the stadium. Babagana Kaali, the chairman of Borno State Football Association in solidarity with other board members of the NLO also joined in the presentation of cheques to the players and officials affected in the ill-fated crash last year.
To the amazement of all present at the event, the recipients of the insurance benefits all received their credit alerts via text messages less than 10 minutes after receiving the dummy cheques. It was a show of honesty and transparency from NLO and Standard Alliance Insurance and these fulfilments have further demonstrated the importance of having a comprehensive insurance packages by the clubs which have always been emphasized by the NLO at the beginning of every season.
Mohammed Alkali said that the league just wanted to let the world knows the importance of welfare of our players in the league as they are the main products and actors in the league, adding it is therefore necessary for these players and their families to be taken care of , whether dead or alive, as it was in the case of Umar Bature and despite the fact that NLO is the third tier of the league in Nigeria , the welfare of the players is paramount in the NLO.
“NLO is fully committed to the welfare of the players in the League, not just the administration or organisation of the league . The welfare of the players is very important and without the players , there will be no NLO, ” Mohammed Alkali said.
“Therefore , we have to make sure that we have good insurance package for the players in NLO in case of death, injuries , accidents etc. We do not pray for death to come , but if death comes unannounced like the tragic death of Umar Bature , there is nothing we can do than to pay the insurance benefits in case of death to the family of the deceased player,” he added.
” We know that the players in the NLO are amateur players, but the truth is that there is nothing like amateur lives or professional lives in case of death and that was the reason we insisted that every club fully insured their players in the NLO and we are glad that the wife and family of late Umar Musa Bature were given the assurance benefits of the players, ” Alkali said further.
Carrying her toddler son and holding the older second son on the hand was Hauwa Umar Bature, the young widow of the late footballer, who radiated hope and very optimistic that God is capable of taking good care of her and the children. She was grateful for the kind gestures from NLO and the Standard Alliance Insurance.
“I just want to thank Almighty Allah for using NLO to be of blessing to my family, also the company for paying the Assurance benefits of my late husband to me. It has not been easy since he died. I know nothing can bring my husband back to life again, but i know that Allah will not abandon me and the children. I also want to thank all the people that have helped me in one way or the other since my husband died,” Hauwa Bature said.
