President of the NFF and FIFA Council Member, Mr Amaju
Melvin Pinnick stated that the prolific sports journalist carved a bold niche
for himself in the profession,
Pinnick also described the icon as having made a profound
impression on the terrain as he tutored and mentored those who came to be the
forebears of the following decades and left giant footprints in the sands of
time.
“Anyone in the line of football, nay sports knew Pastor (Dr)
Sunny Ojeagbase. He was the authentic legend of sports writing and sports
publishing and even went into other terrains that people thought was not
possible,” he said
“We are shocked by his death at this time because he still
had so much to give. However, God loves him much more and he has taken him at
the appointed time.”
“Our joy is that he lived a full, fruitful and fulfilled life.
On behalf of the Nigeria Football family, we pray that Almighty God will grant
him eternal rest and also grant the family he has left behind, as well as the
Complete Communications family, the fortitude to bear this great loss.”
Described as mild-mannered, self–effacing, unclamorous yet
far-sighted, Ojeagbase made sports reporting an outstanding section in The
Guardian Newspapers in the early 1980s, before leaving in 1984.
The same year, he founded Sports Souvenir which became
Nigeria’s first all-sport publication, to which he added Complete Sports,
Complete Football International, Complete Football Extra, Sports Digest, ISR
and other publications in the following decades, creating a media behemoth that
in turn nurtured geniuses and prodigies who went on to dominate the profession
with nonchalance brilliance.