POLICE: OKAFOR COMMITTED SUICIDE

Uche Okafor 
The police in the United States of America has reported that former Nigeria World Cup star Uche Okafor committed suicide.

Okafor's body was discovered Thursday afternoon by his wife in their house in Little Elm, a town about 30 miles northwest of Dallas, detective Oscar Hinojosa said.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office said Friday that he hanged himself in an upstairs hallway. The former central defender, 43, is survived by a wife, Ifeyinwa, and a 15-year-old daughter, Tochukwu.

The manner of his death has sent shock waves across Nigeria.

'What could be so grievous as to lead to him taking his own life?' asked Dahiru Sadi, president of the Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria (APFON) who played alongside the deceased at the 1988 Olympics.

A shell-shocked Tijjani Babangida, who was also a teammate of Okafor in the national team, told MTNFootball.com that he still smells a foul play in the player's death. 'I still can come to terms with Uche's death because he was such an intelligent and determined man who from all indications was doing well even after he quit football,' Babangida insisted.

'It is still possible that the true cause of his death may be known much later. We have to keep asking questions because we are not known to give up life easily.'