Dele Udoh

1981

Ojuelegba, Lagos.

When Dele Udoh was competing in the men’s 400 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics, he didn’t know he was going to be dead the following year. The 24-year-old was schooling in the US and only came to Nigeria for some pre-trials.

Shortly before coming to Nigeria, he and his girlfriend got married. He’d chosen to represent Nigeria even though the U.S wanted him too. The athletes were camped in the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. After a long day of training, Udoh and some friends went out in the evening to have some fun. On their way back, at Ojuelegba underbridge, they were stopped by police.

Udoh, sitting at the passenger seat, didn’t return to the stadium with his friends that night. He was shot by a police officer. His death attracted national attention. However, a few months later, everything faded away. According to Udoh’s friend Wole Oguntunde, who was present at the trials, his death was attributed to “accidental discharge.” It was around that period, he told me, that the term became popularised by Sunday Adewusi, the then-Inspector General of Police.