By: Maxwell Woyram Tsigbe
Ghana’s Sports Ministry has officially inaugurated a seven-member-committee of enquiry to help unravel the circumstances that led to the tragic death of Nigerian professional boxer, Gabriel Oluwasegun Olanrewaju, also known as ‘Success’ which occurred during a bout on March 29, 2025 at the Trust Emporium.
The inauguration, which took place today, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at the Ministry’s conference room in Accra, saw the sector Minister, Hon. Kofi Iddie Adams, expressed his utmost confidence in the selection of the members of the committee and noted that, he was of the firm conviction that the committee would bring clarity to the circumstances surrounding the death of the boxer since the members were clothed with the requisite knowledge and expertise to do the work conscientiously.
He further underscored the importance of the issue and believed it must not be swept under the carpet or only lamented about. The move is therefore aimed at forestalling future occurrences, and hence, a careful search was done to arrive at the composition of the membership for the committee.
The committee was given a 21-day ultimatum to present its report. Meanwhile, Mr. Adam assured Ghanaians, Nigerians and anyone interested in the issue that a thorough work will be done and lessons will be learnt from the unfortunate incident for it not to repeat itself again.
On his part, the Chairman of the committee, Amb. Major (Rtd) Amarkai Amarteifio, expressed profound gratitude to the Minister and the government for reposing confidence in him and his colleague members, and pledged to do their best to unravel the issues surrounding the unfortunate incident, adding that, they would not be intimidated by the enormity of the assignment.
He promised to do the work within the stipulated time or even before the time depending on the level of collaboration among all interested parties and expressed his belief that, the work will be done to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.
The terms of reference for the committee include the following:
- To determine the circumstances leading to the death of the Nigerian boxer Gabriel Oluwasegun Olanrewaju (deceased) at the Bukom Boxing Arena on the 29th of March 2025.
- To determine whether the organizers or promoters of the Boxing match took adequate steps by international standards to prevent the death of the boxer.
- To determine whether the licensing authorities in Nigeria acted with due diligence and followed procedure in allowing the boxer to accept an international match in Accra according to his qualification and experience.
- Examine the conduct of all officials; singular and collective and recommend sanctions where such conduct does not meet acceptable standards.
- Recommend any changes in technical and medical procedures necessary to ensure total safety in the noble art of self-defence.
- To consider any other matter relevant to the terms set down in the matter of hearing and make appropriate recommendations to enhance the image of boxing, safeguard the interest and safety of all participants.
Other members of the committee include: Peter Zwennes (Esq), Mr. Ekow Asmah, Samuel Bartels (Esq), Mr. Eddie Pappoe, Dr. Martin Engmann and Mrs. Juliana Addo-Yobo ( Esq) as Secretary to the committee.