Godwin Okpara

Godwin Okpara was born on September 20th, 1972 in Obaku, Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State. He is a former football who played as a defender.

Godwin Okpara Age

Godwin Okpara is 52 years old.

Godwin Okpara Career

Okpara hit the limelight in 1989 when he played for the Golden Eaglets at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Scotland, where soccer legend, Pele, rated him as one of the world-class players in the near future given his sublime skill. The Imo State-born defender, after playing for AGIP FC of Lagos and Obanta United began his foreign professional stint in Belgium in 1989 with K Beerschot VAC and later Eendracht Aalst FC, also of Belgium, Strasbourg and PSG, both of France and Standard Liege of Belgium which he played for till 2005 before his travails began. Alan Ball, as he is fondly called, by his admirers, featured at the France’ 98 World Cup, the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), where the Super Eagles lost via penalties in the final to Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions and also at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.  Capped for Nigeria, Okpara was part of the team that participated in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations. He retired after the 2003/2004 season.

Godwin Okpara Personal Life

Okpara’s ordeal began in 2005 when his wife, Doyin Linda Okpara, informed the police in France that he was having a secret love affair with their housemaid, Awawu Tina, believed to be a minor. He was later arraigned and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for raping the nanny. The sentence was later reduced to seven years after a successful appeal by his lawyer. In June 2012, the fair-skinned Okpara was released from prison and repatriated. Doyin too had her own share of the broken relationship as she was sentenced to 15 years jail term after she was found guilty of brutality of the housemaid believed to be a minor when she was trafficked to France.  At the end, the beneficiary of the Okpara saga was Awawu who was given everything she needed to settle down in France by the government as she got French citizenship, university scholarship, a standard job, home and a car. The four childfren of the Okparas– Stephanie, Sharon, Sean and Sidney–were taken to the Homes of the French government as Okpara’s house in Paris was confiscated and his bank account frozen. Okpara returned to Nigeria empty-handed in 2012. 

In November 2017, he was arraigned in an Ikeja Magistrate Court for allegedly battering his wife of 25 years.

Godwin Okpara Net Worth

His net worth is not available.

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