For Diogo Jota.
By Ernest Osogbue
The sudden sad passing of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota has triggered a wave of reflections on my mind. As I began to wonder about life and what success and failure really mean. How could a young, successful man with his whole life ahead of him suddenly have his breath snuffed out? It is baffling, but it happens.
Since the beginning of time, man has pursued success, wanting to be the best version of himself, seeking adulation from the crowd, and wishing to escape poverty by living well and enjoying the best things in life. With these desires equally come the challenge of how to manage success when it is achieved.
It is safe to say that if Diogo Jota were not a successful footballer, he may still be alive. That may be speculative, as the hand of providence is beyond man’s comprehension. However, it is obvious that if he were not a successful young man, he would not be driving a luxurious Lamborghini with which he met his end.
Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva, better known as Diogo Jota, was a Portuguese footballer who played for Liverpool fc until his death. He was born on 4th December 1996 and chose to be called Diogo Jota instead of Diogo Silva to distinguish him from other players in the Portuguese youth setup, who went by the name Diogo or Silva. He came from a close-knit middle-class family in Gondomar, a city near Porto. He was so determined to be a footballer that at the age of 16, instead of receiving a salary, his parents were paying Gondomar, his local club, for him to play. He married his high school sweetheart Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children, eleven days before his death. His younger brother Andre Silva, who was also a footballer, died with him in the accident. Jota had a sneaky attacking style. He usually popped up from out of nowhere to score. Making him a defenders nightmare.
As a student of life, I try to look at the events around me and draw lessons from them. There are many stories of young successful people falling victim to their success. It follows, therefore, that success also has its price.
In 2019, Jose Antonio Reyes, a former Arsenal football club striker, died in a high-speed car accident in his hometown of Utrera in Spain. His Mercedes car was reported to have been traveling at about 237 km/h before the crash. He was 35 years old. In the same year, Emiliano Sala, an Argentine footballer who signed for Cardiff City football club from the French side Nantes, died in a plane crash as he was flying to his new club. He was 28 years old. Similarly, in 1997, Federico Pisani, a promising Italian footballer who plied his trade with Atalanta in the Italian top flight, died in a car accident after a night out. He was aged 22 years at the time.
In other similar incidents, Camille Muffat, a French Olympic gold medalist in swimming, died in a helicopter crash in Argentina in 2015 while filming a reality show. She was 25 years old at the time. You will recall as well that the world was shaken to the roots when news broke in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, that the great basketballer, Kobe Bryant, had died in a helicopter crash. He was 41 years old. In 2001, one of the most promising singers of her generation who was dubbed the “princess of R&B” Aaliya, died in a plane crash in the Bahamas where she had gone to shoot a music video. She was 22 years old at the time.
Bringing it closer home, in 2010, Oladapo Olaitan Olaonipekun, better known in Nigerian music circles as Da Grin, died in a car accident while returning from a late night outing. He was 25 years old at the time. Similarly, in 2024, Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, a billionaire Nigerian businessman and CEO of Access Bank, died in a helicopter crash in the deserts of California, USA, on his way to watch the Superbowl. He was 57 years old at the time. These deaths are directly related to the successful lives of these individuals.
There are many more stories of successful people, both young and old, becoming victims of their success and losing their lives due to one mishap or the other. People like the famous musician Michael Jackson (drug overdose), Anna Nicole Smith (model; drug overdose), Paul Walker (actor; car crash), River Phoenix (actor; drug overdose), Owen Hart (wrestler; stunt failure), Steve Irwin (conservationist; stingray attack), John Lennon (musician; assassination), Marilyn Monroe (actress; drug overdose), Robin Williams (actor; suicide), Heath Ledger (actor; drug overdose), Tupac Shakur aka 2pac (rapper; driveby shooting), Christopher Wallace aka the Notorious B.I.G. (rapper; driveby shooting), John F. Kennedy (politician; assassination), Martin Luther King Jr. (civil rights activist; assassination), Malcolm X (freedom fighter; assassination). Murtala Mohammed (soldier; military coup).
The list could go on and on. The single underlying fact in the tragic death of these individuals is that they were all successful in what they did, and the success they achieved ultimately contributed to their early demise.
This shows that success comes with challenges. In most cases, the contemporaries of these men and women may have been envious of their success. Some may have been beating themselves over the head for being failures compared to them. Family and friends may have mocked them for not being successful. However, these less successful contemporaries may still be alive today, and some may live to a ripe old age and enjoy their children and grandchildren.
It makes you wonder what life is really about. What is success? What is failure? Who defines success or failure? Is it better to live a short life that is considered successful, or is it better to live a long life and be considered unsuccessful? Chances are that everyone wants to live a long life and be considered successful. But as the above story shows, not everyone can achieve that.
This proves that we should never envy anyone. All we can do is to give our best at all times. Being successful sometimes is not only dependent on our efforts but on the hand of providence. Let us, therefore, learn to be contented with whatever role providence assigns to us. I hope Diogo Jota did well in the role assigned to him by providence.
As Lao Tzu, the Chinese philosopher, said, a flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Rest in peace, Diogo Jota.
