[2] He was also honoured as the foreign player who played in Turkey for the longest period of time (13 years), going on to obtain Turkish citizenship under the name Deniz Uygar.

In July 1990 he moved abroad to join Danish club Brøndby IF, being signed by newly appointed coach Morten Olsen alongside teammate Friday Elahor.

After appearing in the 1992 African Cup of Nations, where Nigeria reached the semi-finals, Okechukwu was linked to Turkish side Fenerbahçe for half a year, until he was bought in a DKK8 million transfer deal in November 1993.

After nearly 250 official games he moved to fellow league team İstanbulspor, returning in 2007 to Nigeria first with Ocean Boys then with Bayelsa United (joining the latter in July 2008, and retiring shortly after, aged 41).

He also represented the nation in two FIFA World Cups, helping it progress to two consecutive round-of- 16 contests as he appeared in seven complete matches combined, only missing out in the group stage 3–1 loss to Paraguay due to having collected two yellow cards.