As a promising schoolboy player in 1983, Okosieme was disappointed to be rejected by his local club
Bendel Insurance for being too small. He signed with Nigerian Rubber Board FC instead, the club who became known as
Flash Flamingoes. During his time with Flash Flamingoes, Okosieme accepted a transfer to
New Nigeria Bank FC. The owner of Flash Flamingoes scuppered the transfer by threatening to pull his own funds out of the bank if they signed Okosieme. Disgruntled Okosieme initially refused to return to Flamingoes and wanted to join
Julius Berger FC instead, before relenting. In 1988, Okosieme did leave Flash Flamingoes, for ambitious third division outfit
El-Kanemi Warriors who were based in
Maiduguri. Leaving after a short time, he briefly played for
ACB Lagos. In 1989 Okosieme and compatriot
Charles Okonkwo moved to
London to play for
Brentford but did not break through at the English club. Okonkwo moved to
Cyprus while Okosieme finished the season with
Belgian Second Division club K.F.C. Eeklo. At the expiry of his contract with Eeklo in 1991, Okosieme arranged a transfer to
SV Eintracht Trier 05 in the
Oberliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German football. Okosieme's manager in Belgium blocked the deal, so Okosieme returned to England in the hope of landing a contract there. He was unable to sign for a professional club so spent the years from 1992 to 1995 playing amateur football with Willesden Constantine and
Petersfield Town. In 1995, Okosieme went back to Nigeria and was allowed to join the national team's training camp ahead of their
Afro-Asian Cup of Nations match in
Uzbekistan that October. He suffered a serious knee injury during the camp but was not compensated by the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), who said he was there on an unofficial basis. Okosieme recovered from the injury but was forced to end his playing career after a number of unsuccessful trials with local teams. ==International career==