Nigeria calls we must all obey to serve the land
with love, strength and faith, the labor of our of our past heroes must never
be in vain is what the national anthem of the most populated country in Africa
says but reverse is the case as most heroes have only gave their best but the
country has ignored and abandoned them, such is the case of Femi Opabunmi the
youngest Nigerian footballer to ever participate at the FIFA World Cup, his contributions at the youth level cannot be
overlooked which earned him a place at the senior national team level.
He was a participant at the 2002 FIFA World Cup
playing against England in the last group stage match becoming the third
youngest player to ever play in the World Cup finals after Norman Whiteside and
Samuel Eto’o
Opabunmi
scored a goal to help Nigeria win the African U-17 Championships in 2001. With
Collins Osunwa out with injury he became Nigeria’s key player at 2001 FIFA U-17
World Championship where he scored a hat-trick against Australia and won him
the Silver Shoe as second highest goal scorer and also the Bronze Ball as third
best player in the tournament, helping Nigeria to reach the final where they
lost to France. He attracted attention from clubs such as Manchester United,
Lyon and Celta Vigo.
Unfortunately, things have taken a nose dive for
the former Golden Eaglets and Super Eagles forward after he lost his sight in
mysterious circumstances and to make the matter worse he is reported to be
bankrupt, battling for years with one of his eyes blind completely and can no
longer play football.
It all started in December 2006 when he was
training suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his eyes, he could not see the ball
again his vision became blurred and he decided to see an optician. The optician
told the ex-shooting stars forward he could be blind in few days if he did not
have surgery, he travelled to Paris and operated the eye and to his surprise he
was told his case is complicated which led him back to Nigeria to see if
solution can be proffer to it but ever since then he has been battling from one
problem to the other.
According to Opabunmi he has lost all is savings
from football to his sight problem trying to proffer solution, some have taken
advantage of his situation by duping him several times so his present situation
is very critical as the former super eagle striker has to rely on the grace of
God, his wife and few good Samaritans which includes Osaze odewengie to survive.
Currently his children are not in school because he can’t afford their school
fees, this is to tell you how wretched he is and you wonder what is the
Football Federation doing about situations of this nature after serving your Fatherland
or even his former team mates who earn millions weekly.
Femi Opabunmi Opabunmi says the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF), has ignored him in his time of need and it has gotten so bad
he does not even want to watch the country play
“Its a bad story. Sometimes I don’t want to watch
Nigerian football because any day I want to do so, I cry,” Opabunmi said on a
live radio programme on Top Radio on recently.
“I don’t know if the NFF will help me now. I
needed their assistance. I will like my children to play professional football
in future, but I will not allow them to play for this country.
“My experience brings me bad memories. I will
rather encourage them to take up nationalities of other countries and play
international football elsewhere.
“I believe in God. If He says they (NFF) will do
something for me, they will, and if they can’t, there’s nothing we can do.”
Yes the pledge of this nation says “to be faithful, loyal and honest, to serve
Nigeria with my strength” but have you ever wondered why we are not getting
the best from our athletes or why some will prefer to play for other nations
even if it’s just to feature in a friendly game, its simply because of
situation of this nature, this is not the first, late Rashidi Yekini was
ignored until he went to a better place now Opabunmi his crying for help, we
hope those in charge especially the entire sports ministry works more on the
welfare of athletes to get the best out of them .
The second stanza of the national anthem says it
all “O God of all creation direct our
noble cause Guide our Leaders right
help our youth the truth to know in love and honesty to grow and living just
and true great lofty heights attain to build a nation where peace and justice
shall reign”. Amen
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