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‘He’s critically ill’ — Odegbami solicits financial aid for ex-goalkeeper Peter Fregene

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Segun Odegbami, the Nigerian football legend, has solicited financial assistance for his ailing colleague Peter Fregene.

Fregene, popularly known as the flying cat or Apo, is a former goalkeeper of the Nigeria national football team. During a career spanning over two decades — from the 1960s to the 1980s — the 77-year-old won the Nigerian FA Cup with both ECN and Stationery Stores.

In a statement on Tuesday, Odegbami disclosed that Fregene is hospitalised in Sapele, Delta state, and urgently needs medical attention and financial assistance.

The 72-year-old former striker said his colleague is “waiting for help to be moved by ambulance” to the Ohara Teaching Hospital.

He said although “Tony Ojesina covered the ambulance costs, more funds need to be paid before he can be moved” to the teaching hospital.

Odegbami also lamented what he described as “the lack of a functional welfare scheme for retired athletes” in Nigeria.

He expressed frustration that retired athletes now have to rely on the goodwill of “Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Babatunde Fashola, Benson Ejindu, and Allen Onyema to support Fregene’s medical expenses,” adding that they can’t keep burdening them.

Odegbami also appealed to sports enthusiasts to put Fregene in their prayers.

Read the full statement below:

I am frustrated because I am publishing this ‘horror’ picture (a picture of Fregene in hospital bed), wishing I have the capability to do what needs to be done for a colleague without having to resort to yet another public appeal to the same few Nigerians that have, through the years, intervened in the matter of ill-health of a few retired, suffering Nigerian football heroes.

By now, we must have exhausted any remnant of ‘goodwill’ we have with Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Babatunde Fashola, Benson Ejindu, Allen Onyema, and a few other Nigerians that often came to the aid of a few lucky sports heroes several times in the past.

Even if they have not complained, we are ashamed to go back to them again.

Why don’t we have, or why can’t we set up, even on our own, a simple welfare scheme for active and retired athletes across all sports in the country, to take care of our declining health in old age, long after our sports careers?

Doing so does not require knowledge of rocket science. What are needed are the will, hard work and a few good and committed people of integrity.

The danger now is that the number of retired aging sports heroes languishing in poverty, neglect and ill health is legion already, and growing. Their stories are ugly and shameful.

Government has demonstrated time and again that sport is not a priority. 64 years after Independence they cannot and will not see it differently, period.

So, Peter Fregene is a reminder to us all again. As I look at him lying comatose on a hospital bed in Sapele and sending the suffering he must be going through, my frustration is mounting.

It appears doing something for, and beyond, Peter is a responsibility that ‘fate and metaphysical aid’ seem to have put around my neck. So, we shall see, as our people would say when they do not know what’s coming next.

So, what is the situation with ‘Apo’ now? He is still waiting for help to come in order to be moved by ambulance to the Ohara Teaching hospital, Ohara, Delta State. He has been waiting since yesterday.

I hope Globacom that have been taking care of his every need in the past one year would respond once again and come to his aid.

A friend sitting next to me yesterday as I discussed Peter with his wife on telephone last night, Tony Ojesina, immediately paid for the cost of the ambulance that would convey him there. But he still has other bills to pay before he can be moved.

Fregene was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Nigeria national football team from 1968 to 1971. He was then recalled for the 1982 African Cup of Nations finals. He also represented Nigeria at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

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Edo Queens thrash Ethiopia’s CBE in CAF women’s champions league opener

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Edo Queens, champions of the 2023/24 Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL), defeated Commercial Bank of Ethiopia FC 3-0 in the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League opener.

Emem Essien, Folashade Ijamilusi and Chukwuamaka Osigwe secured the Nigerian club’s first-ever win in the competition at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Sunday evening.

Edo Queens were off the mark as early as the fifth minute when Ijamilusi’s well-taken cross found Essien, and her effort was caressed into the back of the net.

The striker wrote her name in history as the club’s first player to score at the Women’s Champions League.

Shortly after half-time, Ijamilusi grabbed the second spot for the NWFL champions. She sent the shot into the roof of the net after a good combination play between her and Esther Moses in the box.

Ijamilusi continued her impressive form after scoring a hat trick on her debut for the Super Falcons in late October.

In the 80th minute, substitute Osigwe put the game to bed with Moses, who also assisted the 17-year-old in finishing eloquently to ensure Edo Queens’ emphatic victory.

Edo Queens are at the top of Group B of the competition and will face Egypt’s FC Masar on Wednesday before playing Mamelodi Sundown on November 17.

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Mbappe left out of France squad for November internationals

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Mbappe left out of France squad for November internationals

Kylian Mbappe has been left out of the France squad for their upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against Israel and Italy after coach Didier Deschamps omitted the Real Madrid superstar from his list of players named on Thursday.

It is the second successive France squad from which the national team captain has been absent after he also missed the October double-header against Israel and Belgium.

The 25-year-old was rested for last month’s matches in order to help him recover from a minor thigh injury suffered playing for Real.

However, that quickly became a source of controversy when he returned to action for Real days later, before France had even played.

Mbappe was absent for France’s 4-1 win over Israel in Budapest and a 2-1 win in Belgium, and instead travelled to Stockholm for a short break with members of his entourage.

It was following that trip that Swedish media reported he was being investigated for an alleged rape.

Mbappe himself said those reports were “fake news” while his lawyer said the player would take action for libel.

A Swedish prosecutor confirmed that an investigation had been opened, without naming Mbappe.

Since then, the ex-Paris Saint-Germain forward has made four appearances for his club, scoring one goal.

However, he remains short of his explosive best form.

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Paris Olympics: FG panel reveals officials responsible for non-registration of Ofili

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An investigative committee set up by the federal government has identified the officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) whose inactions led to Favour Ofili‘s non-registration for the women’s 100 meters at the Paris Olympics.

The panel was inaugurated by John Enoh, the recently departed minister of sports development, in September. The committee was tasked with probing Nigeria’s negative exposure at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.

Team Nigeria had a poor outing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning zero medals. In addition to the abysmal performance, the country also dealt with a handful of controversies at the Games.

The most prominent was the exclusion of Ofili from the women’s 100 meters race despite the athlete qualifying. Another was the revelation by Ese Ukpeseraye that she had to borrow a track bike from the German team to perform in the Keirin cycling event.

In a report released to journalists on Monday, Mumini Alao, the committee chairman, highlighted the panel’s findings and recommendations after its investigations.

The document said “conflicting evidence” showed that the omission of Ofili’s name “is traceable to any one of the following organisations: Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), World Athletics (WA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)”.

The committee added that Rita Mosindi, the secretary general of AFN, was “negligent in her duty of communicating to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee information about Favour Ofili’s event status in a reliable and timely manner”.

The panel also faulted Samuel Onikeku, AFN technical director, for demonstrating “poor judgement” by not acting on information about Ofili’s non-registration “when he first got a ‘hint’ of the ‘rumour’.”

The committee added that Ofili’s situation might have been rescued had Onikeku reported or acted immediately on the information he received.

The report then recommended that the officials be penalised by the appropriate authority.

The committee said AFN should pay Ofili N8 million “for the disappointment and depression that she suffered on account of her omission”.

“The cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, should write a formal apology to the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF) for the embarrassment that she caused the Federation and the Nigerian contingent to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on account of the unauthorised that she made on social media X (Formerly Twitter) about the bicycle that she used for the Cycling track event at the Olympics,” the report reads.

The committee presented its findings to ministry of sports on October 22, a day before President Bola Tinubu scrapped the ministry and transferred its functions to the resuscitated National Sports Commission (NSC).

Enoh then handed over the report to Shehu Dikko, the newly appointed chair of NSC, on October 30.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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