football legend, Ojebode, begs Nigerians

HE situation readily calls to mind the stirring National Anthem of this slumbering giant, Nigeria, particularly these two lines he had sang severally with patriotic gusto while playing for the national football team then known as the Green Eagles: “The labour of our heroes past/Shall never be in vain.”If you see him now, a poignant soul-search must force itself on you. And, one might wonder if his plight was a just reward for serving “our Fatherland/With love and strength and faith,” for surely he served “with heart and might” when duty called.
As a player, coach and soccer administrator in the boardroom, Samuel Ojebode left a mark in Nigeria’s football history that has remained indelible over the years. A toast of football lovers across the country, he first came to limelight when he led the Industrial Investment and Credit Corporation (IICC) Shooting Stars (now 3SC) in 1976 to win the first continental trophy for Nigeria. His dashing runs down the left flank, even as a defender, were a beauty to watch in the Green Eagles. And from 1974 to 1980, Ojebode captained Shooting Stars Football Club.
But today, the vibrant and once celebrated Ojebode, 67, is down with a heart-related ailment at the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan. A pitiful shadow of his old self now, he looked abandoned by the nation he served so well and for so long.
When The Guardian visited him on Tuesday at the South West 3 Ward of UCH, Ojebode gazed listlessly at the ceiling, seemingly wondering why fate and country dealt him such a hard blow.
“I have been down with this sickness for 11 months. I had been shuttling between my house and the hospital at Jericho Specialist Hospital before being transferred to UCH. I had done HIV and diabetic tests five times and they were all negative.

But this time around, it started with a cough and a certain odour was following the cough. I went through an operation last Wednesday night and by today (Tuesday) we had spent over N1.2 million. I have used up all my savings, including the car loan obtained by my wife. Each day we spend money and this has really gulped everything from my family. I am appealing to Nigerians to come to my aid so that I will not die of this ailment,” the former football star lamented.
While the primary thing on his mind is survival, Ojebode is unhappy that his former employers, IICC, are yet to come to his aid.
However, he disclosed that the Oyo State government had sent a commissioner to come and see him but nothing in the form of any assistance has come from that quarters.
For his wife, Morenikeji, life has not been the same since the ailment began in February, as she could not believe that the once celebrated hero of Nigerian football could be abandoned at “this trying period of his life.
“Sometime in February, he started complaining of loss of appetite and pains and we went to the Catholic Hospital at Oluyoro, Ibadan where he was first given medical treatment. But there was no specific diagnosis by the doctors then. But a few months later, he started coughing and we took him again to Jericho Chest Hospital. It was there they diagnosed that he was suffering from Congested Cardiac Failure (CCF). We continued treating him and he was also referred to Jericho Specialist Hospital for further treatment.” source Guardian