Ex-3SC Captain Goes Blind, Needs N9m For Operation

Ex-3SC Captain Goes Blind, Needs N9m For Operation By Our Reporter Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan captain when the team won the 1992 CAF Cup, Friday Christopher, has lost his sight. According to Tribunesports, the former international in the last five months has been battling with this predicament, as he continues to try all means that would enable him to see again. ‘Ekutu’ as he is fondly called by his admirers remains one of the unsung heroes of Nigerian football given his exploits. In fact, he was among the players who made Nigerian league or FA Cup tick in the 80s through 90s starting from when he played for Ewekoro Works in the 1981 season. Friday Christopher had had a romance with the defunct Abiola Babes before moving to Shooting Stars. He was a member of the squad which lost in the final of the 1984 Champions League to Zamalek, who featured also in the second leg final played at the National Stadium, Lagos. Playing from centre back, against Zamalek, he spiritedly attempted to save the own goal which resulted in the loss by the Oluyole Warriors after a ‘mysterious’ back pass header by the late Ogbein Fawole but to no avail. One of his best moments in football was when he captained 3SC to win the Abiola CAF Cup in 1992. He later had stints with Iwuanyanwu Nationale, BCC Lions, Katsina United and Calabar Rovers. His brilliant club performance earned him call-ups to the Super Eagles from 1987 to 1992 and was a member of Nigeria’s team which featured at the 1992 FIFA-organised [Futsal] Five-A-Side tournament held in China. On his exit from active football, he veered into coaching. After a coaching romance with Sharks, he was assistant coach of 3SC when the Oluyole Warriors won the Nigerian top-flight title in 1998 as well as the 1998 WAFU Cup. He also returned to the team in the 2016 season as assistant coach after his romance with Enyimba. The former defender was elevated to caretaker coach of 3SC that season after head coach, Kadiri Ikhana, had left the side prior to the clash with Wikki Tourists in Bauchi. He has also coached FC Abuja, Delta Force, Grays FC, Gateway FC, Giwa FC while his last appointment was in 2016/17 season with Kano Pillars. Former chairman of the Oyo State Football Association, Barrister Leye Adepoju, first hinted about the predicament of Friday Christopher, saying he could no longer even walk without support not because he lacks the physical or mental strenghth but because he has lost his sight completely. Adepoju, a former footballer himself, who rose to prominence through IBL FC of Ilesa, said, “at Ambassadors FC, we have always assisted one another but this case cannot be managed again having tried all we could except we make it known to the public to help this man [Christopher] regain his sight.” The seasoned football administrator then arranged for an interview which was eventually held at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium tennis arena last weekend on a clement afternoon. Save for his declaration, whoever sees the former 3SC defender will not believe that he has lost his sight. “Hey, quite a long time, you don’t even ask of me again, what about [David] Aigbovo? My brother, the truth of the matter is that I can no longer see, this is the situation for now,” Friday Christopher begins. HOW IT STARTED: This problem started in 2019, I discovered that I was having problem of not seeing well. Then I was still moving around without having to rely on someone to guide me. And I began to to seek medical treatment immediately. I went to Ojulowo Eye centre here in Ibadan and there I undergoing treatment. I was told to prepare for surgery but it could not be carried out due to my eye pressure which was always between 40 and 50 per cent instead of 18-20 per cent. I also went to Makkah Specialist Eye Hospital, Kano, being my base and it was the same story that my eye pressure will not allow the surgery to be carried out. They told me nobody can carry out surgical operation with the level of my eye pressure. I have been treating glaucoma all along before the situation got worse. I was given a letter to Kano Pillars explaining my condition and that the nature of my job could also make the eye pressure to go up. So, Kano Pillars released me for a whole year to attend this medical challenge and I was being paid salary every month. After the last test I did at St. Mary’s Hospital, Eleta, Ibadan, I got in contact with Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, India and they promised that they can handle the case. So, St. Mary’s Hospital now referred me to the Indian hospital. As I said, I was moving around without any aid but the situation changed in November 2020 when we went for the CAF Confederation Cup game in Senegal against ASC Jaraaf. After the match, I noticed that I was making some mistakes in the course of moving around. In fact, I had to be assisted out of the stadium. On our return, I was not able to wait for the return leg tie in Kaduna which was just a week interval because it was already a problem moving around alone. I went back to the hospital in Kano for treatment without any sign of improvement. I was spending N45,000 every week on treatment in Kano. TRIP TO INDIA AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Before now, I had thought that I could handle this problem alone in as much as there are hospitals and doctors in this country but since the issue of eye pressure came up, the need to try a foreign hospital has become necessary. Honestly, I can’t cope with the bill for the treatment in India. So, I’m appealing to our sports-loving Governor Seyi Makinde and other well-meaning Nigerians especially lovers of Shooting Stars to help me regain my sight. I want to go for treatment in India and I need up to N9 million for the trip. The Apollo Hospital in India after seeing the result of my test presented by St. Mary’s Hospital, Eleta, promised that they can handle the case but they will carry out another test first before the surgery. I have sent details to them and part of the conditions is that I must travel with somebody in form of a helper. Apollo Hospital requests $7,000 for the surgical operation on the two eyes apart from my flight ticket and visa expenses as well as logistics. Also, I have also to pay a nurse in line with the hospital’s policy, who will watch me for two weeks observation after the surgery and I will be responsible for the payment of the flight ticket and visa as well as upkeep of the person to travel with me. I have been going to hospitals week in week out since 2019 without any improvement. In fact, I have exhausted all my savings on this challenge, and that is why I’m appealing to Nigerians including sportmen and women to bail me out, I have faith in God that I will see again very soon. LAMENTATIONS: This is a trying period for me, it is harrowing but I have faith in God. One of the things I’m missing is not being able to go to football pitch. I have been relying on the voices of my friends and members of my family to keep going. “What I have been doing before can no longer be done without the support of another person. I give glory to God. It was also painful that I could not watch the Super Eagles at AFCON. I only listened to the match commentary and what people said about each game. “I couldn’t analyse our match, what I knew is that Nigeria will either put on green or white, it was that painful. Now I can not read. Kano Pillars have tried for me. I received a phone call a few days ago on their way to Ilorin for the NPFL game against Kwara United and it shows the club is after my welfare and survival. I was at home throughout last year and they [Kano Pillars] were paying my salary, I really appreciate this support. Whenever I went for a eye pressure test, it always reads up to 40-50 per cent meaning there is no way the surgery can be done. “I even changed my eating habit whether it would reduce the eye pressure but to no avail. So, after the last test I did in Kano which revealed the same result, I became heartbroken. The doctor there even advised me not go for surgery with eye pressure at 40-50 per cent. At ECWA Eye Hospital also in Kano, it was the same story. Later, I was made to understand here in Ibadan that apart from glaucoma, it has also developed cataract. “Really, at some point, I lost hope because all the treatments I was taking did not make any difference, going from one hospital to another, and yet, no improvement. So, I was fed up with life completely. My behaviour while in Kano actually changed as a result of depression, I was no longer friendly. When people try to speak with me, I don’t always take it lightly. What compounded my problem has to do with the fact that I lived in Kano alone. My colleagues who will always stay around me were busy with the league games. Also, my team was playing home games in Kaduna because our home ground was undergoing renovation. No member of my family lived with me. “So, it got to a point, I had to call one of my old friends, Segun Akande ‘Agba’ to come to Kano and he did and that was how I returned home since then. The situation became worse last September when I stopped seeing completely and that has been the situation. I can not walk alone except with the help of somebody. As God will have it, things began to change when I returned to Ibadan because I now live with friends and relatives who make me happy on a daily basis, and continue to assist me with prayers to get over this predicament. I can’t raise the N9 million to travel to India and that is why I’m begging well-meaning Nigerians to come to my aid. I have spent all the resources that I have on this sight challenge. I see it as a trial and I believe I would get over it by God’s grace. At the moment, things have gotten out of hand and I want people to assist Friday Christopher. I don’t want to leave football coaching for now, this is forceful retirement and I’m using this medium to appeal to our amiable governor of Oyo State [Engineer Seyi Makinde] to look into my case. Something keeps telling me that I shall get better. Thank God for Akande who came to Kano to bring me back here. Ibadan has been my home for a long time. “Coming back to Ibadan re-energised me, life came back because I have people around me to interact with at all times unlike when I was alone in Kano. They give me hope that it’s not over, even my wife who I thought being a woman will break down did not, she has continued to give me hope that this trial shall come to pass. “I want to see again and their prayers and financial support would make this happen. I have faith that I will see again, the hospital in India gave me hope, but I know that the doctor which will make it possible is ‘Baba’ God. On the surgery bed, it is God that will do it. I cannot calculate how much I have spent. I never wanted to cry out but I must face the reality that people need to support me financially at this point. No amount will be too small. I want to go back to the football pitch and I also want to start attending prayer service again. These are activities that hurt me a lot that I have not been able to do again having lost my sight. What I have been doing since I lost my sight is only to listen to radio for sermons and for news to know what is happening around the country and the globe, it’s well.”