Nigerian football legend Kadiri Ikhana is critically ill and in urgent need of medical support, according to a heartbreaking public appeal by his former teammate and 1980 AFCON hero, Segun Odegbami.
Odegbami took to Facebook on Monday to reveal Ikhana’s deteriorating condition and called on the Edo State Government, the National Sports Commission, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), and kindhearted Nigerians to come to his aid.
“I wish I do not have to do this… again,” Odegbami wrote. “But I have to, because it is frustrating. It is absolutely clear to me that most of us, retired international Nigerian athletes, need help. We are suffering, living in pain, poverty and poor health.”
According to the former Green Eagles captain, Ikhana — a celebrated member of Nigeria’s 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning squad and one of the most successful coaches in Nigerian domestic football history — is receiving emergency care at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Auchi, Edo State.
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“Yesterday afternoon, Kawawa was referred and transferred to Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital… for more intensive investigation and for immediate blood transfusion in order to save his life,” he added, referring to Ikhana by his nickname.
Odegbami noted that Hon. Austin Braimoh, the immediate past Chairman of the South-South Police Service Commission, has so far covered Ikhana’s medical bills.
The news comes less than two weeks after Nigeria mourned the passing of former Super Eagles goalkeeper Peter Rufai and months after the death of iconic ex-Super Eagles coach Christian Chukwu. Odegbami said the spate of recent deaths among former athletes is alarming and demands urgent investigation.
“In the past four months, five of us have died, and at relatively young ages too,” he wrote. “These deaths may not be totally unconnected with the consequences of ‘over flogging’ our bodies during our sports careers. Nobody knows for sure. What we do know, however, is that we shall never know unless something is done to investigate and understand the causes.”
He ended his appeal by sharing Ikhana’s own words during a brief conscious moment: “Kadiri begged me to ask Nigerians to pray for him. That’s what I am doing now.”
Kadiri Ikhana led Enyimba FC to Nigeria’s first CAF Champions League title in 2003, remains one of the most decorated figures in Nigerian football history.
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