Sports
Ex-Eagles Star, Obodo Escapes Death In Delta
Former SuperEagles midfielder, Christian Obodo, was lucky to have escaped death after he was involved in a car accident over the weekend.
According to sources close to the former Udinese of Italy playmaker, the accident took place along Ozoro road in Delta State.
It was gathered that Obodo was traveling alongside his mum in a blue saloon car when the accident occurred but the duo miraculously escaped with just minor injuries.
Often compared to Austin Okocha, Obodo made only 21 appearances for the senior national team, scoring just four goals and he was part of the Eagles team to the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The 35-year-old was best known for his time in Italy where he played most of his professional career.
In 2012, he was kidnapped by four men in Effurun near the oil city of Warri, Delta State, but was rescued 24 hours later by men of the Nigerian Police Force.
Narrating the ordeal, Obodo revealed the accident was the second he had this year.
“That was two days ago I was coming back from Enugu where I went to bury my uncle on the 16th,” he said about the car wreckage.
“At about 3pm along Ozoro, I was driving at about 110 [km/h].
“The road was a freeway, but then I noticed a pothole and started to pump the brakes to avoid running into it. But as I was trying to avoid running into a ditch in the middle of the road, then I lost control of the car and the next thing I knew, the car flipped as we were thrown off the road into a pillar.
“I had my 65 year-old mum and younger brother with me in the car; we came through without a scratch. When I went back to see the wreckage, I burst into tears because I knew I was lucky to be alive.”
“The first incident happened on the 16th of this month, I was driving to my community with two relatives when a trailer, crashed into us from behind. The driver said the truck had no brakes and he had lost control at the time.”
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor