Sports
Segun Odegbami seeks support for ailing ex-Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Fregene
Segun Odegbami seeks support for ailing ex-Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Fregene
Nigerian football legend, Segun Odegbami, has solicited financial assistance for ailing ex-Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Fregene.
Fregene is a former goalkeeper of the Nigeria national football team, with a career spanning over two decades.
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.
The statement reads in full
I am frustrated because I am publishing this ‘horror’ picture (a picture of Fregene in a hospital bed), wishing I could 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.
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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 who 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 is needed are the will, hard work and a few good and committed people of integrity.
The danger now is that the number of retired ageing sports heroes languishing in poverty, neglect and ill health is legion already, and growing. Their stories are ugly and shameful.
The 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 experiencing 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 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 the 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.
Segun Odegbami seeks support for ailing ex-Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Fregene
Sports
US court jails Nigerian socialite 11 years for $1.3m COVID-19 fraud
US court jails Nigerian socialite 11 years for $1.3m COVID-19 fraud
A Nigerian man was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison for defrauding California and Nevada out of $1.3 million in COVID-19 pandemic unemployment and disability insurance benefits by submitting more than 100 fraudulent applications using stolen identities and using the money to build a nightclub and mall in Nigeria.
Abiola Femi Quadri, 43, of Pasadena, was sentenced by United States District Judge George H. Wu, on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
The judge also ordered him to pay $1,356,229 in restitution and a $35,000 fine.
Quadri is a Nigerian citizen who acquired permanent residency in the United States through what he described – according to court documents – as a “fake wedding” in messages to a woman who was not his wife, pleaded guilty on January 2 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Quadri, who lives in the San Gabriel Valley withdrew the fraudulent unemployment and disability benefits at ATMs from 2021 until his arrest in September 2024 at Los Angeles International Airport, where he was scheduled to fly to Nigeria.
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Quadri sent at least $500,000 abroad during the scheme. He also paid for the construction of a 120-room resort hotel in Nigeria, the Oyins International, that includes a nightclub, a mall, and additional high-end amenities. Quadri failed to disclose his ownership of the hotel as required when completing his financial disclosure to the court.
Investigators found on Quadri’s phone images of 17 counterfeit checks totaling more than $3.3 million, along with messages about negotiating the checks. Some of the checks were made payable to shell businesses held in the names of Quadri’s aliases.
California paid Quadri to provide daycare services to developmentally disabled children through his Altadena-based business, Rock of Peace. When agents searched Quadri’s residence, they found the children’s misappropriated food-aid debit cards.
The United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the California Employment Development Department Investigation Division investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Brown of the Major Frauds Section prosecuted this case.
US court jails Nigerian socialite 11 years for $1.3m COVID-19 fraud
Sports
Super Eagles need miracle to qualify for World Cup – Ahmed Musa
Super Eagles need miracle to qualify for World Cup – Ahmed Musa
The substantive captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Ahmed Musa says it will take a miracle for the team to qualify for the 2026 world cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria are presently 4th in their world cup qualifiers group, six points away from the group leaders South Africa, who they will be up against in September when the games in the qualifiers resumes.
However there is an opening for them to move three points closer to the lead with FIFA set to dock them three points for fielding an ineligible player in their 2-0 win over Lesotho during the last round of games.
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Teboho Mokoena played over 80 minutes of the game, when he was supposed to have been suspended after picking up two yellow cards in previous games. Despite that Musa believe that it will be difficult for Nigeria to make it to the tournament.
“Only miracle would take Nigeria to the World Cup, because right now we are in a deep shits. Well we are hopeful that we will make it to the World Cup but right now honestly we are in a deep sheets only miracle would take Nigeria to the Tournament’, he said while addressing the press for the first time in his capacity as the General Manager of Nigeria Premier Football League side Kano Pillars.
Super Eagles need miracle to qualify for World Cup – Ahmed Musa
Sports
Tottenham sign West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus for £55m
Tottenham sign West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus for £55m
Tottenham Hotspur have officially announced the signing of Ghanaian international Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United.
The deal, reportedly worth £55 million, marks Spurs’ fifth major acquisition of the summer transfer window.
Kudus, who joined West Ham from Ajax in 2023, made a notable impact with 13 goals in 65 Premier League appearances.
His dynamic playing style and versatility have earned him widespread recognition, making him a valuable asset for Tottenham as they look to bolster their attacking options under new head coach Thomas Frank.
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Before his time in the Premier League, Kudus began his professional journey with Danish side FC Nordsjaelland after graduating from Ghana’s renowned Right to Dream academy.
He joins a growing list of summer signings at Spurs, which includes Mathys Tel, Kevin Danso, Luka Vuskovic, and Kota Takai.
Tottenham will begin their pre-season campaign with a match against Reading on July 19.
Kudus’ arrival signals the club’s intent to compete aggressively this season, while reports also suggest that England international Morgan Gibbs-White is close to finalizing a move from Nottingham Forest to the North London club.
Tottenham sign West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus for £55m
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