By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
EX- Nigerian national team goalkeeper, Peter ‘Apo’ Fregene, who is fighting for his life at Obule Medical Centre in Sapele, Delta State, urgently needs financial support for transfer to Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara.
The 1968 Olympian and veteran sportsman, has been struggling with health issues, sparking concerns among Nigeria’s sports community.
A fellow sports legend, and former Super Eagles captain, Dr. Olusegun Odegbami, who disclosed via a WhatsApp message the current health situation of Fregene, expressed frustration over the lack of support for retired athletes, highlighting the need for a welfare scheme to care for their health in old age.
He said that Fregene requires urgent medical attention at Oghara Teaching Hospital, Delta State but faces financial constraints.
According to him; the attached picture was taken yesterday afternoon at Obule Medical Centre in Sapele, Delta State.
“It is of Peter ‘Apo’ Fregene, a 1968 Olympian, and former goalkeeper who kept goal for Nigeria’s national football team across three decades, the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
“I am frustrated because I am publishing this ‘horror’ picture, 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.
“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 that 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 aging sports heroes languishing in poverty, neglect, and ill health is legion already, and growing. Their stories are ugly and shameful. The evening of our lives is dark and dank (forget about the ‘packaging’ and ‘coded’ optics).
“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 to be moved by ambulance to the Oghara Teaching Hospital, Oghara, Delta State. He has been waiting since yesterday.
He expressed optimism that Globacom, which had previously supported his medical needs, wouldn’t relent in coming to his aid again, saying that a friend appealed to him for assistance., Tony Ojesina, has donated funds for the ambulance.