After losing wife to cancer, Agbonavbare battles samedisease

For celebrated AFCON 1994 winner, Wilfred Agbonavbare, life
has been unfair. Having played for Nigeria at different levels,
comprising the Flying Eagles squad of 1983, which were the
first to represent Nigeria at the FIFA U-20 World
Championship in Chile in same year and the then Green Eagles
squad of 1984 and later the Super Eagles team of 1994, before
seeking the proverbial pastures greener to Europe, where he
played and retired, the 48 years old Edo state native should at
least be living well off above the middle income level.
agbonavbare
But like is the fate of many former super stars of Nigerian
sports, that dream has remained a pipe-dream for
Agbonavbare, who is not only unemployed right now but is
bereaved and living on borrowed time because of the scourge
of cancer, which has confined him to the hospital bed, seeking
financial lifeline from compassionate Nigerians and the federal
government, which in a way, is alleged to have an indirect
hand in the goalkeeper’s precarious health and financial
predicaments.
Born on October 5, 1966 in Lagos, Agbonavbare, who played
for the famed New Nigeria Bank FC of Benin City and BCC
Lions, before moving to Spain in 1990, where he spent the
rest of his career, starting with Rayo Vallecano in the second
tier of the Spanish league, is clinging on to his precious life in
Spain and he is weak to the point that you could scarcely
hear his voice sitting next to him.
His exploits in between the sticks for clubs and country are
still legendary. He was a cat that was always ready to spring
to action. But in his battles to help Nigeria succeed, he is now
paying the heavy price of neglect, owing to serious health
issues affecting him.
In a brief chat with some of his former colleagues
Agbonavbare recounted his grace to grass story thus: “I was
relieved of my job after I was diagnosed with cancer. My wife
died of breast cancer three years ago and when she was
diagnosed with breast cancer I spent all the money I made
playing professional football on her medical bills to keep her
treatment uninterrupted. Consequently, I had to send my three
children to Nigeria because of my lethal health condition”.
Soon after sending his kids back to Nigeria, he was relocated
back to Spain after spending five months in a Tampa, Florida,
hospital, to continue with his treatment, which requires
money, an item that Agbonavbare can’t afford now.
For his former teammates, this situation could have been
avoided had the Nigerian government redeemed its pledge to
the Mexico ’83 Flying Eagles squad, who were promised
scholarship to the tertiary level by the then Shehu Shagari-led
government after they returned back to Nigeria from Chile.
According to Dehinde Akinlotan, who now resides in the USA,
it was high time that the present government under the
leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan bore the cost of
the treatment of Agbonavbare, who he lamented was suffering
because of government’s failed promise.
“We are using this medium to appeal to Mr. President to look
back into our plea for the scholarship awards promised to the
1983 Flying Eagles as the first ever Nigerian national team to
qualify for FIFA tournament and registered the country’s name
on their map.
“This will go a along way to help out oAgbonavbare, who is
plagued with a serious sickness and on the hospital bed,
seeking financial support and also fighting for his life. We are
hoping that our plea to Mr. President to redeem the pledge
would be of great help to him. We have already lost three of
our teammates to illness during our plea”
According to another worried teammate, Tajudeen Disu, it was
high time that the President Jonathan came to the rescue of
Agbonavbare, who he lamented was a problem of
government’s neglect.
“ We are using this medium to thank President Jonathan for
supporting all our sports men and women because his
administration has been very supportive of sports participants
more than any administration. I really want to go back to the
1983 promise made to us for being the first team to ever
quality Nigeria for a FIFA tournament by the then government
and up to date it has not being fulfilled. We have been calling
for the redemption of the promise and I believe that he will do
it because he is a president who genuinely cares for sports
men and women and I have no doubt in his trust.
“It’s unfortunate that one of us is at the point of death
struggling to pay hospital his medical bills and if your
government redeems this scholarship pledge, it will help to
save his life. I am talking about Wilfred Agbonavbare. We are
also asking FG to find a way to put together a retirement plan
so players have something to fall back to after retirement
from active football.
“Those of our deceased teammates and coaches ought to be
remembered as well. I have lost hope in the FG whereby it’s
promises are never fulfilled that was why I relocated my family
to US because I did not want a repeat of what happened to us
to happen to my children”, added Disu.