Peter Fregene on life support: “It’s time to change our strategy” -Segun Odegbami tells Neusroom
Segun Odegbami, a Nigerian football legend shared pictures of Peter Fregene, one of the greatest goalkeepers in Nigeria’s football history on his sick bed at Obule Medical Centre, Sapele on social media, bringing tears to the eyes of many who watched the goalkeeper in his prime.
Peter ‘Apo’ Fregene, also known as the Flying Cat, is a 1968 Olympian, and former goalkeeper for Nigeria’s national football team across three decades, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The 77-year-old won the Nigerian FA Cup with both ECN and Stationery Stores during his career.
The Sapele-born septuagenarian has been hospitalized and in a comatose state for some days, leading Segun Odegbami to call on Nigerians for help for his former colleague.
In a chat with Neusroom, the former striker admitted that this strategy of waiting for a public outcry before rendering help to former athletes is not sustainable.
“We (former athletes) know all of us, we are in the same boat. We meet, we interact, and we socialize. You know people call you; they tell you ‘I don’t have this, I don’t have that. I’m blind, I have arthritis, and stuff like that,’ Dr Segun Odegbami told Neusroom.
Segun Odegbami says the government has demonstrated time and again that Sport is not a priority and he confirmed that the likes of Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Babatunde Fashola, Benson Ejindu, Allen Onyema, and a few other Nigerians have often come to the aid of a few lucky sports heroes several times in the past.
Other reports have claimed some good-hearted Nigerians have risen to provide help for Peter Fregene since the social media post a few days ago. Yet Odegbami insisted that Fregene is a sad reminder of how sportsmen and women labour in vain.
His suggestion is for a simple welfare scheme for active and retired athletes across all sports in the country, to take care of their declining health in old age, long after their sports careers so that they do not need to run to the public when situations like this occur.
“Yet it’s been reported that some people have been fighting for national insurance or other welfare schemes. They have fought and fought and fought, used their fight for that to try to get into positions of power, but it’s not working. So we have to change our strategy,” he told Neusroom.
He confirmed that Peter Fregene remains alive but his condition has not improved much since he was brought into the hospital 4 days ago. “Peter is on life-support, connected to an oxygen cylinder. He is unconscious but alive and breathing! At the hospital, he is fed and medicated intravenously, and, according to the doctor, his situation is very bad. In short, it is now ‘touch and go’.
His wife Tina Fregene says that she has received calls from the Fed. Ministry of Sports Development in Abuja, as well as the Delta State Ministry of Sports, inquiring about Peter’s condition and promising to get back to her as soon as possible.
