1983 Commonwealth gold medalist Bassey Etim who had been abandoned by Nigeria to degenerate to a level of sand filling potholes on Nigerian roads, received a N500,000 cash gift from Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa in Lagos recently.
The athlete’s predicament started when he was struck by injury while representing Nigeria in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States.
Etim popularly known as ‘Iron Bar’ said he was practically abandoned by the country, left to his fate which resulted in him spending all his life savings to treat himself in the USA.
According to the artiste, Oc Cares, the Cross Rivers State-born athlete was seen at the Ado/Badore road in Lagos doing due diligence to sand filling the failed sections, instigating him to reach out for help on social media which eventually caught Musa’s attention.
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In a bid to contact the athlete, Musa who is the most capped Super Eagle, wrote on his Instagram account, “How can I get him pls.”
The 56-year-old Etim claimed he volunteered to do the job as a way of giving back to the country despite being criticised by people over the ill-treatment meted on him by Nigeria.
“I sustained an injury and when I came back, Nigeria refused to take care of my injury, so I had to use my life savings to go back to America in September 1985 to take care of the injury,” Etim lamented.
“But I still come out to volunteer myself to give back to my country,
“People are saying, why should I do that? They didn’t care for you,” he added.
However, on Thursday, August 4, 2022, Musa benevolently reached out to Etim.
“I just finished speaking with him now. I sent him N500,000,” the 29-year-old, who plays in the Turkey Super Lig for Karagumruk, said.
This development has been confirmed by sports journalist Babajide Orevba who stated that Musa has sent the money to Etim.
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