Ex-Nigeria Coach, Kadiri Ikhana, back on his feet – Odegbami

Former Nigeria international football star, Segun Odegbami, has confirmed that a former CAF Coach of the Year, Kadiri Ikhana, is now back on his feet after a torrid period which necessitated him undergoing a corrective surgery.

Odegbami, after a visit to Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, was delighted to share his first-hand assessment of Ikhana, who is also a member of the 1980 African Cup of Nations’ victorious Green Eagles team.

Mathematical, as he is fondly called, described the new found life by Ikhana, who weeks back was in pains battling for his life, as refreshing.

“The good news is that Kadiri is back on his feet, walking almost normally. The twisted waist line that reduced his normal height by almost 6 inches some months ago has been restored to near normalcy.” Odegbami wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

He continued: “The excruciating pain that he lived with for the past few years as a result of distortion of his once-athletic and well-toned body by arthritis, has disappeared.

“Laughter is back to his lips, and his heart is pounding in excitement and gratitude to God, and to the few Nigerians that came to his help a few months ago when his plight was so bad he had to make it public in order not to die in silence and regret.”

According to Odegbami, Alliance Hospital in Abuja heard about Kadiri’s situation, took the risk, and offered to do the necessary surgery.

He was in the hospital for over a week for the two major surgeries to his right and left hips, with the hospital covering all the costs, the ex-footballer said.

While Odegbami noted that Ikhana was lucky to get some support from ex-footballers like Victor Moses and Tijani Babaginda, as well as the Nigerian Coaches Union, other ex-internationals are not so lucky and are wallowing away in pain at the moment, he said.

The former Ogun State governorship aspirant promised to continue to use his media presence to call the attention of the public to the plight of some of Nigeria’s former footballers.

“I left him (Ikhana) with the promise that I shall tell a little of his story during The Sports Parliament on NTA on Thursday.

“Parliamentarians shall be drawing attention again to the plight of Nigerian footballers in retirement, and how players have been their own worst enemy.”

While Ikhana is doing quite well already, Odegbami revealed he still has one last surgical hurdle to cross to achieve full health status.

“He can surely do with any little help from more philanthropic Nigerians,” Odegbami concluded as he shared a short video of Ikhana.