Nigeria Content Online

‘A part of me is gone’

By Tinuke Adefemi

His fiancé is in shock. We have called her but she has not been able to say
anything. He told me he was coming home to make plans for his wedding to her.
But look at what has befallen us. Most times he would already be in Lagos
before calling to say ‘mum cook rice for me’ but that won’t happen again. How
can I remain alive while my son is dead? He should be the one burying me, not
me burying him.

I miss him a lot. He is part of me and a part of me is gone. He is my life,
my everything.

We are still confused about what arrangement we want to make. We are
contemplating burying him in his site in Igede area. He was planning to come
home and complete his house, but some people are saying we should bury him in a
public cemetery. We are just so confused.

Tinuke is mother of Olubayo

‘He was planning a low-key wedding’

By Bukola Adeife

I learnt about his death on Monday from friends who were calling to ask me
when last I heard from Bayo. It was on Sunday that he actually called me to buy
clothes for him for the Easter festivities. But on Monday, while watching TV I
saw them talking about Bayo.

It’s true that he wants to come and prepare for his marriage, but he didn’t
want something elaborate; he wanted a low-key wedding.

The name of the lady he wants to marry is Folashade. She is a Nigerian and
lives in Iyana-Ipaja. But I don’t even know how she is taking the news because
I have not spoken to her.

He speaks with us frequently on phone. He called my husband on phone and
told him not to tell anybody he was coming home. He wanted to give us a
surprise but this is the surprise he has given us, can you imagine that? He
wanted to plan his wedding within one week.

Adeife is an elder sibling of the late Olubayo

‘There was no dull moment with him’

By Bunmi Adefemi

He was the one who called me and sent me on an errand to Abeokuta but by the
time I got to Abeokuta on Monday morning, I heard the news. This is a day I
will never forget, but I will cherish his memory. He was very funny, lively and
there was never a dull moment with him around. I will miss him so much.

Bunmi, a 400 Level student University of Ibadan is Olubayo’s younger
sister.

‘Bayo was humble and jovial’

By Sam Sodje

“The club he was playing for before he died was my former club. It was one
of his teammates who is a friend of mine who called me barely minutes after the
accident to inform me that Bayo had been involved in an accident and was in a
coma. I left everything I was doing and said a prayer to God to spare the soul
of the young man. The road from Kavalla to the airport is a bit far, and from
what I heard weather conditions were very poor and this resulted in the
accident.

“I continued to monitor the situation, calling club officials and other
team-mates until sadly, the news came that he had passed away. It is very sad,
Bayo was my personal person. He joined Skoda Xanthi just as I left the club.
But we saw in Lagos and he asked me about the club and I wished him farewell, I
didn’t know he was going forever.

“Whenever we were together in the national team, Bayo was very humble and
jovial. When we got into the pitch however, training or match, he became very
business minded. He was a promising youngster who will be sorely missed by
Nigerians for his industry on the pitch. We will also miss him as team mates.
Dickson Etuhu called me and he was in great shock. May his gentle soul rest in
perfect peace.”

Sodje, a member of the Super Eagles, once played for Adefemi’s Xanthi
Skoda

‘He was like a brother to me’

By Christopher Katongo

“It was a good day and all the players were laughing and joking when the
manager came in and broke the news. Everyone is in shock.

“Even as I’m speaking, I’m thinking it is a joke but it is true. I can’t
believe this. He was a good person, he liked to joke and liked to laugh. It is
the reason why he got along with everyone and was well liked. He was like a
brother to me because we shared the same room during team camping. It is a big
loss to me and the entire Xanthi team.”

Katongo, Adefemi’s Xanthi teammate is a Zambian international

‘Olubayo liked helping people’

By Yomi Kuku

For me he was a tremendous young man, full of life, and this morning (April
18), we were at training when we heard about his death.

Just last week, we were talking and he brought up a number of possibilities;
He was so full of ideas and he told me he was going to be in Nigeria for about
three to four days and he would like to see the team (Homeless World Cup team)
and speak to the players to encourage them. He was planning to do something for
them even if they were selected or not and we had already informed the players
this morning but he had already died while we were doing that.

We were so close and the thing is that we have never met. We have always
missed meeting each other but when we talked last Thursday, we were hoping to
see each other finally.

For me I followed his career and he is a very humble guy, down to earth,
very intelligent, looking at his CV he was a complete gentleman. One day, I
just sent him a message via Facebook and he responded and I became his friend
and then we started talking for about a month we were always communicating and
he was asking me a lot of questions. He was very frank about what our project
was about.

Olubayo was very particular about helping people especially the widows and I
don’t think a lot of people knew that he had social programmes that he handled
in Israel. He was working with migrants from places like Djibouti and he placed
a premium on education. We met him like eight months ago.

We will find a way to get across to his family and we will be instituting
some special programmes in his name and can assure you that we will have a
picture of him on the sleeve of our jersey and we will be making a giant poster
for him.

Kuku is the CEO of Search and Groom, the organisation in charge of
preparing Nigeria’s squad to the Homeless World Cup of which Adefemi was an
ambassador.