Nigeria Content Online

Nigerian
football was thrown into mourning on Monday following news that Super
Eagles defender, Olubayo Adefemi, had died in an automobile accident in
Greece.

Greek police said
that the defender, who plays for Greek top division outfit Skoda Xanthi,
lost control of his car on the Egnatia motorway while driving from
Xanthi to Salonika in the Kavala region of Northern Greece. No one else
was hurt in the crash.

He was travelling to the airport to catch a flight to Nigeria, where he was due to finalise plans for his wedding.

A statement from the
Greek football federation read: “The Super League and the entire Greek
football family would like to express its deepest condolences and
sympathy to the family of Olubayo Adefemi, who died tragically in a car
accident.” The former Rapid Bucharest of Romania player, who had also
played in the Austrian and Israeli top flight divisions, joined Skoda
last year after leaving French club Boulogne.

Adefemi made 24
appearances for Skoda, scoring two goals. He had been granted a
week-long leave by his club and was expected in Nigeria last night to
finalise plans for his wedding. This much was confirmed to NEXT by the
deceased’s older brother, Abiodun Adefemi, who also disclosed that plans
were underway to airlift his brother’s remains to Nigeria.

“He was on his way
back to Nigeria,” said the older Adefemi. “He spoke to our sister on
Sunday asking her to pick him up at the airport later today (Monday).”
He added: “We were contacted by officials of his club in respect of his
death and there were discussions regarding how to get his body to
Nigeria.” The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), as at the time of
filing in this report, was yet to get in touch with Adefemi’s family but
NEXT gathered from the acting secretary general of the NFF, Musa Amadu,
that the Nigerian FA would keep in touch with the Adefemi family, as
well as Skoda, regarding funeral rites for the late international.

Facebook addict

Fans of the late
footballer were not left out as they poured their hearts out on his
Facebook page, where hundreds of messages have been posted on his wall.
One from Germany-based Super Falcons midfielder, Cynthia Uwak, appealed,
albeit in vain: “Femi, wake up, you can’t die.” Even his national team
buddies, past and present, were not left out as they expressed shock at
the death of the defender, an easygoing fellow, as testified to by his
latest Facebook profile picture where he and a Greek fan in the shirt of
the Nigerian national team were holding on to a pair of draws… with
their teeth.

“That’s Femi for
you. He is always looking for a way to make you laugh,” said former
junior international, Ambrose Vanzekin, who was Adefemi’s teammate at
both the 2005 U-20 World Cup and Beijing 2008 Olympics. He added: “He’s
always on Facebook chatting with people and making new friends. That’s
why he had so many fans.” Kola Ige, who was also at the 2005 and 2008
tournaments said, “He was a very funny guy. He always had a way of
lifting our spirits anytime morale was low. He was very friendly and
we’ll all miss him.” Osaze Odemwingie, who was also at the Beijing
Olympics, however, found it hard to accept the news of Adefemi’s death
as he posted the following on his Twitter page: “Got a bb msg
(blackberry message) that Olubayo died in a car accident. The person is
his friend so can’t joke like that. Still hope it’s not true.”

Adefemi came into
the limelight in 2005 when he featured in the Flying Eagles side that
won the 2005 African Youth Championships in Benin Republic. That win
marked Nigeria’s first AYC victory in 16 years.

Adefemi later went on to feature, also in 2005, at the FIFA Under-20
World Cup in Holland where the Samson Siasia-tutored side finished a
respectable second, before going on to make an appearance at the 2008
Olympics in Beijing, where the Nigerian team won silver. He made his
Super Eagles debut on May 29, 2009 in an international friendly against
Ireland. Even though he got called up regularly, he only earned two more
caps for the national team.