Succour for Ailing Coach
By Danusa Ocholi
Monday, September 22, 2008
Ibrahim Idris, Kogi State governor, donates N12.3 million for the treatment of Musa Abdullahi, the ailing former national coach
A stroke that struck him while he was coaching Free State Stars football club in South Africa has left him incapacitated for more than 14 months.Musa Abdullahi, a former Nigerian national coach who has been bedridden as a result of the illness has exhausted virtually all his life’s savings in search of cure.
The coach spent fortunes from his earnings while he was in South Africa to treat himself without the sickness abating. When he ran out of money, his family members made various attempts to treat him with the little resources at their disposal. Details of the efforts that were made to cure the coach of his ailment were kept secret. Newswatch gathered that the coach sought treatment in various hospitals and clinics in Abuja, Lokoja and Jos.The last place he was taken to was a private clinic in Jos, where he spent several months before he was brought back to Lokoja about two months ago.
In their continued bid to save his life, members of his family mounted a campaign, during which they appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to contribute towards the treatment of one of Nigeria’s highly rated coaches. No meaningful response came for nearly one year after the appeal was initiated. Not even from the federal government which had promised to help.
Relief, however, came the way of the ailing coach recently when Ibrahim Idris, Kogi State governor, fulfilled his promise of footing the bills of flying the former national team coach abroad for medical attention.
Idris had earlier promised to give Musa who is an indigene of the state the best medical treatment in any country of his choice. He redeemed that promise last week Tuesday, when Musa who is suffering from partial stroke was presented with a cheque for N12.3 million from the state government. Musa had earlier applied for N10 million, but the government increased the amount by more than two million to enable his wife accompany him for the treatment.
Idris noted while presenting the cheque to Musa that he had served the nation meritoriously for more than two decades and in the course of his duties, he had played very crucial roles in discovering and nurturing many football stars who had become super stars at national and international levels. He stated that Kogi State was proud of him and would, therefore, not neglect him at his time of need. "We shall take him abroad and get the best medical treatment available for him, no matter the cost."
Abdullahi said he was overwhelmed with joy with this display of affection by his state government in his moment of distress .He expressed gratitude to Idris, for his kind gesture. Musa, almost in tears said; "When the governor said he would help me, I was sceptical. But now after receiving the cheque I am relieved and grateful to him. May God Almighty bless him and his family. His is a government that has compassion for the people."
He said he has already commenced the process of acquiring American visa to enable him travel in the next few days."I hope and pray that I will be given visa on time to enable me get the required treatment. I have suffered enough and I want to believe God’s time for me to be healed is now here."
Zakari Adams, special adviser to the governor on media affairs, said the gesture was just the beginning of good things that will come the way of the coach adding that after his treatment the government will give him a job. He said the Kogi state Liaison Office in Abuja was already processing the travelling documents of the coach and his wife to Maryland, USA, for the medical attention.
Sani Lulu Abdullahi, president of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, praised Idris for the gesture "to an illustrious Nigerian citizen who contributed so much to the development of Nigerian football." He told Newswatch that the state government has set a standard worthy of emulation by other states.
Abdullahi is one of Nigeria’s most respected coaches. He had handled some Nigerian top club sides including Dolphins of Port Harcourt and Wikki Tourists of Bauchi. At the national level, he was a member of the technical crew for the Under-23 soccer team that won the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, in Georgia, US. He also assisted Bora Milutinovics, the coach that was in charge of the Super Eagles to France ’98 World Cup. He was the chief coach of the country’s Under-17 team that won silver at the 2001 FIFA World Cup in that category in the competition held in Trinidad and Tobago. He was to have led Nigeria’s team to last year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup held in Canada, but he had to step down due to his ill health.
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