Adigun Michael could still
remember vividly events of that cold August evening. It
is a date that has stuck to his memory and would probably remain so for a long time. It was the day his life was supposed to take a new and prosperous turn.

But sadly, August 13, 2012, marked the beginning of a bitter chapter in the life of
the 22-year-old. The
memories still haunt him. Michael was playing football one Saturday morning in Bariga, a Lagos suburb, in June 2012 when he came
across George Philips, a
supposed licensed football agent who had links with top clubs around the world.
Philips told Michael that he had prospects and raw talents that a lot of his clients in Europe were looking for and that he was willing to give him the necessary exposure he needed to become a star.


Excited and naïve at the time, the 22-year-old fell for the trick. And so what started as a fairytale meeting soon turned into an extortion spree. Within two months, Philips had hoaxed Michael into paying around N500, 000. The fees, he claimed, were to process various documents needed to properly facilitate his
move to Heerenveen, a club in the Netherlands.

There was no reason to doubt the agent. Everything appeared
so real until that fateful
evening. “We were on our way to the airport when suddenly
everything changed,”
Michael recalled. “My brother and other family members who were also escorting me
became suspicious when they noticed the agent’s mobile number wasn’t going through
anymore. My brother said he didn’t understand how I could
be embarking on a trip
abroad without a ticket and passport.

“But I still was not going to believe that after collecting over N500, 000 from me and
my family to help me move to Europe, the agent could treat me like that. He acted very
nicely and appeared genuine. I never knew he was a fake. Till this moment, I have not
set eyes on him again,” he said, fighting back tears.


Two years after that
heartbreaking experience, Michael is yet to fully find his
balance. He told our
correspondent last weekend that apart from killing the passion he had for the game,
the incident had left him battling a host of challenges.

“My mother and everybody in my house sold all they had to ensure that I travelled for that deal. So much money that we didn’t even have went into that venture. I was
really hoping that within
three months, I would have been sending money back home to my family so that
things could improve but I never knew it would make things worse for everybody.

CONTINUATION

A TREND THAT RESPECTS NO GENDER


Like Michael, Patience
Agwueda is another young footballer whose dream of hitting it big as a professional abroad has turned into complete disappointment. Swift,
calculative and skilful,
Agwueda is one of the most talented female footballers around her environment. In her Kosofe, Lagos, community, she is well known among lovers of the round leather game. But a terrible encounter with a dubious agent last year has set the
clock back on her promising career. She is only just waking up from the shock that experience threw her in.


“Last year, I was supposed to travel to Dubai for a deal. After paying so much, I didn’t
see the agent again. I paid more than N150, 000 to the agent. I fell very ill after that
incident because I could not get over the shock soon. “My parents were very supportive, they wanted me to succeed. They hoped that if I went abroad to play
football, I would end the poverty in the family. The expectation was huge but everything turned into
disappointment.


“I was hoping that if I made it big in Dubai, I could build a big place for my mother where she could do her nanny business conveniently. I wanted to do this for her to make her happy but I am still here with
nothing,” she lamented.

CONTINUATION

STRANDED IN A STRANGE LAND


Kayode Ibiwoye is also counting his loss. After starting out as a
promising young player in Nigeria’s local league
featuring for clubs like
Stationery Stores, Lagos and NEPA of Ilorin, Ibiwoye told
Saturday PUNCH that his career would have
blossomed in one of
Europe’s top sides if not for his ordeal in the hands of fake agents at different points in his life. He agreed to share his painful
experiences with our
correspondent who traced him to Ikorodu after he was sure his identity would be
protected.

“As a young player, I was very active both in
secondary school competitions and also when I featured for clubs like Stationery Stores and NEPA of Ilorin in the local league.
“My first experience with an agent was when I was offered a deal to play for Royal Antwerp in Belgium. I
was so excited and had
thought that was going to be my big break. But at the end of the day, the deal flopped.

The agent initially told me that I would not pay anything but at the end of the day, the situation was the other
way round. This was around 17 years ago.
“He collected over N90, 000 from me and ran away. He disappeared with my passport and money.I sold everything I had and even borrowed to pay him,” he said.


But that was not all – it was only the beginning of worse things to come for Ibiwoye. Events of the next few
years dealt him even
deadlier punches and pushed his once promising career down the slope. “There was a time another agent brought a deal from a
club in Azerbaijan. I quickly forgot about the previous experience and concentrated on this offer. My wife rallied
round to raise N100, 000 for me to pay the agent but meanwhile, there was no such deal in that country.

“But luckily for me, I got a club there that was willing to offer me a contract after watching me train with them. They wanted to discuss with my agent and not me directly. So, I called this same man
and told him about it but he couldn’t show up because it was not what he expected. I
was stranded in Azerbaijan for five months.

CONTINUATION

“The truth is that once those agents approach you with a deal, you would fall for it
because there is no young footballer that does not want to play abroad. They usually
would tell you that you won’t pay for visa and ticket but at the end of the day, you would realise you had spent
so much. They have a way of getting you committed.


“The first trick they use to hook you is that they would ask you to bring your passport. Later, the agent would tell you to bring like
N20, 000 so that he can use it to process some
documents for you. Because you just want to realise your ambition of playing abroad, you would pay that money.
“A lot of times I wish I could turn back the hands of time and make things better but
sadly, I cannot. But I am still hopeful of playing abroad. If I
can get a deal even in China or any Asian country and play for another four years,
I would quit and do something else with my life,” he said. Ibiwoye is over 40 and
married with three children. He is positive he can still pluck cash from the game.


Hundreds of kilometers
away, Banjo Oyewole is
among several young
Nigerian footballers stranded in South Africa after being
tricked by fake agents.
Earlier in the week when our correspondent spoke with him from Pretoria where he currently squats with friends, Oyewole said he had
been surviving only by
God’s mercies. The
experience has been
terrible, he conceded.
“I had high hopes when I was leaving Nigeria for South Africa in June 2013 to pursue a football career. The agent that was working with me
collected over N80, 000 from me after I paid for my visa and ticket.

He told me that he
had already concluded a deal with a South African agent and that once I got to Johannesburg, the guy would pick me at the airport and fix me in a good club. “But I was surprised when I got here and the first thing
the guy told me was that I would be paying him $1000 every month so that he could look for a club for me. I told
him I didn’t have that kind of money. He brought it down to $500 but I started begging him to help me. I told him that even with the reduction; I
still could not afford that. I told him that what he was telling me was different from
what the agent in Nigeria told me. The guy simply walked out on me. “Some Nigerians
accommodated me in
Johannesburg for a while before I moved to Pretoria.

My family back home in
Nigeria sometimes send me money with which I survive. “Bros, there are so many young players from Nigeria here in South Africa who are passing through even worse situations. A lot of these guys sleep in parks because they don’t have anywhere to go. Nobody is willing to give you a job without a permit here which is also very expensive.


“My advice to those back home is to be careful of agents when they tell them that they have deals for them in a place like South Africa. Many of those deals do not exist and the agents are only interested in
collecting money from them. This whole experience has taught me a big lesson,” he said.

CONTINUATION


LOCAL TRAINERS FEEDING FAT

Though, presently training
with a local club in Malta
ahead of the January
transfer window where he
hopes to land a rewarding
deal in Belgium, Idris Aloma
lost over N1, 100, 000 to an
agent based in the Igbogbo
area of Ikorodu. The agent
who is also team manager of
an amateur club named AACC,
Kamal Oduborisade, is said
to be in the habit of collecting huge sums from his players with the promise of fixing them in clubs in Poland and other European countries.
Rasheed Alade, a close ally of Aloma who himself trained for a while under Oduborisade, narrated how the coach continued to milk many young footballers without fulfilling his own part of the bargain.
“An agent in Ikorodu named Kamal Oduborisade who is the owner of AACC Football Club collected a lot of money from Idris. Initially he paid him N650, 000 with a promise to balance around N300, 000 when everything was concluded. He promised to fix Idris with a club in Poland. At the same time, he collected the same amount from more than 12 other players and none of them has travelled till date. “Idris is in Malta presently, he got there through another agent without paying a dime. The agent took care of everything. Meanwhile after five years of promising the guy a deal in Poland,
Oduborisade has not fulfilled that promise.

“He later asked for N300, 000 from Idris again that he was arranging a deal in Germany. He collected another N150, 000 not quite long again, bringing the total to N1, 100, 000. Whenever we confront him, he would promise to pay back the money but he has not returned a penny till this moment.
“Idris’ father sold all his land and collected loan to raise the money to pay the agent.
The man is still bitter about the whole thing and complains to me every time I see him. Meanwhile, the
agent is still going about his fraudulent business.
“There is a guy called
Johnson Odubela who sold his entire shares in the bank and everything he had just to raise money and pay the agent in the hope that he would deliver the deal he promised in Poland. There is also another guy named Glory whose father is late.

The same agent collected more than N600, 000 from this poor guy without giving him any deal in Europe,” he revealed.When contacted, Oduborisade told our correspondent that his deals were genuine and that he had helped a lot of players in Ikorodu and beyond land good contracts abroad over the years. He said though some of those deals could take longer than expected in materialising, if the players were patient enough, he would surely fulfill his own part of the agreement.
“Ask those who are making these claims how many boys I have helped to play football in Europe. As we speak, one of my players just went to Real Madrid while another one is in FC Porto in Portugal. If my deals were not genuine, they couldn’t have been there.

“I am not the one who
determines how the deal works out eventually, I have a partner who is an agent in Europe, he is the one who talks to the clubs and makes the necessary arrangements.

It is when he concludes all necessary arrangements with the clubs that these players can move. We cannot just put them on a plane and send them to Europe if there is no demand for them. I have documents to back everything I do. Any player who is patient enough would surely get the deal that we promise,” he said.

CONTINUATION


DUBIOUS AGENTS ON THE PROWL


A football scout, Dickson Aluwa who says he has helped a lot of young footballers get appreciable notice at the grassroots
level across West Africa, told Saturday PUNCH that he does not collect a dime from
aspiring footballers. He
discourages young players from giving money to any agent. He narrated a particular encounter with a fake agent recently.

“As a scout, I’ve come
across many dubious agents in Nigeria and Africa. As a professional who
understands the business, I don’t ask for any money from the young players that I scout from Nigeria and other African countries.

Football business is a good one but because of the activities of
fake and dubious agents, a lot of people now have a different perception.

“During the first discussion, they won’t ask money from you; they would only ask for
the player’s CV and perhaps a video link so that they can watch the player. Later, the
agent would ask for visa fee and money to buy ticket. “An agent from Dubai contacted me on Facebook recently and asked if I had good players. I sent him a lot of players’ profile and he selected about seven of them. I asked him to send me
an offer letter and the
conditions of employment for the players from the club
that needs them. At the end of the day, he said I was going to pay for the visa and ticket of the guys to Dubai.
“When I called the Dubai
number that he gave me, it never went through. I also sent a message to the email
he provided and till date, there has been no response.

If I had paid him any money, that would have been the end. So, I’ll encourage young
players not to give money to just anybody because many of the agents are mere rogues who have nothing to
offer,” he said.

CONTINUATION


PLENTY WEALTH UP FOR GRABS


Growing in sophistication and
global following in recent years, football today boasts of producing some of the
richest young men and
women around the world.

At only 27, John Obi Mikel, the Super Eagles’ midfielder who plays for Chelsea football club of London, earns £75,000 a week –
around N20m. This is minus bonuses and several endorsement deals running into millions annually. In a
country where many ordinary citizens live below the poverty line and where the minimum wage per month for workers is N18, 000, an eight-figure per week pay
cheque like Mikel’s is a
luxury millions of Nigerians might never come across in their lifetime.

Interestingly, 12 years ago while playing for Plateau United of Jos; the player’s monthly take home was only
N10, 000. But today, he is one of Africa’s richest youths, with his wealth changing the story of his once poor and struggling family. His success story and
spilling wealth continue to be the inspiration for many young footballers and reasons why their parents would sell off entire possessions to get them to any of Europes top clubs by
any means in the hope that they would bail them out of poverty.

Apart from selling
off valuables and
surrendering life savings to fake agents, a lot of these parents have been found to
also consult spiritualists in their vague quest to achieve this goal.

CONTINUATION


THE POVERTY FACTOR

A sociologist, Adewale
Ashiru, told Saturday PUNCH
that as long as poverty and
illiteracy still pervade the
land, many young Nigerian
footballers and sportsmen
would continue to fall for
smart conmen in their quest
for greener pastures in
foreign lands. The glaring
neglect by the society of
former athletes is another
angle to the problem, he
explained.
“Why would these young
footballers and athletes want
to build their career here in
Nigeria or probably
represent this country in
international competitions
when many of them are
aware that in their times of
need they could simply be
abandoned by the same
society they gave their best.
We have so many ex-
internationals wallowing in
poverty today without
anybody showing some bit of
concern.
“So, that is why this new
generation of sportsmen and
women would do anything to
go abroad and pursue a
career because they feel
that is where they would be
appreciated for their efforts.
Even though, I totally
disagree with people selling
all they have just to go in
search of a greener pasture
that might not be where they
think it is, the trend is most
likely to continue except the
government addresses
fundamental issues like
hunger, poverty, illiteracy
and a host of other social
issues that deprive the
people of their basic
existence,” he said.
Migration of footballers from
Nigeria to Europe, Asia and
other African countries has
been around since the early
1950s; increasing in volume
by the 1970s, thanks to the
rising popularity of the sport.
In a recent study, Nigerian
players were discovered to
constitute the largest number
of African players migrating
to foreign lands, supplying
around 15 per cent of all
African players to the
European soccer market. In
2011, a FIFA report revealed
that Nigerian players moved
the most within Africa. But
many of those moves have
ended in disappointments
and complete regret.