Earlier this month,Togolese football star,
Emmanuel Adebayor took to facebook to slam
his family for ruining him.One of those
slammed is his brother Rotimi Adebayor who
he accused of stealing his valuables and even
phones from a football Academy in France.In
a new interview with Sun,Rotimi tells his side
of the story
Are the allegations levelled against you
untrue?
I have my own story as well but ‘Omo ti
owo e o ti te eeku ida ko gbodo bere iku ti
o pa baba re’ (A child who is yet to take
control of the sword should not seek
reasons for his father’s death)
But you have apologized to him; did he accept
your plea?
No response from him yet. I apologised be­
cause he is my elder brother and we have
resolved so settle issues amicably. My
elder sister advised us to bury the hatchet.
You met him at a training pitch yesterday
(Thursday, May 21)…
Yes, we met and he said, ‘Omo Iya ba wo
ni’ (My brother how are you). However, I
didn’t play with them because I wasn’t in
the mood.
And you didn’t wait for him after the training.
No, I was there till he left but he didn’t
greet me as he drove off.
He is a superstar indeed?
I agree, yes he is
And you annoyed him so much that he made
such revelations about you?
Hmh! I can’t explain what happened
But you know what happened to the missing
21 phones including play station games from
27 players?
(Smiles) No, 26 players excluding me. ‘Mi
o kin se ole’ (I am not a thief)
Is it because you cannot steal your own
phone?
‘Mi o ji mobile phone, Mo ri he ni’ (I didn’t
steal any mobile phone. I fortuitously found
them and picked)
How did it happen and when?
It was at the FC Metz football Academy in
France and I was 14 years old then. My
mates were already at the training pitch on
that day, so I was running to meet up with
them when I found the mobilephone on the
aisle within the training complex.
So you picked it and didn’t declare that you
found a mobile phone, which belongs to your
teammate.
That was the mistake I made and I
regretted it thereafter. Actually I kept it on
the table in my room and my roommate
wanted to know who owns the phone
because he didn’t have any then. I told him
how I found it, and then he demanded to
make use of it.
What’s his name?
Kelvin. He is an American and the owner of
the phone is from Asia but from an ‘Arab
country’ The ‘Arab’ boy saw the phone with
Kelvin and immediately reported the case to
the management of the academy.
They informed my brother about it. He
called me to hear my side of the story but I
was later informed to pack my things out of
the academy.
Your brother has released three posts on
Facebook to paint a bad picture of the family?
It’s really disheartening that such a thing is
happening to us right now. My wife was
mocked at the market after the first post
Seyi (Emmanuel Adebayor) published on
Facebook. She called me to inform me
about what people are saying. Immediately
I logged in and read the post. I felt very
sad.
What did you do thereafter?
I called him and asked him why he had to
do that but he got angry with me. We had a
heated argument on phone, which led to
unprintable words being used freely. As a
matter of fact, we quarrelled over the phone
for almost two hours.
You hurled insults on your elder brother who
made you and the Adebayor family famous?
Yes I did that because I felt very sad and
embarrassed. Then he made a decision to
inflict more insinuations against me.
How?
He called my phone before he released the
second post on Facebook. He asked me to
go and read the second posts, which he
wanted to release in 30 minutes.
And…
He did in exactly thirty minutes and before
I could log into my F acebook account, my
friends called me to quickly go and read
the second part of my ‘film’.
What film?
The post he released, the second rant
against the family. It’s sad because our
mother, who poured her blood on our heads,
received the greatest insult of her life. A
woman who suffered so that we can live a
good life is now receiving such a
disgraceful accusation.
You mean the witchcraft allegation?
Yes and all those nonsense things he wrote
against me and our elder sister in Ghana.
Well, we have decided to leave it all in
God’s hand. Our mother is a not a witch
neither does she practice witchcraft. How
can your mother wish you bad luck? I play
football as well and I know that players do
suffer loss of form. He shouldn’t put the
blame on anyone.
He said that he sent a huge amount of money
to save Peter’s life but alleged that the family
squandered the money?
To be honest, he did. Seyi sent the money
but it was judiciously spent to meet his
(Peter’s) health needs. He suffered before
he died.
Some people in Togo are of the opinion that
Peter died as result of the hard substances he
used to inhale?
No, he wasn’t into such but he was hooked
on ‘Igbo’ (Indian hemp), which affected him
mentally. He was such great person who
also helped financially to make Seyi
achieve his football dream.
And the family didn’t spend the money very
well for his rehabilitation?
No, we did but he died. We lost him in
2013. His death and our father’s in 2005
are factors that have affected the family in
a big way but I wouldn’t like to be drawn
into such issues now.
What happened to Seyi’s home in Ghana?
He has over 50 houses in Lome and cur­
rently lives in Didjole. He also has some
others in Ghana. He has taken custody of
everything.
What about the house he alleged your elder
sister rented out?
‘Oro ase ni yen se’ (They are unrealistic
words)
Opinions are divided among the citizens of
Togo concerning Emmanuel Adebayor’s
biological mother?
People can say whatever they like. He is
my elder brother and we know we have the
same mother. I am less bothered about the
rumour going round the city.
You blamed yourself for the lingering crisis in
the family. What did you do?
A lot of people do not understand the begin­
ning of this issue but I put the blame on
myself because of the boy I wanted to help.
His name is Masaudu. He’s from the
Republic of Benin. I brought him from the
rough side of the border so that he can help
us with some domestic work. He grew up
with the family and betrayed us. Masaudu
cooked up stories for Seyi to believe and
he succeeded in destroying our family. He
was the one that was sent to inform our
mother to pack out of the house. But I
believe that God’s judgment will prevail. I
will continue to appeal to him (Emmanuel
Adebayor) to be considerate in his
judgment. I want him to forgive and forget
in the memory of our late father and forget
what people are telling him. We have our
children and we shouldn’t let this issue de­
generate into generational fight