BY BEN MEMULETIWON
Super Eagles Captain, John Obi Mikel, has revealed that his father Pa Michael Obi would be flown abroad for treatment after some of the sutures broke.
On Tuesday, Mikel gave graphic details of how his father was kidnapped before the Nigeria-Argentina match, last Tuesday. He disclosed that he was told before the match but the kidnappers warned him to keep his mouth shut or else they would kill the father.
The Nigerian Captain said he knew shortly before kick-off that his father had been held for ransom, but did not tell anyone about it as the kidnappers threatened to shoot him “instantly” if authorities were informed.
“I received a call from the kidnappers four hours before kick-off in the decisive World Cup clash in St Petersburg,” he said, “and they demanded N10 million (US$28,000) for the safe return of my father.
“My dad was on his way to a funeral in south eastern Nigeria from Jos when he was abducted along the Makurdi-Enugu expressway on June 26. He and his driver were rescued by police, after a “gun duel,” on July 2, nearly a week after the kidnapping.”
Mikel’s father was immediately taken to hospital for treatment as he was badly brutalised and tortured. A family source said the injuries were so bad that doctors gave the old man multiple stitches. But he had to return to hospital on Tuesday after some of the sutures broke, prompting Mikel to strongly consider further treatment abroad.
Mikel disclosed that he did not tell the Nigeria Football Federation, cCach Gernot Rohr, or any member of the squad but instead kept the situation to himself and opted to face Lionel Messi’s team as if nothing was amiss.
“I was confused,” he said. “I did not know what to do, but in the end I knew that I could not let 180 million Nigerians down.
“I had to shut it out of my head and go and represent my country first. I was told that they would shoot my dad instantly if I reported to the authorities or told anybody.
“And I did not want to discuss it with the coach because I did not want my issue to become a distraction to the coach or the rest of the team on the day of such an important game. So as much as I wanted to discuss it with the coach, I could not do it.”
Nigeria lost that game 2-1 to Argentina and were eliminated from the World Cup.
Pa Obi was eventually rescued by the Nigeria Police on Monday at Egede, near Udi in Enugu State. The news was announced by the Enugu State Police Command via their official Twitter account, and only then did Mikel speak publicly about the incident.
Superintendent of Police, Ebere Amaraizu, said in a statement on Tuesday: “The abductors started calling to demand a ransom of N10 million before police operatives acted on intelligence information and swooped on them.
“In the process of the rescue, a gun duel ensued between police operatives and the kidnappers which forced the hoodlums to abandon their victims inside the forest and they were promptly rescued.”
This was the second time Mikel’s father would be kidnapped in the last couple of years. The first was in 2011, where he was released after 10 days.
