An ex international, Dr Felix Owolabi – Akinloye has revealed that his popularity as a football star saved him from attack from a gang of armed men which could have resulted into his untimely death.
Dr Owolabi – Akinloye, who played for IICC Shooting Stars Football Club of Ibadan and the Nigerian national football team then known as the Green Eagles, was also a member of the history-making set of the country’s national team that won Nigeria’s first AFCON title in 1980.
Nicknamed Owo Blow by fans during his playing days, the ex footballer was very popular among sports fans in Nigeria from late 1970s to 1990s.
In an exclusive interview with BCOS veteran sportscaster, Adewale Tijani during the celebration of the soccer legend’s seventieth birthday, Dr Owolabi – Akinloye recalled that during his active days as a footballer, he ran into a group of dare-devil armed men while driving alone on the Lagos/Ibadan expressway on a fateful night.
“I was traveling alone from Ijebu Ode to Ibadan on one night during my active period as a footballer when I ran into a group of unknown men who were armed to teeth around Guru Maharaji area on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The fierce-looking gunmen stopped my car and were about to attack me when their leader who identified me suddenly shouted ‘Owo Blow!’. Consequently, in a swift turn of fate, the armed men refrained from harming me but instead escorted me to the Ibadan Toll Gate.
“What baffled me and made me realize the enormity of the bullet I dodged was that from the spot where I was stopped by the armed men till we reached the Ibadan Toll Gate, we didn’t come across a single vehicle on our way. The road was deserted at the time. It then dawned on me that if not for God and my fame as a popular footballer, I could have been killed by the gunmen”, the ex international narrated the unforgettable incident.
” I experienced many remarkable moments in my playing days but this particular event remains glued to my memory. It makes me to be eternally grateful to my Creator and also inspired me to celebrate my 70th birthday”, the Septuagenarian concluded.
The former soccer star further declared that the Green Eagles triumph in1980 AFCON remained the happiest moment of his glorious career.
” After we won Nigeria’s first AFCON trophy in 1980, we were greatly celebrated and rewarded. Each of us was given money, a car, a duplex and a national award (MON). No Nigerian soccer team had ever been rewarded as we were. Therefore, this period is the happiest moment of my career as I never thought I could acquire those goodies at such an early stage of my life. I was twenty five years old then.”, Dr Owolabi-Akinloye said.
