Popular singer, Charles Chibuezechukwu, aka Crayon has recounted how some top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF cut short his football career by choosing someone from an affluent background instead of him for the national squad.
He revealed this in a current interview with Lagos’ Cool FM Nigeria. The Marvin signee claimed that after being chosen to join a national young team in 2015, some dishonest officials later removed him from the team.
He said that the encounter was a factor in his 2015 depression.
Crayon said: “I became depressed in 2015 because I couldn’t get into the university. All my friends were in school. At that time I was really close to my friends. And my footballing career at that time wasn’t really kicking off for me as well. I used to play football. I used to be a proper footballer. They called me ‘Coutinho’ in my hood. You know prime Coutinho who played for Liverpool?
“I tried to become a professional footballer but it didn’t work out for me because football in Nigeria is quite dicey. There is a lot of corruption. I don’t want to mention names because it might hurt some people. They are big names; top [football] officials.
“At a time I went for one screening in Surulere [National Stadium], they [NFF officials] picked me and they had to like swindle me and pick someone else because the person had money and connections. So, at that point, I became disappointed. I went home depressed.”
