Brother of Olubayo Adefemi, a former super Eagles player, who died in Greece on April 18, 2011, on his way to Nigeria, has called on FIFA, NFF, The Embassy of Greece in Nigeria and The Nigerian Embassy in Greece to assist in getting the entitlements of his late brother.
Prior to his death, the late Olubayo Adefemi, played for Xanthi Skoda, then in the Greece top division.
Speaking about the ordeal of the family of the late Super Eagles player, the elder brother, Abiodun Adefemi, disclosed that he is the next of kin of the deceased and his brother died without a will. He said his brother was neither married nor had children.
He explained that the late Olubayo Adefemi died driving the team vehicle, adding that a car insurance of about €15,000 and team group insurance of about €90,000 is owed to the late Super Eagles player. He said he was also owed about €13,000 bonus by the club; and salary of €39,000, which cumulatively is about €58,872, aside from the insurance.
He said he was though not able to access the exact amount his brother had in the bank but recalls about €6,822 in the bank account that his brother owned back then. Besides that, €6,000 was paid to Xanthi Skoda then which was proceeds from a charity game played between Xanthi Skoda and FC Aris, purposely to raise funds for the family, which Abiodun said FC Aris paid to Xanthi Skoda.
According to Abiodun, the funds were supposed to be sent to his family back in Nigeria.
He added: “On the insurance part, I think they were sponsored by the car company, Xanthi Skoda. The insurance owed to him, according to them, is €15,000. If you add that to the team group insurance, that is about €90,000 or about €105,000 aside from the €58,000 that he is owed in terms of bonus and salaries.
“Nothing has been released. If you look at his outstanding bonus and what the team is owning him, that is about € 58,872 according to the record of what the Embassy sent. That is the outstanding bonus and his salaries being owed which is different from what they said is in the bank which is his own personal bank which is €6,000. That is about €64,000. When you add the €6,000 that was raised supposedly from the charity game that is €6,000 that is about €68,000. When you add the insurance, that is €105,000. If you add that to €68,000 it is about €173,000.
This is taking into consideration insurance claims, salaries being owed, money in the bank and funds raised for the family.”
He recalled that after his brother’s death, he was in Greece for about a month to see what could be done to claim his brother’s entitlements. He said he received mail from The Nigerian Embassy in Greece about his brother’s entitlements like the salaries that they owed him and money in Emporiki Bank.
“After his death I actually went to Greece to take inventory of his things. That was how I got to know about all that. The Nigerian Embassy in Greece did their own investigation and I was in Greece also for about a month but due to financial issues, the Embassy said that they could not move around. When I went to Greece I could not really achieve much. The Embassy said they were financially handicapped to even move to Thessalonica. You know the Embassy is in Athens and the Xanthi Skoda is around Thessalonica. That was how I got to know about this figure I am quoting for you.
“We have been trying to see what we can do and nothing has come out of it. My brother also had a manager, Miguel Riera, who also raised a lawyer that said he would help us; although things didn’t go well between us and the manager and nothing came out of it.
“I engaged another lawyer then in Greece, a female lawyer, whom I sent all the documents to but nothing has come out of it.”
Abiodun said that for a number of years, he has been making efforts without effective results.
He disclosed that he has approached a former NFA boss in Lagos, who is also a lawyer, over the matter.
“If the money comes, one of the things I think I can do, apart from my mother being comfortable of course, is helping the other siblings.
“The late Olubayo Adefemi also cared for orphanage homes. He was an ambassador of Search and Groom for the Homeless World Cup in Nigeria. Yomi Kuku was in charge of it. One of the things he was planning then was a tournament among orphanages. It was like giving back to those who felt there was no hope. He already had that in mind,” said.
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