BY JAIYEOLA AJASA.
I was not yet a reporter when Etim Esin was a star. Never actually saw him play. What I saw was the joy of NTA at that time. And everything reporters said about him. Wrote about him. He was a reporter’s pleasure so to speak. If it was not about his dexterity on the field of play. It would be recklessness off it. Etim was what you called front page news material. Missed him then. So when I finally became a journalist I had the pleasure of booking at interview with him. He had returned back to the country in disgrace. The rape allegation. The other rumor about how terrible a life he had lived as a professional player abroad. I knew upon his return that the late MKO Abiola, Africa Pillar of Sport and a lover of football and footballers had rendered some financial help to him. His colleagues too had given him money. But there was the talk around town of how miserable he was living. So I ventured out to seek him. You did not have to travel to Sokoto. He was there close to me in Ikeja. Asked around and located a guy that knew where he was living. Etim was residing in an hotel in Ikeja. Living with prostitutes. The day I found him, he was drunk. High on something I could not fathom. He was with the prostitutes. And some hangers on. It was a rowdy scene. It will bring tears to your eyes. It did bring tears to my eyes. So this is Etim. Out of compassion I refused to do the interview. He was not that coherent to conduct a good conversation. I stayed around. Had to eventually leave in despair. We got to meet couple of times after that. It was at the gatherings of the Super Eagles. Etim will always be there to beg for money from the boys. You could see the the embarrassments from them. He had lost it all. Even his integrity.
The moral of it is we caused his problems. We enabled him. His mesmerizing skill on the football field was our Opium. In a country where football was religion. Etim walked on water. He could do no wrong. He could have been cut from the team to save his life. Show me the coach back that would be courageous enough to do that. We love our football. As a result we loved Etim Esin…… to death.
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