Akpoborie cautions young players on extravagant lifestyle

Former Nigerian striker, Jonathan Akpoborie, has warned young footballers to desist from living extravagant lifestyles.

In an interview with Elegbete TV Sports, the 55-year-old recounted how he used to travel from his former club side, Stuttgart in Germany, to Lagos, every fortnight.

He noted that while he grew up in the Ajegunle part of Lagos State, the distance between the community and Stuttgart in Germany, wasn’t much — asserting that it was easy for him to switch places within a little time without stress.

“I grew up in Ajegunle. I saw everywhere before I travelled from Nigeria. There is always a difference, you know, when you close your eyes. As I’m here now, in the evening, my friends might call me and I am in Ajegunle.

“Sometimes, I am coming back from America [sic], I drop my bag at home here, and I am in Ajegunle. That difference — you close your eyes and you are in Ajegunle. If you cannot learn from that, there is nothing that will be able to teach you.

“The problem when you have money, it pushes you to do a lot of things. If you don’t get control [over money], you will lose it, and when you lose it, it is a deep fall. That is why I am praying for these young ones that are playing now that they should be very wise,” he advised.

He recalled his playing days at Stuttgart where he and some colleagues would hire a private jet, say, “after a game,” and fly to different places outside Germany, like Spain.

Then, they would rent a villa and stay overnight while they enjoy themselves. The following day, they are back to their base in Stuttgart, and pretend as if nothing had happened.

Akpoborie said, “I remember while I was in Stuttgart, there were so many things that we did. There were things that, maybe after a game, seven or eight people would come together and we just take a private jet, because you can’t enjoy yourself in Stuttgart. There are reporters everywhere you go.

“So, you guys fly, you are in Spain, rent a villa. We stay overnight, do whatever you want to do, and the next morning, the private jet brings you back,” saying, “It is that power of money.”

He added, “I can tell you, when I was in Stuttgart, every two weeks, I was in Lagos, at the Sheraton. On Sunday or Monday, I am back in Germany, my family won’t know.”

When asked what particularly made him always return to Lagos, he said, “Lagos is Lagos, my friends are my friends, so you can’t stay away from home. But even then, there were so many things because you had that money; it pushed you every time. That is why I started by praying that those guys will identify and start doing things responsibly, because when money pushes you, you will do things [sic] you won’t believe you did.”

Akpoborie also spoke on how he found himself in an unexpected call-up to the Super Eagles during a game against Togo, following a hearty meal of pounded yam at the home of Honourable Nduka Irabor.