A former Super
Eagles star player, Wilson Oruma, it has been confirmed lost his mind for two
years battling with insanity after he was duped by fraudsters introduced to him
by a Lagos-based frontline
Pentecostal Pastor, (name withheld) whose church
(name withheld) is located in the Suru-Lere area of the state.
Oruma’s travail
started in 2012 when the Pastor in question invited the former victorious
Golden Eaglets captain to a private meeting in the church to discuss the
possibility of investing heavily into what he described as a lucrative business
where he promised to invite the mega bucks investors to the church a week
later. A date was fixed for this.
It was at the
second meeting, it was gathered that the former Atlanta 96 Olympic gold
medallists was introduced to some well-dressed gentlemen who were said to be in
possession of some oil blocks they were ready to sell to the rich
ex-international. Oruma, who acted alone without consultation with any of his lawyers
and his close friend, Mr. Emakpor Dibofun, believed the story of the fraudsters
and never suspected any foul play as they were introduced by his Pastor.
He was advised to
invest heavily so as to yield heavy profit. The two-time African Nations Cup
bronze medallist, withdrew funds from all his investments across Europe in
three months and withdrew his life savings to ensure he pumped enough money
into the oil business. He did not suspect any foul play as the Pastor kept
assuring him that, the people are credible and are God fearing business
investors.
In all, Oruma paid
a whopping N1.2billion into the dedicated bank account given to him to make
payments which he did over six months. The ex-soccer star that played alongside
Frank Ribery and Samir Nasri in his days at Olympique Marseille FC of France
started suspecting foul play when he did not hear from the people again and
they failed to pick their mobile phones on days scheduled for important
updates. He ran to his Pastor for possible succour and reassurance that all was
well, but instead the Pastor rebuffed Oruma and told him that, he was a
full-time minister of God who knew nothing about oil business, but only
introduced him to those he believed could help make his business empire larger.
The Pastor asked
if he was involved in the business dealings all the while and the answer was a
capital no. He thus divorced himself from any blames leaving the soccer star to
lick his own wounds but he was not strong enough to withstand the attendant
psychological pressure. A few weeks after this ordeal, Oruma started behaving
funny. He started talking to himself and had hot altercations with his wife at
their Victoria Garden City home in Lagos.
It was gathered
that, it was after one of the series of altercations with his wife who blamed
him for the family’s misfortune and huge loss of money that Oruma busted
out of their home in VGC and stormed a popular supermarket where he destroyed
valuables. He was wrestled to the floor, with his legs and hands tied to avoid
further destruction.
From this day in
2012, Oruma’s unstable mind became pronounced. His close friend, Emakpor with
his hands and legs tied took the soccer star to a church in Warri, Delta state
for spiritual healing. After destroying valuables in the church, Oruma escaped
to his VGC home in Lagos where he continued to disturb residents. It was also
learnt that with his unstable mind, he gave out one of his expensive SUVs worth
N14million to a friend who speedily drove away the vehicle.
To avoid further
embarrassments of VGC residents, Oru-ma’s family agreed to take him to his
Suru-Lere home near Brown Street in Aguda, Lagos where secret treatments
continued. He was first taken to the church where he was duped, which was
nearby his Aguda home. Here, the culprit pastor after some failed attempts to
heal the player advised that he should be taken back home as Oruma had been hit
by a strange mental illness which defiled all known treatments.
The ex-international
was tied and closely monitored in his Aguda home for over one year as the
family sought spiritual healing for him. The player, who started his football
career at Tamuno Babes FC of Warri, was not taken to an orthodox mental
hospital in his family’s attempt to conceal his ailment from the public.
Oruma suffered
untold hardship for two years as his family with the help of his close friend
and former teammate, Emakpor Dibofun, took him to number Pentecostal churches
in Lagos seeking spiritual healing. The much desired healing eventually came
few weeks ago when he was given a clean bill of health as he overcame the
mental illness. He has started walking again as the sores on his legs from long
period of being tied down in one place are healing fast.
In the words of
Oruma’s kid brother, Dominic a former Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles
goalkeeper; “Wilson is recovering fast, he now recognizes his family members
and he has returned to his house in VGC under the care of his wife. We are very
happy about this. It was not easy seeing him suffer so much in the last two
years after his money was taken away. We give God the glory for the gift of
healing.
“He has told us
not to press charges against the pastor who brought fraudsters to dupe him
heavily as he said the incident is now in the past. Another good thing is that
all his properties are intact and most of his major investments are doing
fine.” Oruma was captain of the Nigeria Under-17 team that won the 1993 FIFA
U-17 World Cup where he emerged the tournament’s top goal scorer with six
goals. He played 19 international matches over 11 years for Nigeria and was
part of the team that participated in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, where he scored
in the only appearance he made in the tournament against Paraguay. He was also
a part of the squad that won the Olympic gold medal in 1996, a year after he
debuted for Nigeria.
He played for the
Eagles at the 2002 and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, finishing both competitions
at third place. Oruma played most of his club career in France, after arriving
at RC Lens in 1994. He was loaned to Nancy a year after. He returned to Lens
and played in their 1997-98 Ligue 1 title campaign.
He moved to
Turkish side Samsunspor in 1998 and returned to France one year later to play
for Nîmes. In 2000, he was transferred to Swiss side Servette, played two
seasons before coming back to France again, where he played until 2009 for
Sochaux, Marseille and Guingamp, winning the 2003-04 Coupe de la Ligue with
Sochaux and the 2008-09 Coupe de France title with Guingamp. The former
Nigerian international announced his retirement from football at the age of 33
on November 26, 2010.
He last played his
international football for Kavala FC of Greece, before bidding farewell to
football.
Source: Newtelegraphonline
No comments:
Post a Comment