Ex international, Segun Odegbami, has lost his son, Oluwagbeminiyi, after a brief illness. Oluwagbeminiyi was said to have died in the early hours
Ex international, Segun Odegbami, has lost his son, Oluwagbeminiyi, after a brief illness.
Oluwagbeminiyi was said to have died in the early hours of Good Friday, March 29, 2024.
Odegbami, who was an integral part of the Green Eagles team that won the 1980 African Cup of Nations, penned an emotional tribute to his son, describing him as a highly gifted, multi-talented young man.
He noted that he and Oluwagbeminiyi were working on a documentary project when he received the deceased’s phone call in Ghana, requesting his (Segun) synopsis.
“It is completely impossible to think that I am writing about Oluwagbeminiyi Omo Odegbami in the past tense” Odegbami wrote.
“One day to Good Friday, his message woke me up whilst I was in Accra, Ghana. He wanted my summary of the synopsis of the documentary project we were working on.
“I told him not to wait for me but to go ahead and apply his abundant creativity to the project. I was not exaggerating. Gbemi was an unknown and unappreciated G.
“He was a highly gifted, multi-talented young man. His writing skills, poetic literature in musical lyrics, rapping, elocution when he reads, and unique culinary skills, were all in this laid back young man whose life is simple, spartan and secluded, with no intention whatsoever to disturb the equilibrium of the chaotic world around him.
“Four hours after our exchange, I receive the first of endless phone calls that eventful day, last Thursday: Gbemi is not feeling well; Gbemi is being taken to a hospital; the hospital has referred Gbemi to another hospital.”
Odegbami added that he directed that Oluwagbeminiyi “be taken to a specialist hospital. His situation is critical. The hospital works on him for hours. Twelve hours after our first communication, and exactly five minutes past midnight, at the birth of Good Friday (a significant day in Christendom), the doctors call me for the umpteenth time that day to break my heart with the news that haunts me till now – Gbemi has passed on!”
“Would it have happened had I not travelled? Would I have handled his situation better? It was a shocking, devastating, painful and incomprehensible news. Good people should not die! Why should this young man, at the start of a new exciting chapter of his life, die so suddenly?” the bereaved father queried.
