Who issued Onuachu’s Transfer Certificate from Togo to Europe?

.Veteran journalist Segun Adenuga tells the story of Onuachu’s early beginning from street football in Lagos to an academy in Togo and now Europe

By Jacob Ajom

In 2008, Nigeria’s oldest practicing sports journalist Segun Adenuga saw Paul Ebere Onuachu as a promising starry-eyed youth, playing in a street soccer championship in Lagos. He noted some talent in the young, lanky lad and took interest in him. He decided to help. The Onuachus then decided to visit him for further talks. Adenuga told Sports Vanguard his story.

“When they met me he was in form 2 or thereabout and he said he wanted to pursue a career in football. He did not want to continue his education. I said okay, if it is football he wanted to pursue I would help, because it is money everybody is striving for. He brought his father to my house. I assured them of my readiness to assist, notwithstanding my past experiences with players. I took a trip across the border. I went to Togo and returned with a letter of invitation from one of the best football academies in the west coast, Liberty Sports Academy. The academy was not only about football, it also took care of the academic development of the players.

“I took Onuachu to Togo. I stood surety for him. They could not even afford transport fare to Togo. I went to Togo about 8 times. I registered him as Ebere Onuachu. By the arrangement, he was supposed to stay in that academy for 24 months. Onuachu stayed 21 months at the academy and saught permission from the owner of the academy to come home. That was all. He bolted away and never returned to the academy again. That was all. Since then I have not heard from him.”

Adenuga said there has been no contact with the Super Eagles star up till this day. Efforts to reach him have been futile.

“When some of his classmates saw him playing for Danish club, Mydtjyland, the news got to the academy owner. And my friend in Togo who owns the academy called me and said, ‘you have been a trusted friend, we believe in you. You don’t speak french but we know you have been bestowed with so many awards. You are the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone 8 coordinator. Why has your player done this to us?”

They thought I had collected money from Onuachu. Up till now, they still feel the same. Right now, I cannot go to Togo and feel free to go to that boy’s academy.”

Adenuga presented documents to back his claim.”I have all the documents to back up my claim. If we report to FIFA, it won’t be good for him because there is a clause in FIFA rules that whoever nurtures a player in his developmental age must not be denied his dues when the player becomes a professional.

Aside from that, he was supposed to pay 999,000 cefa, but the academy waived that amount and awarded him a scholarship because of me. That was for 24 months. After 21 months, he bolted away. Now he is in top form in Turkey and is about to be named the highest goal scorer because they are left with a few matches to the end of the season..

In a protest letter to the Nigeria Football Association(now Federation), titled ‘A case for justice,’.and dated 16th November, 2021, the Director of Liberty Sports Academy Tchakala Tchanile, wrote, “the academy now deemed it fit to write a formal letter of protest against the manner one of our students, Ebere Paul Onuachu was transferred without clearance from the club.”

The director went further to point out that “we are constrained to write this letter of protest so as to unravel those behind the illegal transfer of our player to a Danish club, FC Midtjyland and now Genk of Belgium, respectively.”

Adenuga said the NFF expressed helplessness on the case giving the excuse that they didn’t have a record of Onuachu’s transfer to Europe.. The question now is, how did Onuachu, and many like him, get to Europe without record? Who issued his international transfer certificate(ITC), a fundamental function of the Nigeria Football Federation?

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