It’s Better For Me To Commit Suicid.e Than Live! The Pathetic Story Of A Nigerian Ex-Boxer

Ex-boxer Ayodele Peters who
represented Nigeria at the 1980
Olympic Games in Moscow, and
has won several Gold medals for
Ogun State in boxing says he
would have committed s*****e if
not that he knows it is a sin
against God.
Years after representing Nigeria
and Ogun State in different boxing
games, the well-respected
champion whom a lot of boxers
look unto is a shadow of himself.
I am dying every day and the Lord
knows it. It’s a big shame. It’s
just that I cannot commit s*****e
because I know that there is God
and He has preserved me for the
past 20 years.
I am over 57, but look at how I am
now, after representing Nigeria and
Ogun State as a boxer. I am alive
but I am not living. I spent all my
fruitful years boxing. I never looked
at girls. I was always happy to
represent Nigeria, but look at me
now”, Ayodele says.
Indeed, who would believe that this
was the same man, who was
decorated with an Olympic pin and
a letter from the then International
Olympic Committee president,
Antonio Samaranch, when the
Games clocked 100 years in 1996
would be in this state?
Ayodele now lives in an
uncompleted building in Ayobo, a
suburb of Lagos. He covered the
windows of his room with old and
worn blinds. A rope, which serves
as a makeshift wardrobe, runs
from one end of the room to the
window. Ayodeles’ clothes are
hung on it.
On the bare floor lies a new
mattress, beside a stove and
kitchen utensils. In front of the
mattress is Peters’ table, a four-
legged iron with a piece of wood
placed on it. That is all he can lay
claim to as his own.
The ceiling is riddled with holes,
which evidently means that the ex-
boxer must take several positions
in the small room whenever it
rains, to avoid getting wet.
The sad part is that he is about to
be evicted from the one room
apartment he rented in the
uncompleted building because the
owner is about to complere it and
move in. This is what has become
of a man who used all his youthful
days to make Nigeria proud.
Sadly, he has been to Ogun State
several times seeking for his
pension and help but little or no
help has been rendered to him. The
question now is, who will help
Ayodele Peters, or should he be
evicted out of his unsecured
apartment into the streets and be
left to die?
Oh I forgot, Ayodele lost his wife
and two kids years ago in what he
called a spiritual attack, but he
would have been able to save
them if he had N5,000.