The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Tuesday expressed concern over the burgling of the property of former Nigeria Captain Nwankwo Kanu, with valuables such as medals, plaques and trophies carted away in the heart-breaking infraction.
Amongst the items missing is Kanu’s gold medal from the men football event of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games as well as the medal from the 1993 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Japan won by Nigeria.
These valuables items were carted away from Kanu’s Hardley Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos, less than a week after the Nigeria legend attended the African Football Awards ceremony in Dakar, Senegal. The property has been a subject of litigation and has been under temporary possession of AMCON since 2015 over alleged indebtedness
Our superstar and former captain is in intense pain at this period, and we empathise with him. This is tragedy. Losing precious possessions like medals, trophies and plaques can be heart-breaking.
“We respectfully call on the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to work hard at unravelling the perpetrators of these nefarious act. Kanu worked very hard from a humble beginning to accumulate whatever he has today and to earn those precious valuables,” NFF President, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, said in Lagos.
Pinnick insisted the thieves should at least have considered the charitable works of the former Nigeria captain, in helping young Nigerians with heart defects to overcome their medical conditions, before carrying out their dastardly act