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A former goalkeeper with the Super Eagles, Joseph Dosu, said he escaped death in the Ojodu Berger area of Lagos State where his car was crushed by a trailer laden with iron.
Dosu, who won the Nigerian FA Cup in 1996 with the Julius Berger outfit of Lagos State, shared the incident via his handle on X.com Thursday, tweeting as #dosu_john.
He noted that he was in the car with a friend at a fuel station, saying, “To God be the glory, another death escape by grace and mercy of God… I and my friend SM were at Enyo filling station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel… when this Mack truck with registration number LND 470 XX, fully loaded with iron, left the road and crushed my car.”
After winning the 1996 Atlanta Olympics football gold as Nigeria’s top-choice goalie, Dosu had a blossoming career ahead of him.
He had just signed for Italian Serie A club Reggiana after the Olympics but never got to play for them after an accident along the Ikorodu Road in Lagos in 1997, damaged his spinal cord and ended his career prematurely.
“My career was short-lived because of the accident. It happened after we beat Guinea 3-0 to qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France. After the game, we went back to Sheraton, our hotel, and I prepared to visit my wife and children. I was with a friend, on Saturday, a policeman on my way home when I had the accident.
“Suddenly, everywhere went blank; all I could see were cows everywhere. As I tried to control the car, I veered off the road. I asked the guy beside me, ‘Saturday are you okay?’ And he said, ‘Yes I’m okay.’ And I told him, ‘I’m not okay.’ So we were waiting for help and suddenly Taribo West’s car was passing by though he wasn’t inside. They saw us and rescued us and took us to Eko Hospital.
“The first thing the matron did was to smell my mouth to find out if I was on alcohol. And I replied immediately, ‘I don’t drink and smoke. It’s just an accident that can happen to anybody. Before I knew it, I passed out and when I woke up, I found myself in Plaster of Paris,” Dosu narrated.
