Picture: Gidi
By Abdulgafar Oladimeji
As Nigeria celebrates its 61 years independence anniversary, veteran sportsman Muhammad Gidi has expressed his dismay over the neglect and maltreatment been meted out to veteran sports men and women, who had represented the country at various levels .
Gidi as he is fondly called by his admirers, is amongst athletes that featured during the first edition of the National Sports Festival , NSF staged in 1973 in Lagos .
He Stated that Nigeria has neglected its responsibility towards veteran sports men and women, who in their youth age had made national sacrifices that made the country proud.
In an exclusive interview with pyramidsportnews.com the soft spoken septuagenarian said “ Nigeria disappointed me, especially the way they treat we the old players, instead of to getting us involved in the system, they have shunned us all completely.
“majority of us, who served Nigeria are stranded, we the old players are stranded, today nobodyy knows us because nobody is talking about us, except for journalists, who speak to us once in a while.
“between 1960 and now I must confess that the administration of sports in Nigeria has continued to go down, I am talking about the organization of sports , the way it is been organized now and then, now the organization level has gone down..”
Gidi urged the federal, states and local government authorities to salvage sports from its present state of organizational decay