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Crayon talks about how NFF officials killed his football career
Charles Chibuezechukwu, known as Crayon in the music industry, has shared a disheartening experience from his past involving the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Crayon revealed that his football career was cut short by certain high-ranking officials within the NFF who favored a candidate from a wealthy background over him.
Crayon recounted that he had been selected to join a national youth team in 2015, but corrupt officials within the NFF intervened and removed him from the selection in favor of another individual with financial influence. This unfair decision deeply impacted him and contributed to the depression he experienced during that period.
The ‘Trench To Triumph’ artist opened up about this painful incident during a recent interview with Cool FM Nigeria in Lagos.
Crayon said, “I became depressed in 2015 because I couldn’t get into the university. All my friends were in school. At that time I was really close to my friends. I was the youngest among my friends. Every time they are around is always fun. Then they all got admitted to the universities in Ghana, Benin, etc. I was just me in the hood.
“It was so boring. I didn’t have anything to do, nowhere to go. And my footballing career at that time wasn’t really kicking off for me as well. I used to play football. I used to be a proper footballer. They called me ‘Coutinho’ in my hood. You know prime Coutinho who played for Liverpool?
“I tried to become a professional footballer but it didn’t work out for me because football in Nigeria is quite dicey. There is a lot of corruption. I don’t want to mention names because it might hurt some people. They are big names; top [football] officials.
“At a time I went for one screening in Surulere [National Stadium], they [NFF officials] picked me and they had to like swindle me and pick someone else because the person had money and connections. So, at that point, I became disappointed. I went home depressed.”