At 74, the stadium roars have faded into the quiet of a solitary existence. Segun Odegbami rarely replays old matches in his head, nor does he long for the multi-million-dollar European salaries of contemporary football. Instead, as his body ages, reminding him of his mortality, Odegbami looks forward with a striking, urgent clarity to a more fruitful, selfless twilight.
From the profound lessons of unconditional fatherhood to his enduring, post-romance alliance with prominent business tycoon, Oyindamola Adeyemi, Nigeria’s ultimate Number 7, aka ‘Mathematical Odegbami’, in this interview, proves that his greatest victory isn’t a silver trophy, but his unshakeable grip on his own integrity
You recently turned 74. When you look in the mirror today, who do you see, the footballer millions of Nigerians remember, or a completely different Segun Odegbami?
People remind me constantly about my relationship with football on a daily basis to the extent that I look at most of life through the prism of football. Even in maturing to the person that I am today, football (as a part of sport) has been at the core of my life’s journey – my work, my pastime, my social engagements, my projects, most things around me.
You recently described this stage of your life as the “evening” of your journey and every additional day as a bonus. Has turning 74 made you think differently about mortality, legacy and the things that truly matter?
As I get older, and refuse to acknowledge the increasing numbers in my age that stare at me, physically, my slowly ‘withering’ body makes me acknowledge mortality, the increasing aches and pains, the small health conditions, more aging and dying colleagues around. There is no ‘whole lifetime ahead’ any more, as I used to think in my younger days. Getting things done NOW, not prevaricating over issues, seeing the positives and opportunities in most things around me now, have become my response to the constant reminder of the inevitability of mortality.
If the Segun Odegbami of 1980 were playing today, with European salaries, endorsements and modern sports marketing, how big do you think “Mathematical” would have become?
Ah, very big, I believe. I could have approached my football career differently, not just as an object of passion and for national service, but as one that had the power to take care of me for the rest of my life! I would have given it my all deliberately, and played more intentionally, packaged and marketed myself better. I ‘sold’ my career too cheaply!
People know almost everything about Segun Odegbami the footballer, but surprisingly little about Segun Odegbami the husband, companion and lover. Was that deliberate?
No, that aspect of me is just a reflection of the life I lived after sports.
You were married to Jumoke Tejumola Odegbami. Looking back today, what happened to that marriage, and what did its breakdown teach you about yourself?
I don’t like to look back at that period. My young family moved abroad and started to live there. I did not move abroad with them. The time spent apart from family expanded to several years. It created irreversible damage. Living alone in Nigeria, with all the fame I had, created a gap that I could not fill as the years rolled by.
Let me ask you very simply: were you a good husband?
No, I was not. I could not manage the situation I created for myself well enough.
Could you please clarify when your first marriage ended and when the divorce was officially finalized?
I married Jumoke Tejumola in February 1978. We were together for many years, but somewhere along the line, the marriage broke down and we started living apart. Eventually, I had to take the legal steps to formally bring that chapter of my life to a close. On June 21, 2012, the High Court in Ibadan granted the decree nisi for the dissolution of the marriage. It was a long and important chapter of my life, but sometimes relationships simply run their course. You accept it, learn from it and move on with your life.
Football gave you extraordinary fame while you were still relatively young. Did fame make marriage and perhaps fidelity more difficult?
It was more the separation by distance that did the most damage. Not the game. I learned to live alone and by myself, and got used to it. That ‘freedom’ allowed me to endure all the hardships I encountered because I was by myself, accountable to no one. I had to pay a high price for that for the rest of my life.
You once publicly clarified that you are a monogamist and not a polygamist. Why was correcting that perception important to you?
Because, I was never a polygamist. There may be the perception out there in public that I have been married more than once. Since my divorce I have not remarried. I was going to try again, but it never happened.
Having experienced marriage and relationships, do you think you understand women better today than you did 30 or 40 years ago?
No. I can’t claim such authority. Women are complex. My life is complicated too.
At 74, what does companionship mean to you? Do you still believe in marriage?
Companionship to me now is having a friend you can share good times with. I do not see marriage in the picture. I cannot cope with the complexities of multiple relationships in the family. So, no marriage for me again.
Chief, let me take you somewhere a little more personal. For years, your name and that of businesswoman Oyindamola Adeyemi were romantically linked, with different accounts of exactly what the relationship was. So, let us hear it from Segun Odegbami himself: what exactly was Oyindamola Adeyemi to you?
My best friend. Then, when we first met, till now. She was very young and very innocent. She did not even know that I was famous, or anything like that. Because of my outdoor life style and because she was really a very private person, It took a long time for her to realize the implications of a serious relationship with me and to run away. We became so close that we even had a family introduction ceremony that probably would have led to marriage. But it never did. When our son came, it was like a wake-up call for her. You know, she is a sure-footed person, strong-willed and very focused. She knew what she wanted in life and went after it. I was a distraction for her, away from where she was heading. That’s why she is such a very successful woman succeeding so well in a man’s world. She has always been a deep thinker and scholar, very knowledgeable and very well-read academically. On top of that she is very beautiful. So, we just became very good friends with some romance. A son came wonderfully into the picture. We are not married. We will not be married. We settled that matter over a decade ago.
There were reports at one point that the relationship was heading towards marriage. How close did the two of you actually come to getting married?
It could have ended in marriage but obviously it would not have worked out well. We were better off at been just very good friends. In a way, we complimented each other. Opposite ‘poles’ attracting.
