How NFF truncated my footballer dream, Singer Crayon reveals

Nigerian pop artiste, Charles Chibuezechukwu, known as Crayon, has narrated how depressed he was after some top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), hindered his dream of becoming a professional player.

The ‘Trench To Triumph’ crooner said he was selected to be part of a national youth team in 2015 but was later dropped by some corrupt officials.He said the incident contributed to the depression he suffered in 2015.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. It 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, NFF officials picked me and they had to like to swindle me and pick someone else because the person had money and connections. So, at that point, I became disappointed. I went home depressed.”