Former Togo Goalkeeper Coach Pleads For Help

Former Togo national team goalkeeper coach Nibombe Wake is calling for well-wishers to come to his aid to help undergo an operation at a Lome hospital.

Wake, who was in-charge of Togo national team in 2010, suffered gunshot wounds in a Togo bus attack that happened a decade ago as the team drove into Angola from neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville for that year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The 46-year-old continues to struggle with his foot injury and has now exhausted his savings seeking medical help. He is now requesting football stakeholders to come to his aid to help him seek advanced medical treatment.

“It is the bullet that entered my right foot during the shooting in Angola that really affected my health and destroyed my life,” Wake told reporters.

“Since then l could not walk even after l treated myself. I started walking by holding a crutch a few days ago.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “I am in pain and I need to seek further medical assistance. The problem is that I cannot even afford a meal at the moment because I used all my savings in treating the foot.”   [/perfectpullquote]

Wake is among the bus attack victims who are still demanding for compensation which the Togolese government promised immediately after the team returned home.

However, Togolese Football Federation (FTF) insists that all the victims of the attack were compensated with $18,500 each as tournament participation bonus despite withdrawing from the tournament.

Togo was due to play Ghana in Cabinda three days after the attack but that match was cancelled, plugging the organization of the tournament into chaos.

Their action prompted Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) to impose a four-year ban on the team.

The suspension was later lifted following intervention of then FIFA president Sepp Blatter after Togo filed an appeal at Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Wake is remembered in Africa for guiding his former Ghanaian team Goldfield to the 1997 CAF Champion League final where they lost 5-4 on penalties to Raja Casablanca of Morocco.