At 74, Nigerian football legend Segun Odegbami, famously known as “Mathematical,” has opened up about the less-public chapters of his life, from the collapse of his marriage to his long-ended romance with businesswoman Oyindamola Adeyemi.
In a deeply personal reflection, Odegbami admitted that he was not a good husband, saying prolonged separation from his family contributed significantly to the failure of his marriage to Jumoke Tejumola Odegbami.
He married Jumoke in February 1978, but the marriage eventually collapsed after his family relocated abroad while he remained in Nigeria.
The former football star said the years apart created a distance that became impossible to repair.
“I was not” a good husband, he admitted, explaining that he could not properly manage the situation he had created.
The marriage was eventually dissolved legally, with the High Court in Ibadan granting a decree nisi on June 21, 2012.
But while Odegbami’s marriage ended, another relationship would later become one of the most intriguing chapters of his personal life.
He described Oyindamola Adeyemi, with whom he had a son, as his “best friend,” revealing that they once came close to marriage and even held a family introduction ceremony.
Yet the relationship did not culminate in marriage.
Instead, the romance ended more than a decade ago, while their friendship survived.
“We are not married. We will not be married,” Odegbami said, explaining that both of them eventually recognised that friendship was the better foundation for their relationship.
Today, he says there is no romantic partner in his life.
“No one, romantically. My children!” he said when asked who occupies his heart.
Odegbami also revealed that modern football would have changed the way he handled his career.
“If the Segun Odegbami of 1980 were playing today,” he suggested, he could have become “very big” financially through European salaries, endorsements and sophisticated sports marketing.
Looking back, he believes he underestimated the commercial value of his talent.
“I ‘sold’ my career too cheaply!” he declared.
For Odegbami, however, his final scorecard will not be measured in money, medals or fame.
He wants his legacy to be one of integrity, education, fatherhood and service.
“Fame is sweet, fleeting and ephemeral,” he warned his younger self. “Education is the key and a security.”
And when the final whistle eventually comes, he hopes Nigerians will simply say of him:
“He stood for integrity and a good name.