Joseph Dosu, a former goalkeeper with the Super Eagles, narrowly escaped death in a car accident in the Ojodu Berger area of Lagos State.
Dosu confirmed the incident on Friday, October 4, 2024, on Facebook. He described how a truck laden with iron veered off the road and crushed his car while he was waiting to buy fuel at a filling station.
“To God be the glory, another death escape by grace and mercy of God… I and my friend SM were at Enyo filling station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel… when this Mack truck with registration number LND 470 XX, fully loaded with iron, left the road and crushed my car,” he wrote.
Dosu’s career was prematurely ended by a spinal cord injury sustained in a 1997 car accident along Ikorodu Road in Lagos. Prior to the accident, he had won the 1996 Atlanta Olympics football gold medal as Nigeria’s top-choice goalkeeper and had signed with Italian Serie A club Reggiana.
He narrated: “My career was short-lived because of the accident. It happened after we beat Guinea 3-0 to qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France. After the game, we went back to Sheraton, our hotel, and I prepared to visit my wife and children. I was with a friend, on Saturday, a policeman on my way home when I had the accident.
“Suddenly, everywhere went blank; all I could see were cows everywhere. As I tried to control the car, I veered off the road. I asked the guy beside me, ‘Saturday are you okay?’ And he said, ‘Yes I’m okay.’ And I told him, ‘I’m not okay.’ So we were waiting for help and suddenly Taribo West’s car was passing by though he wasn’t inside. They saw us and rescued us and took us to Eko Hospital.
“The first thing the matron did was to smell my mouth to find out if I was on alcohol. And I replied immediately, ‘I don’t drink and smoke. It’s just an accident that can happen to anybody. Before I knew it, I passed out and when I woke up, I found myself in Plaster of Paris.”
