Adebayor accuses family of using ‘juju’ against him

By Edwin Kwakofi | CitiFM Online |

Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor has accused his mother and sisters of plotting against him using ‘juju’.

The player told Accra-based radio station, Peace Fm on Thursday when he was asked about his relationship with his family:  “How can I talk to a mother who together with my sisters have been plotting juju against me?”

The player, speaking to British newspaper the Daily Mail in 2009, had spoken of his pride at representing his family internationally when he started his career in France, claiming he was “playing for their sake.”

“At the airport my mum said, ‘go to France and you can change the way this family lives.’ She knew that if I succeeded in football we could have a better life and finally get out of poverty. At 15 I wasn’t just playing for my own glory, I was playing for the sake of my family,” he had said.

Adebayor’s sister had earlier revealed in a interview with the station that the Tottenham Hotspur striker had abandoned his family, leaving them in an impoverished state and had declined to answer any of the calls they had made to him for over a year.

“As at now, our mother is selling polythene bags, padlocks and other things on the [Ghana-Togo] border. Our mother has not seen him for more than a year and he rejects her calls anytime. Our mother is not calling him for his money, she just wants to see him because she loves him very much,” she said.

But Adebayor in a sharp rebuttal said “They should stop talking talking,they should stop doing Juju on me; they should leave me alone…The one talking there and calling herself my sister I bought a house in East Legon for $1.2m…can you imagine that sister went to rent the house without my knowledge?”

Responding to accusations from his family that he does not take care of his siblings, Adebayor said the rest of his siblings can work and take care of themselves including their mother and so “they should do that”.

He told Peace FM that his family has already shared all his belongings even though he is still alive.

“They shared my houses, they shared my cars, they say if he dies this car is for you, this house is for you, can you imagine?”

The 30-year-old, who was born to Nigerian parents, played in Togo’s 3-1 defeat against Ghana in Tamale on Wednesday. CitiFM Online