I apologize for what I said - Ogu on asking Eagles to boycott Sierra Leone game

John Ogu was one of the Nigerian football stars who physically protested the end of police unit named SARS last month

The 32-year-old said he has had an encounter with the security personnel popularly known for brutalising the citizens

Nigerian midfielder John Ogu has revealed that he joined the End Sars protest because he was once a victim of the brutal police unit.

The 32-year-old has not featured for the Super Eagles since they won the AFCON 2019 bronze medal in Egypt after beaint Tusnia in the loser's final.

He told Legit.ng that the only thing that saved him that day was his name, else, it would have been a different story. He said:

"I’m from Nigeria, it is a country that I love so much. I was born here and I feel like it’s what we should do. It wasn’t like I was forced to do it, I did that because I’m also part of this.

"I’ve had the situation where SARS also stopped me, if it wasn’t because of my name John Ogu, it would have been a different thing. I had to do that because I really want the best for this country.

Ogu also called on his national team colleagues to boycott their forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sierra Leone in solidarity for Nigerians who have lost their lives.

Meanwhile, it appears that some officials of the NFF slammed him, saying what he said was unpatriotic but the former Hapeol Be'er Sheva star insisted that he did not regret his comment.

"I didn’t regret anything I said at that moment because, obviously, we saw everything that happened at the Toll Gate (Lekki) and because I’m from Nigeria and part of the people that were there to protest for a better Nigerian and then people came there to shoot at people protesting - people that recite the national anthem of Nigeria which I do when I represent the country, so I felt like what’s the point of playing if we have this kind of game in the country.

"I also thought that if these things (protest) goes on in the country, nobody would allow their kids to come and play. Even the Sierra Leoneans would not come to Nigeria for these games.

"So I felt like what’s the point playing this game. But now that things are back to normal, I obviously would want to watch the Super Eagles play, I apologize for everything I said on Twitter. The game definitely should go on as football unites us.

"John Ogu during Super Eagles' friendly match against England in 2018.Photo by Erwin Spek/Soccrates

Ogu joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Adalah in January but appears to have ended his relationship with them about eight months after.