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African football legend Emmanuel Adebayor has opened up on the traumatic gun attack on the Togolese national team’s bus during the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Angola.
Togo’s team bus en route to the team's base in Cabinda province was ambushed by separatists who had never agreed with Portugal's decision to incorporate Cabinda into Angola and started firing at them.
The players hid under their seats as a bloody shootout broke out after their bus driver was gravely injured early on, making it impossible for him to take the squad away. The attackers killed the driver and wounded nine others, including two players.
Kodjovi Obilale, the third-choice goalie, was struck in the spine during the at least thirty-minute-long attack.
Fifteen years on, Adebayor, then captain of the side, has disclosed what he was up to when the bullets were flying over their heads while trapped in the team’s bus being sprayed with guns.
He told BBC Africa that his last wish was to name his unborn child as his life flashed before his eyes. So, he called his pregnant partner and said to her:
‘Listen, if the baby is a boy, name him Junior Emmanuel. If she’s a little girl, make sure you name her Princess Emmanuella’. She [replied] ‘Why? Why? Why are you telling me this??’
Then they started shooting again and I had to throw the phone somewhere.
Dealing with trauma
The former Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City, and Crystal Palace striker also shared how the ordeal changed his outlook on life.
Since that day, something changed in me. I started telling myself: ‘You have to embrace and enjoy every single moment as if it is the last one because you never know when that is’. Cabinda made a huge difference in my life.
Adebayor noted that the trauma from the attack had not gone away despite receiving counselling when he returned to Manchester City, the club he was playing for at the time. He admitted to having difficulty watching action movies as gunshot sounds trigger him.