The story of former Nigerian international, Victor Moses’ childhood, isn’t such a pleasant tale to tell. The winger is said to have lost his parents in a religious riot that happened in Kaduna in 2002. The rioters had invaded his house while Moses was playing football on the street. His parents, Mr & Mrs Austine & Josephine Moses, were brutally murdered and their house burnt. The story has it that the young Victor Moses was then hidden by friends for a week so he wouldn’t be killed, before his uncle flew him overseas to seek asylum.

Years have gone and Moses, who is currently on loan at Turkish side, Fernabahçe, has gone on to have a good footballing career in England, playing for premier league teams like Wigan, Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham and so on. He has also represented Nigeria at senior level, making appearances at the AFCON and FIFA World Cup.

Nigerians have always sympathized with Victor Moses over the death of his parents at such a young age. At a certain time when Moses hadn’t fully gotten the FIFA clearance to play for Nigeria, he was said to have been invited to come watch a friendly game that was played in Abuja. Nigeria also had another game after that in Kaduna and he was asked in interview if he would be going to Kaduna with the team. He said he wasn’t ready to go back there and he told the interviewers they knew why. That showed the feelings he still had for the city due to his experience there. But with revelations about his parents coming onto the public, it seems the story isn’t exactly the way it has been told and our loving Victor Moses chose the easy route to success and stardom.

That is the official story. Well folks, they are all lies.

According to numerous sources, Victor Moses’ parents are still alive, contrary to the story already known by the world. These sources state that the parents, with the name Mr and Mrs Peter Egharevba, actually reside in Edo state. The story has it that his parents and his brother, John Egharevba, were present at his wedding in 2017.

Also, in an interview with the owner of BJ foundation, which is a non league team in Benin (the team performed very well in the federation cup in 2015, getting to the quarter finals before losing 2-1 to Lobi Stars), the owner listed a number of players that have gone through the team and he mentioned Victor Moses. It brings up the question of how Moses could have been in Kaduna and still gone through the foundation at that age.

According to a reliable source, Moses’ real father is Peter Egharevba, who was a player with Bendel Insurance in the 80s. Further digging led to a story, which stated that Victor Moses’ name before he changed it, was Blessing Igbinijesu Egharevba.

I believe that the story of Victor Moses losing his parents in the Kaduna riot, was a cover up story to send Moses to the UK. During his playing time with the Super Eagles, he didn’t talk so much with the press unlike the other players in camp, leading some to believe that he could be trying to avoid the question of his dead parents being asked.

With these revelations being made and these stories been true, it means that Victor Moses is not the Kaduna boy we thought he was. Instead, he is a Benin boy. I believe he acted just like a typical Naija boy who needed to look for greener pastures outside the shores of this country.

But to think of it, does it mean the NFF had no idea about this “Truth”? Or was it a deliberate ploy by the football body to keep the truth away from the Press? No matter what the truth is, I think the Nigeria football federation has failed in its duty, by covering up such a sensitive information and misleading the public into drawing sympathy for Victor Moses and his fabricated stories, highlights the high level of incompetency being exhibited by the highest football governing body of the country.

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