Ex-Nigerian international, Osaze Odemwingie, has claimed that over 70 per cent of African professional footballers patronise native doctors.
According to Odemwingie, these African players make use of witch doctors to boost their medical conditions and performances on the pitch.
The former West Brom striker, who last played for Nigerian at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Russia, stated this in an interview with Pulse.
The 36-year-old said: “What did you encounter when I moved to Nigeria at the age of 17? With a football player. In training, I rolled my own two legs, I left the rolled-up roll, but in the fall I also hurt my shoulder and broke my arm. Mom was afraid to tell, so they took me to the local shamans [native doctors]. They poured hot water to relax their muscles.
“Somehow they returned the hand to the place, while I yelled, they twisted some small sticks. They conjured something else to grow better. Some local affairs. Something was connected with the chicken, some kind of rite. I come home, my mother saw the hand: “Broke?”. I answer: “Aha.” They were taken to a regular hospital, anesthesia was done, they put the plaster on. All is well in the end.”
Odemwingie added: “Just at least 70% of players believe in it. They think that some kind of salve will save them. This is more suggestion. Brainwashing goes. But three years in Nigeria have been helpful to me. They called me to the big league, and there my career developed much faster.”
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