Kingsley Ughelumba, the father of Super Eagles defender Calvin Bassey, has appealed for assistance in reuniting with his children.
In a live session with Hellen Mutimu, the Kenyan woman who claimed Cubana Priest fathered her child, Ughelumba detailed how access to his sons — Elvis Ughelumba, Matthew Ughelumba and Calvin — was severed by their mother in 2008.
He disclosed that while his three sons were born in Italy, the youngest son Michael was born in Ireland. The native of Ihiala LGA in Anambra said the prolonged separation has left him dying in silence.
I have not seen my children for a long time because I had a little problem with my wife. My children, Calvin and Matthew, were born in Italy, while Michael was born in Ireland. I had a misunderstanding with my wife in 2008 in London. After my stay in London expired, I relocated back to Italy, he said.
Along the line, my kids needed their Nigerian passports, so their mother called me and I helped with that. However, since they signed my son to a football club, she muted everything about me. She doesn’t want me to get access to my kids again.
In 2020, I went to the UK to make sure I saw my children and my wife. I went to Leicester City, where Calvin is playing. I didn’t go there because he is now a footballer, but because I didn’t know how to reach my first son, as their mum had changed everything about them.
So I went to Leicester City because I knew that was where Calvin was. I got there, they welcomed me, and I got the address to his house to meet him.
However, when I got there, he called his mum, and he had changed drastically and got upset with me, telling me he didn’t want to see me and that he was okay with his mum. Since then, I haven’t gone back to him.
He said he also travelled tothe Ivory Coast during the Africa Cup of Nations and to Nigeria in hopes of connecting with Calvin, but without success.
During AFCON last year, I travelled to Ivory Coast and Nigeria to try to see Calvin, but I couldn’t. Since then, I have been dying in silence, he said.
I don’t have problems with my children; it’s just their mum that’s making me feel bad. I’m still in communication with my first son, and he still accepts me as his father. I just want everyone to help out. I want to see my children.
He explained that a husband-wife argument with their mother was taken personally, leading to the children being taken away without his knowledge and leaving him cut off from them for years.
We had an argument as husband and wife, but she took it differently. Before I returned from work, she had already rented a van and taken the children away, he added.
She only reached out in 2017 because the children needed Nigerian passports. I sent all my documents and paid for their flight tickets.
When they stayed with me then, I never told them their mother had done anything to me. She has cut off communication since Calvin signed for a football club.
Bassey, who came through Leicester City’s youth system, rose to fame after joining Rangers in 2020, winning the Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup in two seasons.
He moved to Ajax in 2022 for €23 million, then to Fulham a year later for €22 million.
The 26-year-old made his Nigeria debut in March 2022 and has since earned 43 caps, playing in the last two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Earlier in his career, he was listed under his father’s surname Ughelumba, but later adopted his mother’s name, crediting her support for his success.
Ughelumba had publicly spoken about the issues two years ago.
