Former Chelsea star, Mikel Obi, has stirred reactions online following an attack against demanding family members that act entitled.
In an interview with fellow football player Rio Ferdinand, the former captain of the Super Eagles bemoaned the fact that, in Africa, families frequently have the right to inherit an individual’s wealth.
According to him, when an African person gets money, many cousins and relatives start to make demands, and some of sisters married men who just wanted to be related to him because of his status.
The football player said that he sometimes had to be tough and set aside his personal demands since these people have so many children and need him to take care of them.
Mikel Obi stated that these extended family members believe he owes them money and threaten to go to the press if he refuses. It is prevalent in Africa, according to the football player.
In his words;
“When you come from Africa, when you make money, it’s not your money. You have all these relatives, cousins, and your sisters go off and get married to some guy who just wants to get married into Mikel John Obi’s family because his life is sorted, and then you start looking after this guy, and before you know it, they keep having so many kids and you look at it like,
‘Okay, you’re having this many kids, who are going to look after them?’ It’s you! It’s the culture because, for them, you owe them that, so sometimes you have to be strong and say, ‘You know what, guys, enough is enough; I don’t care’. They give you this thing whereby ‘if you don’t do it, we’re going to go to the press’. After all, what have I done for you guys? But this happens a lot in Africa. Not everybody comes out and speaks about it.”
