Super Falcons forward Rasheedat Ajibade has opened up about her tough childhood growing up in Mushin, Lagos.

 

 

 

 

In an interview with Stephen Akintayo, the 24-year-old footballer revealed that she started playing football as early as six or seven years old on the streets of Mushin.

 

 

 

 

According to her, the environment was rough and filled with violence, cult clashes and teenage struggles.

 

 

 

In her words:

 

 

 

“At the age of six or seven, I started playing football on the street of Mushin in Lagos… It was a very crazy environment. Where Hausa and Igbo are fighting, When they start this riot, it’s like they’re burning somebody in front of you. It’s like they’re shooting, and you’re hearing the bullets on top of your roof.”

 

 

 

She added that growing up there also meant witnessing cult activities, drug use, and even children becoming parents at a very young age.

 

 

 

 

“It’s an environment where you have young boys and girls, like at the age of 14, already into cults, with incisions on their heads, into drugs… 14-year-old girls, you see them being pregnant, becoming a mother at a very tender age.”

 

 

 

Ajibade, who now plays for Atlético Madrid Femenino, has become one of Nigeria’s brightest football stars.