Chess player, Oladapo Adu, who represented Nigeria at the chess competition in Sierra Leone, attempted to get to Lagos via road trip but has been stuck in Ivory Coast.
He travelled from his base in the United States to represent Nigerian at the Zone 4.2 Individual Chess Championship in Freetown, Sierra Leone which ended on Friday, March 20, 2020.And since then Oladapo Adu has been unable to return home. He has been stranded for more than 12 weeks in Cote d’Ivoire due to the coronavirus lockdown that led to restrictions in travelling.
After the competition was cut short in Freetown, Adu had attempted a road trip back to Lagos but was turned back at the Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana border by Ghanaian police. The chess player said he is depressed and traumatised by the whole experience as he currently stays with strangers.
It has been from one accommodation to another while in Cote d’Ivoire. However, he eventually got help from a pastor in Lagos who connected him with where he is currently staying.
He explained that the competition went on during the early stages of the coronavirus in Africa but was quickly ended on March 20 when the situation got worse. According to him, he has been unable to get any sort of help from the Nigerian government and the Chess Federation.
The President of the Nigerian Chess Federation, Adeyemi Lekan, however, told BBC Sport Africa that he has been in constant communication with Adu and claimed to have reached an agreement with the Ivory Coast Chess Federation president to provide a monthly sum of N91,000 ($200) to Adu for his upkeep although Adu also insisted he has not received such money.
The Ivory Coast Chess Federation President, however, also confirmed in the report that he has not reached any of such agreement but said he gave the sum of N78, 000 ($172) to a chess player that hosted Adu at his apartment.
Oladapo Adu, who won the chess competition back to back in 2015 and 2016, was selected alongside four players to represent Nigeria at the competition.