‘Ask questions before taking anything’ – Obuh advises African stars as doping bans take centre stage

Former Nigeria youth coach John Obuh has advised African footballers to always ask questions before taking any substances while on international duty.

Obuh spoke to Goal concerning the alarming number of doping incidents involving African stars, after Mali duo Sekou Koita and Mohamed Camara were handed three-month bans by Uefa in February.

RB Salzburg disclosed that the duo had taken altitude sickness drugs while on international duty last November which contained a substance banned by the European football body.

Earlier in February, Cameroon and Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana was banned for 12 months after he took medication prescribed for his spouse, and a banned substance was found in his urine sample after an out-of-competition drugs test in October.

Onana has rejected the ban and he is ready to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but Koita and Camara accepted their punishment.

Obuh, in his counsel, urged footballers to shun drugs and he also pointed out that the punishment, after serving it, might be a cause of shame throughout a player's career.

“Everything has its own disadvantages,” Obuh told Goal.

“It is not easy for any player to take any substances given to them by the Federation because most of these young players are so scared that they don't want to speak out, but if it were to be any player that's coming from abroad, that's of African origin, I'm sure the player will ask what that thing is, they don't just take anything.

"All these unnecessary energy drinks floating everywhere, they could also result in a positive test if they contain any banned substances.

“They just need to be very careful and players should ask questions too, talk to medical personnel and their parents. If they ban the player for two or three years now, the stigma is already on him because it will be in his head that Fifa or Uefa banned him some time ago.”

The former Nigeria U17 and U20 coach went further to cite examples of situations he had encountered while on international assignments, including age-cheating.

He continued: “It's a general thing that I have seen in most of the competitions I've attended, but because you asked with respect to African players I want to believe that Africans generally are strong enough except if the person is playing above his age category.

"Most of the time when you declare you can't perform optimally that's when you see most of them taking enhancement drugs. Even when you succeed, you will still have the feeling of cheating.

“I have seen a situation where somebody cheated of his age but could not break into the team because the age was lower, and by the time he had to wait for the signing, he was already clocking 30.

"You can imagine the difference if at 30 years, he is playing against 18-year-olds.”