One of Anthony Joshua’s team has admitted ‘everybody is worried’ about how the British boxing star will be able to deal with the trauma of losing two close friends in the horrific car crash in Nigeria.
Joshua miraculously escaped with minor injuries but long-time friends Sina Ghami and Kevin Latif Ayodele were killed in the crash after their SUV ploughed into a stationary truck on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Makun, Nigeria.
AJ was discharged from hospital late on New Year’s Eve and paid an emotional visit to a funeral home to pay his respects.
Kolawole Omoboriowo has known AJ for eight years and broke the news to his family about the accident.
He coordinates Joshua’s logistics in Nigeria and described the crash as ‘a crazy nightmare’ and said Ayodele, one of the deceased, was ‘like a twin brother’ to the boxer.
Omoboriowo told Sky News: ‘What is actually in my head now is: “How do we get AJ out of that traumatised situation?”. And that is just the only thing that everybody is worried about right now.
Anthony Joshua was in a horrific car crash that killed two of his best friends in Nigeria
Joshua’s friend Kolawole Omoboriowo said everybody is concerned about the boxer
‘Right now, everybody might think AJ is okay. But we don’t know how he’s going to take it.
‘But right now we just want everybody to actually like give him a moment to actually relax, rest, and we pick it up from there.
He added: ‘We just need to keep praying for AJ, for God to give him the strength to be able to carry on with these losses.’
Joshua was discharged from hospital on Wednesday and in a statement to the Daily Mail, the regional of governments of Lagos and Ogun states read: ‘We pray The Almighty grant the repose of their souls whilst granting their families and loved ones the fortitude to bear this very sad and painful loss.
‘Anthony Joshua was discharged from hospital late this afternoon though heavy hearted and full of emotions over the loss of his two close friends he was deemed clinical fit to recuperate from home.’
Joshua was positioned in the rear passenger seat on the left hand side behind the driver, who also survived.
His two friends on the right of the vehicle died after the collision.
An eyewitness told Punch newspaper: ‘It was a two-vehicle convoy: a Lexus SUV and a Pajero SUV.
‘Joshua was seated behind the driver, with another person beside him. There was also a passenger sitting beside the driver, making four occupants in the Lexus that crashed. His security detail was in the vehicle behind them before the crash.
‘Other eyewitnesses and I began the rescue and flagged down oncoming vehicles to assist. A few minutes after the crash, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps arrived.’
Footage taken at the roadside showed the boxer grimacing in agony as he was moved from the wrecked vehicle into a police cruiser.
Nigeria’s president revealed on Monday that Joshua’s mother Yeta Odusanya had rushed to his bedside at the hospital after being informed of the crash.
Latif Ayodele (centre) and Sina Ghami (right) both died in the crash on Monday
The driver of vehicle involved could face prosecution for reckless driving.
Police have received a statement from the local driver, who had been hired for the trip, after he was discharged from hospital.
‘Anthony Joshua’s driver has been discharged from the hospital, and he is currently giving his statement,’ a spokesperson of the Nigerian Police Force, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, told the Daily Mail.
Babatunde Akinbiyi, a spokesperson for Ogun State’s Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, confirmed a preliminary investigation into the crash has been conducted.
The investigation has concluded that the car had been ‘speeding’, with the front tyre on the passenger side then bursting, causing the driver to lose control.
After the fatal road collision, Joshua was rushed to the Duchess International Hospital in Lagos, which has been rated the best private hospital in Nigeria for the past two years.
Local police told Daily Mail Sport that Joshua is ‘stable’ and suffered only ‘minor’ injuries, although there are fears they could be more severe than publicised.
