Former Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor has emotionally recounted the devastating bus attack on the national squad just before the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Angola, stating the trauma fundamentally changed his outlook on life.
The attack occurred on January 8, 2010, as the Togolese delegation traveled by road into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda. Separatists launched a gun attack that left the bus driver seriously wounded and led to a vicious, half-hour firefight.
Adebayor, fearing for his life while crouching in the bullet-riddled bus, frantically called his pregnant partner with a final wish, instructing her to name their child “Junior Emmanuel” or “Princess Emmanuella.”
He admits that he and the players were unaware they were driving into a “war zone,” despite joking about the heavily armed security escort. The attack tragically resulted in the deaths of two delegation members: the assistant coach Amelete Abalo and Adebayor’s personal assistant, Stanislas Ocloo, whom the striker saw die in front of him after multiple bullets hit him in the stomach. Third-choice goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale was also shot in the spine.
Adebayor believes more lives were saved by a “life-saving decision” at the border: the team mistakenly took the bus without air conditioning instead of the air-conditioned one carrying their kit. He posits that the attackers, seeing the players through the open windows of the second bus, thought they were supporters and attacked the first bus, which he believes was hit by a grenade or bomb.
After the team was withdrawn from the tournament, Adebayor credits his club, Manchester City, for providing a psychologist who helped him deal with the trauma, telling him to embrace every moment as if it were his last.
However, he admitted the trauma persists; even today, loud noises or action films featuring guns trigger painful memories of the Cabinda attack. Adebayor’s partner gave birth to a girl in June of that year, whom they named Kendra.
