I Haven’t Seen My Children for 18 Years— Calvin Bassey Father Publicly Pleads for Reconciliation, Says Super Eagles Star Refuses to See Him

The father of Super Eagles defender Calvin Bassey has publicly opened up about the pain of being separated from his children for nearly two decades and is now begging for a chance to reconnect.

Kingsley Ughelumba shared his heartbreaking story in an emotional interview, explaining that he hasn’t had a real relationship with his sons—Calvin, Mathew, Elvis, and the youngest, Michael—for 18 years. He revealed that Calvin, Mathew, and Elvis were born in Italy, while Michael was born in Ireland. Before everything fell apart, the family lived together peacefully in London.

Speaking about how the separation happened, he said to PUNCH: “We had husband-and-wife arguments. I went to work, and before I returned, she had left with the children.

“She only reached out in 2017 when my children needed Nigerian passports. I sent all my documents and bought all their flight tickets. When they stayed with me then, I never told them their mum did anything to me. She has muted me since he signed for a football club.”

“I have not seen my children for a long time.

“During COVID in 2020, I drove all the way from London to Leicester when Calvin was playing there. I wasn’t looking for him because he was a footballer; I wanted to see my first son, but I didn’t have access because their mother had changed everything. I didn’t have their numbers or anything.”

“When I got to Leicester City, the club welcomed me and called Calvin. There was a name I used to call him when he was small—‘Biggy’. When they called him that, he responded immediately.”

“I spoke to him and he gave me an address. When I got there and he saw me, he called his mum and afterwards he changed. He got upset and told me to say whatever I wanted to say and leave. He said he didn’t want to see me again and drove off.”

Ughelumba didn’t give up. He even traveled from Italy to Abidjan during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, hoping to catch a glimpse of his son or speak to him.

He added: “During Nigeria vs Angola, a journalist helped link me with the football federation. They gave me tickets and I watched the match. After that, I went to Abuja to try again, but I still didn’t see him.

“Since then, I have been dying in silence. I don’t have any problems with my children—it’s just their mum that made me feel bad. Even if I am a devil, I can’t be a devil where my children are.”

Calvin Bassey, now 26, has built an impressive career. He joined Ajax from Rangers in July 2022 for €23m (a club-record fee for Rangers at the time), then moved to Fulham in the Premier League for €22m a year later. He made his Nigeria debut in March 2022 during the World Cup playoff against Ghana and has since earned 43 caps, becoming a key player for the Super Eagles in recent AFCON tournaments.

Early in his career, Calvin was sometimes listed as Calvin Ughelumba on team sheets, using his father’s surname. But as he rose to prominence, he switched to his mother’s surname, Bassey, and has always spoken gratefully about her support.

In past interviews, Calvin has said: “He’s just not in my life — we lived with him, but that was when I was really young,” Bassey once said when asked about his father.

“Since I was six, it has been mum and us boys. I knew that if I got the chance to put my name on the back of a shirt, I wanted it to be my mum’s name—my way of saying thank you.”