James Johnson, formerly known as Iyabo Abade, has asked the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for N69.7 million to fund corrective surgery so he can have children, Soccernet.ng reports.
Johnson, who was born intersex, began his football career as Iyabo Abade, playing in the Nigerian women’s league.
He scored 38 goals in the 1996 women’s league season and played for the Nigerian women’s national team, the Super Falcons, from 1997 to 2000. His career with the team ended when it was discovered he was intersex.
At 19, Abade decided to undergo surgery and changed his name to James Johnson.
In 2004, with help from then-Federal Capital Territory Minister Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Johnson had sex reassignment surgery in the United States.
Since then, he has played for men’s teams in Nigeria’s top division but has faced discrimination.
Johnson, now 45, needs further surgery to become a father. He contacted the NFF in 2023 for financial support but has yet to receive a response.
James Johnson was born intersex and used to play football for Nigeria's national women's team.
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) October 1, 2019
At around 19, he began playing for men's teams in Nigeria's top division but tells us that he faced discrimination at all levels of the game.
via @bbcnewspidgin pic.twitter.com/tD3hiuivrL
“Whenever I think about not being able to father a child, I feel broken,” Johnson wrote in a letter titled ‘Appeal for financial assistance to enable me finalise my surgery of transforming from an intersex person (male and female organs – hermaphrodite) to full-fledged man so that I can father a child’, obtained by the Punch.
“The NFF president Ibrahim Gusau is a man with a listening ear and hopefully, through him, the federation can help me achieve my dream.”
He appealed to NFF President Ibrahim Gusau for financial assistance to complete the final phases of his surgery in the US.
The surgery costs $160,000, equivalent to N69.7 million. Johnson hopes the NFF can help him achieve his dream of fatherhood.
Before quitting active football, Johnson played for NEPA Football Club and Plateau United of Jos.
