article about this in the guardian:
Paul Doyle
Thursday August 4, 2005
Obafemi Martins, the old man.
A friend of the Mill's, a friend you hear, has a problem. His body is worn and decrepit, his chatter shallow and rude. People look at him and think he's 75, then talk to him and deduce he's 10. He never bothers revealing his true age, since he rightly reckons the confusion is the only thing about him that's interesting.
Internazionale striker Obafemi Martins, on the other hand, boasts plenty of intriguing traits, such as his knack of scoring from all kinds of angles and his ability to somersault like a car in a Hollywood crash, but his age also baffles. Inter have always believed the Nigerian was born on October 28 1984, making him a mere slip of a lad at 20. But information on the Nigerian FA's website suggests the man who graduated from Inter's youth team just three years ago may, in fact, have been born on May 1 1978, making him a veteran of 27. Though it's possibly just an adminstrative blunder, Inter, who earlier this summer rejected seeral bids for the player, are investigating and are worried Martins's market value will plummet and they may be liable to all kinds of ghastly sanctions to boot.
and an article about the whole issue from a nigerian website:
Nigeria FA webmaster admits mistakes in players` details
Posted To The Web: Saturday, August 13, 2005
Lagos, 08/13 - The designer of the Nigeria Football Association`s (FA) website, who was arrested last week, has admitted his faults for false personal details of several top Nigerian stars including Inter striker Obafemi Martins.
According to Thursday`s The Punch daily, Adekunle Iyiola admitted in a statement to the police making mistakes in the players` details he put on the Nigeria FA`s website.
"On the misinformation, about players` age, I mistakenly posted the wrong information late last year which I took responsibility for by asking the players involved to forgive me and the nation," he said.
Iyiola was reportedly hired to design the website in June 2003 at the cost of 120, 000 naira (about 902 US dollars) and later asked to update and maintain it.
According to him, the Nigeria FA paid him 180, 000 naira (about 1,353 dollars) for the first six months and stopped paying thereafter.
Iyiola`s lawyer had approached the police to grant Iyiola bail but her request was turned down. The lawyer stated that Iyiola had since his arrest been denied access to his family and relatives.
Nigerian Sports Minister Saidu Sambawa had alleged that the errors on the website were an act of sabotage "sponsored by disgruntled management staff of the Nigeria FA to post falsehood on the site to embarrass the present management."
Most of the Nigeria FA staff were shown the door early this year in a major re-shuffle.