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On 8 January 2010, Togo’s team bus was ambushed in Cabinda, leaving three dead and many, including Emmanuel Adebayor, traumatized.
Togo national team bus was rolling through the Angolan province of Cabinda when it was suddenly ambushed by terrorists armed with machine guns.
What should have been a routine journey to the team’s base for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations turned into a harrowing ordeal of survival and loss.
The attack by separatists in the volatile region left three members of the Togolese delegation dead and several others wounded.
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The traumatic event, which lasted over 30 minutes, profoundly impacted team captain Emmanuel Adebayor, shaping his outlook on life and mortality.
"Since that day, something changed in me," Adebayor, now 40, shared in an interview with BBC Sport Africa.
"I started telling myself: 'You have to embrace and enjoy every single moment as if it is the last one because you never know when that is.' Cabinda made a huge difference in my life."
The Togolese squad, having prepared for the tournament in Congo-Brazzaville, opted to travel by road into Cabinda, an Angolan enclave separated by the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Despite the tournament's rules requiring air travel into the capital, Luanda, the team chose the faster route by road, accompanied by a security escort. Adebayor and his teammates had no idea they were entering a war zone.
"It was like a movie the way they dressed," Adebayor recalled, describing the heavily armed security personnel.
"You couldn't even see their eyes. They had knives, grenades, AK47s, pistols. I'm like, 'Do these people think they are ninjas?' We didn't know we were in a war zone."
As the bus drove through the rainforest, gunfire erupted. The driver was critically injured early in the attack, leaving the vehicle stranded.
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The Togolese players and staff were trapped inside the bus, which became a deadly target for relentless gunfire. Amid the chaos, third-choice goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale was shot in the spine.
Adebayor’s personal assistant, Stanislas Ocloo, was also among the injured. Riding beside Adebayor, Ocloo initially complained of stomach pain, but the gravity of his injuries soon became evident.
"When the doctor came, he actually said he had two or three bullets through the same hole," Adebayor recounted.
"When Stan heard that, he gave up."
Watching Ocloo succumb to his injuries was an unforgettable experience for Adebayor.
"I had never seen anybody die in front of me. You actually see somebody closing his eyes for the last time ever. It's so, so hard to believe."
The tragic toll could have been even higher if not for a mix-up at the Congo-Angola border.
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The players had chosen to travel on a bus without air conditioning to save time, while their luggage and kits were loaded onto another bus.
Adebayor believes this decision saved their lives, as the attackers targeted the other bus, mistaking it for the team’s transport.
"They exploded that bus. [It] was definitely either a grenade or bomb," he revealed.
In the aftermath of the attack, Togo withdrew from the tournament. A devastated Adebayor returned to England, where his club, Manchester City, provided psychological support.
"I will use this platform to say a big thanks to Manchester City because they gave me a psychologist who helped me to be another person," he said.
Fifteen years later, the trauma remains with Adebayor, triggered by loud noises resembling gunshots or action films featuring guns.
Yet, he cherishes the second chance at life the incident granted him, as well as the joy of fatherhood with his daughter, Kendra, born months after the attack.
Today, Adebayor continues to live by the philosophy he adopted in the wake of that fateful day: "You have to embrace every single moment as if it is the last one."
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