Dennis Oliech has relived detail of his multi-million offer to change his citizenship from Kenyan to Qatari.
The offer came many months after he left Kenya and signed up with a football club in Qatar, Al-Arai FC.
Speaking on Bonga na Jalas show on YouTube, Oliech who has been a subject of debate for a while now in the Kenyan circles says he was given an Arabic name ‘Ferhan Mesad’ when he arrived in Qatar.
He did not ask much about it because he always identified himself as Denis from Kenya.
His first three months are Al-Arabi FC were frustrating and on two occasions, he tried to flee back to Kenya but always went back.
He says this was because of frustration because he was benched for three months without playing and was only going for practice. In all these three months, his Al-Arabi team never won any single match.
“I trained for three months at Al-Arabi without playing any game,” he recalled adding “it was one hell of a journey”.
“I tried to flee twice because I was frustrated. I would only train and go back home, train and then go back home.”
After three months, he finally got his shot and with his striker prowess, Al-Arabi FC won the first match in three months. This is when he got recognition.
After many games thereafter, his team won and rose from position 18 to the third position in his league.
This is what drew his attention to Qatar Football Federation who wondered why a star player like him was not playing for the national team.
He was summoned. When he arrived there, Oliech recounts that he was given orders to join Qatar’s national football team and switch his citizenship to millions of money.
In the past, he recalled getting an offer for over Ksh800 million to drop his Kenyan citizenship.
He was 22 years old then.
“Their national team was not doing well but they have heard there is one player called Ferhan Mesad, a top scorer and they wondered who is he and why is he not in our national team?
“And they told me, come play for our national team and I told them no I am a Kenyan. They insisted I am Ferhan Mesad…so they told me I have to play for their national team and change citizenship. They gave me one hour to call my family and tell them I am a Qatar player now.”
