Izuchukwu Okosi
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Special Adviser to President Muhammad Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has lambasted comments from some disgruntled Nigerians made in the light of Buhari’s phone call with the Super Eagles prior to their 1-0 defeat to Tunisia in the round of 16 of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
There were several offensive comments on social media linking the Eagles’s AFCON exit to Buhari’s pre match video call against Tunisia.
The nation’s number one citizen had a video conference with the Super Eagles to wish them well before their round of 16 game against Tunisia.
Thousands of Nigerians took to their social media handles calling out the president, saying the video conference was bad luck to the team.
“I have read many silly, idiotic and imbecilic comments, trying to link the loss to the video conference the President had with the players on Sunday morning,” Adesina responded in his social media handles.
“Witless. Thoughtless. And incidentally, if the Super Eagles had gone into the match without encouragement from their President, the same people would have come out to condemn the leader of the country for being taciturn and insensitive. Head or tail, you never win with some Nigerians.
“Nigerians were full of expectations. The Super Eagles players were confident. President Muhammadu Buhari had done what the father of the nation should do, engaging in a video conference earlier in the day to ginger the players. Alas, Nigeria lost the game by a lone goal, and exited the tournament.
“Winning is not everything-but making the EFFORT to win is,” says Lombardi. Super Eagles made the effort to win, encouraged by their President, but they lost. Sad. But that is how it is, till another day. Losing is an inevitable part of the game,” Adesina retorted.
Instructively, Buhari whilst in power 37 years ago (1985) as the military President of Nigeria addressed the conquering Golden Eaglets side that won the maiden edition of the FIFA Kodak U-16 World Cup in West Germany.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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