5 August 2018
During the just concluded FIFA World Cup held in Russia, the Super Eagles of Nigeria failed to make it pass the first round of the competition.
It was heartbreaking and disappointing but most of us found new teams to support and continue to enjoy the World Cup. Two teams, especially, got the support of most Nigerians: Croatia and France. Incidentally, these two teams made it to the finals of the mundial.
Many persons threw their support for Croatia because of their super model president. The woman is so beautiful, there is no way you will not love her. She was the cheerleader of her national team and this charmed a lot of Nigerians.
But not me. I wasn't supporting Croatia. I didn't forgive them for trashing the Super Eagles 2:0 in their opening game. No country who beat mine at the World Cup was going to get my support no matter how beautiful their President is. QED.
I supported France. I supported them because during the World Cup their president visited Nigeria and implored us to support France. I supported France because it felt like watching a Nigerian team, with all their black players; and yes France won the World Cup. Oh how sweet the victory was, because it was Croatia they pummelled in the finals. I felt like I got my pound of flesh.
But the sad truth is that, as much as we supported Croatia or France, we knew that that team wasn't our team. As we cheered, we knew that OUR TEAM had already exited the World Cup. When Kylian Mpappe scored that goal, I jumped out of my seat and screamed my lungs out, but I knew that that goal I was celebrating wasn't scored by one of my strikers.
I knew my team. I knew my strikers. I knew that France wasn't Nigeria; forget all those black guys on their team, that team was never a Nigerian team. It was France that won the World Cup, it was Pogba that scored at the finals not Musa; no anthropological and racial dissertation is going to change that.
I hope you get it.
If you get it, then you will get this.
Senators are cross carpeting, House members are changing parties, governors are defecting. We are watching how politicians are playing each other and out playing themselves; I see a lot of people celebrating the shenanigans and maradonaism of these politicians. Some of us are already determining who the winners and losers are; we have already concluded who won the golden boot, the golden ball and the golden glove.
But… Remember…
DEAR NIGERIAN, THAT TEAM YOU ARE CHEERING IS NOT OUR TEAM; THAT GOAL YOU ARE CELEBRATING WASN'T SCORED BY OUR STRIKER.
You might have your reason for supporting that team you are cheering, maybe because their president is beautiful; maybe because the team is populated with people that look like you… But don't forget its not your team.
You still don't have steady light. You still don't have good roads. You still school in shitholes. Your justice system is one of the slowest is the world. Your country is the new poverty capital of the world. Your police and armed forces can't protect you. Your president says the youths are lazy. The National Assembly takes more than 6 months to pass the budget.
So, just remember that that team you are cheering is not your team, that goal you are celebrating wasn't scored by your striker.
Stop cheering gladiators who are simply realigning to kill you. Stop celebrating a striker who has just scored against you. You see, to these guys, it's just a macabre game and you, dear Nigerian, is nothing but just the ball they kick around.
The game has even become very insulting. How can a Governor leave his party after 3 years in office, with just 1 year left, and tells you he is leaving because the party has failed? Think am na, think am. Can a political party fail without the elected officials of that party failing?
So, DEAR NIGERIAN, THAT TEAM YOU ARE CHEERING IS NOT OUR TEAM; THAT GOAL YOU ARE CELEBRATING WASN'T SCORED BY OUR STRIKER.
Stop the cheering. Stop running commentary on the sidelines. Stop being a spectator in the game of your life. Gather your team members, choose your captain and prepare for the finals of the World Cup of our lives come 2019!
First Baba Isa (FBI) is a Legal Practitioner and writes from Abuja.
