Day 21 (Wednesday, 7 January, 2026)
Goodbye To Fez, As Super Eagles Go On Strike!
Strike Shock Ahead Of Quarterfinal Clash
BY THE time you read this, I will be on a train from Fez to Marrakech for the Super Eagles’s AFCON 2025 quarterfinal clash against the Desert Warriors of Algeria on Saturday the 10th.
Oh!, you wonder whether the match will take place because players and officials of the Super Eagles boycotted training on Wednesday and threatened not to travel to Marrakech on Thursday for the game? Of course, I know that you’ve heard about that recurring, embarrassing story which has been all over the social and traditional media. But, don’t worry, the matter will be resolved as usual and the Super Eagles will file out against Algeria in Marrakech.
Familiar Embarrassment For Nigerian Sports
In fact, by the time you’re reading this, the team is probably airborne en route to Marrakech or they have arrived there already. Our national sports teams downing tools or threatening to boycott events unless their allowances were paid has become a sad but familiar story.
I wonder why our sports officials, in this case the Nigeria Football Federation, can’t seem to learn any lessons ever and nip these situations in the bud.
NFF, Players And The Question Of Timing
When Shina Okeleji of the BBC broke the news on his “X” handle on Wednesday, I called my contacts in the FA immediately to verify it. Sadly, they confirmed it but assured that efforts were on to resolve the issue. My only fear is that this latest but unnecessary distraction might have already cost us a semifinal berth at his AFCON. Karma, the inimitable Law of Natural Justice, can be unforgiving. Why should we expect to win a game that I graded as a “50-50” in my diary yesterday, when our opponents are better prepared and focused?
Who to blame? Both parties. Of course, the NFF carries the larger share of the blame for giving room for this to happen yet again. If they had paid the players as at when due, we would not be having this discussion on the eve of such an important game. But the team themselves are culpable for choosing the wrong time to air their grievances.
Broken Promises, Karma And World Cup Echoes
Is it not at this same tournament that the players have said that they would give everything to “compensate Nigerian fans” and make up for their failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Yet, they have now embarked on the same ruinous path that they travelled en route to losing their final World Cup ticket opportunity to the Democratic Republic of Congo not too long ago. So, what changed their mindset so suddenly after giving their word to the Nigerian people?
We have not heard any explanation from the FA on the reason for their failure to pay the players on time. It would be the usual excuses about paucity of funds and bureaucratic delays in government processes. But these excuses are not tenable. The FA had at least one year since we qualified for this AFCON to prepare. They always knew about government delays. The least they could have done was to go and borrow money from a bank with the guaranteed AFCON payments that they will receive from CAF as collateral. It would have been better to incur high interest rates on such bank loans than to plunge Nigeria into this needless embarrassment yet again.
On the part of the team, President Bola Tinubu’s gesture of fulfilling the promises that he made to them for finishing second at the last AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire, just before kickoff of this tournament, should have been considered in their decision-making. The President sent a delegation to Morocco to deliver documents for real estate promised to the players because he was determined to fulfill that promise before this tournament got under way. That should have counted for something with the players that, even if there was a delay, they would get their allowances eventually.
To be frank, I didn’t plan to discuss this unfortunate incident at this length to open my diary today. I just wanted to focus on my trip to Marrakech and my emotional departure from Fez, the city that has been my abode for the past three weeks. But what can I say? Let’s hope that the FA and the team have reached a compromise by the time this diary is published, and we all can switch our focus to the match against Algeria. Or, have we lost it already, Karma?!
Journey From Fez To Marrakech
THE 527 kilometres journey from Fez to Marrakech is estimated to take the best of seven hours on the ONCF train service, one of CAF’s local partners for the AFCON in Morocco. My photographer Ganiyu Yusuf and I went to the train station in Fez to make the enquiries and we were told by the young lady ticket officer that a train left for Marrakech every hour beginning at four O’Clock in the morning. We choose the 10 O’Clock schedule so that we could arrive in Marrakech before nightfall.
Freelance photographer Segun Ogunfeyitimi and Complete Sports reporter James Agberebi would be joining us on the trip, so we picked up four tickets for 260 Dirhams each (about $70 US Dollars).
As we left the train station, we ran into some members of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club who were heading to Casablanca. Since the Eagles would be playing only one game in Marrakech (don’t worry, they will play!), the supporters had decided to shift base from Fez to Casablanca and commute from there to Marrakech on match day. We had also considered this option because Casablanca is located between Fez and Marrakech. But we decided at last to go and stay in Marrakech so that we could also attend the Eagles’ training sessions and be fully settled ahead of match day.
Fez is in the Fez-Mekenes region toward the north east of Morocco while Marrakech is in the Marrakech-Safi region toward the south west. I was hoping that the weather would be warmer in the Marrakech-Safi region since it was southwards. But when I checked the temperature on the Internet, it was actually six degrees in Marrakech on Wednesday while it was seven degrees in Fez. We’re in for an even colder experience then. Marrakech, here we come.
Final Day In Fez
I was determined to make my final day in Fez a memorable one. Ganiyu and I had stayed all our three weeks in an apartment with a lovely couple, and we had grown fond of each other. We picked up a present — a beautiful ceramic bowl — from the Medina market on the way ‘home’ from the train station and met our hosts having lunch. As we presented the gift and thanked them for having been such wonderful hosts, emotions took over and they told us their story.
Hajji Muhammed AbdulKabeer Mraret Lemti and Rachidah Elkorchi met each other when they attended the same secondary school as teenagers. He was 15 while she was 14. Seven years later, they were married in 1986, and they have been together since. Three kids; two daughters and one son. Unfortunately, they lost the son to an illness when he was 26. That was the saddest episode in their journey together.
AbdulKabeer (62) and Rachida (61) are grandparents now. The daughters have given them three grandchildren whom they dot over. During our stay, one of the daughters visited often with her husband and the children spent weekends with their grandparents. We lived three happy weeks with a happy Moroccan family and they extended so much love to Ganiyu and me. They said we’re part of the family now and we would stay connected.
The couple also gave us gifts in return, two copies of the Holy Qur’an, one each for Ganiyu and me. It was the ultimate gift.
AbdulKabeer had one final request as we rounded off our goodbyes ahead of our departure for Marrakech on Thursday morning. “Tell your boys to beat Algeria for us on Saturday,” he said. “We (Moroccans) have given Nigeria all our support in Fez. The only thing that we want in return is for Nigeria to beat Algeria. Kick them out of the tournament.”
When I pointed out that a win for Nigeria could mean a possible confrontation with Morocco in the semifinals, he said we would discuss that later. Laughter!!!
Credit: @LesVerts (X)
Dislike For Algeria Runs Deep
I MENTIONED in my diary yesterday the historical geopolitical rivalry between Morocco and Algeria which resulted in a war in 1963, and which has shaped their tenuous relationship up till today. The “Petit Taxi” driver that brought Ganiyu and me back from the train station spent the whole journey back to Medina talking about it.
“Your team must do everything to beat Algeria on Saturday,” Mohammed began the moment we introduced ourselves as journalists from Nigeria. “Please tell (Victor) Osimhen and (Ademola) Lookman. We want 3-0 or 4-0.”
Mohammed says Algeria hate Morocco out of jealousy. He went on a monologue….
“They don’t like us. They hate us. They are jealous of us. Look at our country. Is Morocco not beautiful? Are we not a beautiful country? The whole world is praising us for organizing a beautiful AFCON, but Algeria will never see that. Instead, they will be abusing us. Look at our stadiums, our roads (he was pointing, gesticulating), are these not beautiful? Algeria do not see that. Instead, they condemn us. But we don’t care. Morocco will host more tournaments. We will build more stadiums for the World Cup. I hope you guys will be coming back for that as well. Moroccans love Nigerian footballers. You have great players, that is why we support you. You must beat Algeria for us. We want 3-0 or 4-0.”
After we disembarked from Mohammed’s taxi, his request was echoed by nearly every shop keeper that spoke to us as we walked through ‘Bab Boujloud’, the famous Blue Gate and tourist hot spot that leads into the narrow paths of Ancient Medina. “Nigeria?” they would ask. The moment we said yes, they would reply: “Beat Algeria 3-0” or “Beat Algeria 4-0” demonstrating with their fingers. We would reply: “In sha Allah.”
If only they knew that the Super Eagles were on strike!
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By Mumini Alao, in Fez
Photos by Ganiyu Yusuf
2 Comments
I had even forgotten those ungrateful players received Tinubus land documents and 150m each from being losing finalists of 2023 afcon, in the current one.
Imagine how Akor or Nnadi or Ebenezer would have felt since they were not present in 2023.
No wonder Akor was too keen to see eagles succeed.
If those players fall to Algeria, we should give them the “GABON TREATMENT” asap because that’s the height of classic ingratitude to a nation that chose not to eat them raw after consecutive world cup failure.
Make them fail first make we check something
Good and elaborate update. The strike by the squad is shocking and needless. Perhaps, they know what we don’t. Still, given the present stage of the team, there is every need for the team thread with caution. They need total concentration, with no distractions. Algeria, historically, is a faster and tactical side. Anyway, the junior Minister of Finance has promised that the bonuses would be paid on Thursday or Friday.