Bashir Ahmad, a former Digital Communications Assistant to erstwhile President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has dragged Super Eagles and Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over a ‘derogatory’ comment.
Before Leverkusen’s Europa League home game against Qarabag on Thursday, Boniface was presented with his Golden Boot award as the joint top scorer of the competition last season.
Boniface then posted a video of the Golden Boot award on his X handle with the caption: “Aboki may think that it’s an iron.”
Reacting to the post, which has been deleted, Ahmad expressed his displeasure over the term ‘Aboki’ used by Boniface.
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According to Ahmad, the comment by the striker may cause disunity.
“I write to the Nigeria Football Federation
@theNFF to express my deep concern and disappointment regarding recent comments made by Boniface a prominent player of our national team, the Super Eagles,” the former aide wrote on his X.
“His comment has the potential to promote disunity, which is contrary to the ideals that our nation holds dear. Nigeria, as a diverse and culturally rich country, has always celebrated unity in diversity.
“Our national sports teams, including the Super Eagles, have been a source of pride and unity for all Nigerians. These teams serve as a unifying force, transcending ethnic, religious, and regional differences. They bring us together and allow us to celebrate our shared love for the beautiful game.
“However, it is disheartening to witness a player of the Super Eagles making statements that appear to sow division or discord. We, as lovers of Nigerian unity, believe that unity and cohesion are essential for the success of our national teams. Therefore, it is crucial that we condemn any actions or remarks that may undermine this unity.
“I kindly request that the Nigeria Football Federation takes this matter seriously and addresses it appropriately.
“I look forward to seeing positive steps taken to address it.
“Bashir Ahmad.”
Boniface has scored 10 goals, made four assists in 12 games in all competitions for Leverkusen this season.
He marked his Super Eagles debut with an assist in their 6-0 win against São Tomé and Principe in September’s 2023 AFCON qualifiers.
44 Comments
Aboki forex also unite the country no bi so . See ur life .who is this aboki . nigbati wil think it is rubber while oyinbo will the it ibo made . Buhari man hope u fell good now .. emilokan take note
Thanks my brother,I didn’t see big deal in calling Aboki, however, Aboki mean friend.Therefore, it’s mean my friend this golden boot is not an Iron period.
Is aboki not My friend again, he was saying My friend will think this is iron. What is bad there?
Oyinbo wil think it is ibo mAde
Will we give him 2 match ban
Hmm naija country. Well wat made him think of aboki? The fact all naija ppl celebrate him as professional player but dis z disgusting speech. He must 2b call in 2 oda if possible ooo!
Am naija Boi who promote unity.
I second you on this, that statement is completely wrong, we need call a spade a spade, we all know what VB mean with his own aboki here is not friend, I will appreciate if VB come out and tender an open apology, and case close.
Aboki is common language in Nigeria barshair tell emilokan to give you job
Why are guys always sentiment and emotion about everything? Religion is the same thing, please give us a break.
Simple jokes that the boy made you people want to eat him alive, huh why can’t you advise some Abokis to stop picking scraps maybe by that way they’ll be spared the jokes. Las las some Aboki dey gate or looking for scraps as source of livelihood. Leave Victor alone it’s a joke and nothing Tribal as the losers will always add meanings to realism, why don’t you go and address Nollywood that sometimes play these scene in their movies. Aboki Bashir you can do nothing!!!
Aboki means friend, why aboki dey worry
Aboki in that context means “illiterate” or “ignorant”. The statement is very wrong
if you want to talk about contextual MEANING, then i think Aboki here means scrap picker. it’s really nothing serious except for some people who are hyper sensitive. He should withdraw the statement and apologize for peace sake.
I think this complain is one of those feelings of insecurity and failures of self-appointed class captain of Nigeria.You boast of dominating in politics but other areas of our sectors like football reveal your weaknesses and inability. Leave VB and celebrate with him stop the misinterpretation. By the way, which unity are you talking about even when you say the Igbo cannot preside? Efulefuu!!!!
Only the northeners love the Nigeria unity. Stop making it look like playing for Nigeria is a favour to him. Calling non northeners iyammiri nko… Abeg shift. Na u n ur buhari put us for this mess
bashir ahmad thunder fire you go to hell,attention seeker
Bashir Ahmad ,devil punish you ten times
Aboki is mainly used as a term for ignorant or illitrates in the mouth of the southerners, therefore its not mainly to insult the notherners, its the normal in the south, its about their personalities in the south eg gateman,bike riders,suyaman and waste pickers, i think it is ignorant on the part of the southerners to realise aboki means more than that, many southerners are famalia to the housers but not all of the southerners expecially a boy of 24 years like boniface
In the south doesnt know what it means, but if an aboki upgrade to doller xchange or food importer in the south the people adress him as malam, to the southerners malam is aaaeducated or rich aboki lol
Ekeite or calabar girl, is always refer to as a cook or a house help, while ekeite is a Name of an individual in calabar, so what do you expect calabas to do, sanction the owl nation, i think its just to educate the People more about these terms,
Even non yorubas think omonile means thugs or agberos, but omonile actualy means the son of the land. But the yorubas dont have problem with it.
However we need to educate ourselves about our selves and stop the fighting, and that Education must start from the primary school, our curriculum have to be upgraded, subjects like social and physical abuses, curtism, kidnappings and prostitions, fraud and bullying, begging and entitlements policies, should be constantly adress from primary schools to the univercity, we cannot continue to ignore these obviouse problems in our society, in europe student are tought almost everything they are likely to encounter in life, including poverty.
Standard living is sandalilily and we like that one like that.
When your people calls igbo iyanmiri is it the igbos name? Are they fighting over it?
Edo my people are always taged witches by my fellow southerners simply becos they stick to their traditional believe, most tribe will deny Edo bcos we are suspected to have some coded wings, even comendians joke to these terms. Its not to be taking seriouse.
When Gumi called Wike ‘Satan,’ Mr.Ahmad didn’t see anything wrong with the cleric’s diatribe.
Thank you my brother
Dear Mr Bashir Ahmad, stop going ahead of yourself. There’s only one Super Eagles, no natter where you come from in Nigeria.
Ahmed wants to remain relevant. He is already spooked.
Make we remove him name for AFCON list. Hahaha
The same Bashir whose only qualification for getting that badly done job (and unsurprisingly so) was because he’s from Kano, and appointed by the most bigoted president in the history of Nigeria, who has set a precedent that people can now hardly complain about both subtle and obvious biases in appointment by his successor?
Bashir should shut up and go and sleep. Let another person complain and we’ll notice, not him, a grand beneficiary of unapologetic nepotism in the highest places.
I think it was meant to be toungue in cheek. However it was a lil insensitive and demeaning to people from that region. We should learn to call out what is wrong in this country and stop supporting what is not right. A national team player should be more responsible with his social media feeds.
Boniface is a player I love, I actually think he is the most gifted forward in the super eagles and yes more gifted than osimhen with a higher ceiling but we must not condone what is not right. Comments here highlights what is wrong with our society.
Una don start to dey overhype this dude. Most gifted ko, most talented ni. Someone who misses clear chances pass Chelsea off target attempts this season,dey play! He’s nowhere near Osihmen but no doubt he is a good player sha.
So which striker does not miss targets? When it comes to football iq, technique , he is the best forward. The finishing part will come but his all round play is better than any striker in the SE.
Your Osimhen is one of the reasons we did not qualify for the world Cup after missing chances doing bicycle kicks. If you know football, you will understand what I am talking about but you have to look through the lens of potential.
Lol.@UNIQUE I tell you that is how @GOLDEN CHILD n co OVERHYPED DENNIS, EJUKE, BASSEY etc.. now where are they?
Dem and OVERHYPING na 5 and 6…
Lol…
That Jobless Bashir should keep quiet. Buhari his wicked master is gone. He should stop pestering us and making people remember what his evil master Buhari did to Nigeria. AbokiFx is something every northerner is proud of. Boniface did not do anything wrong. Same way Reno was calling Peter Obi for Mr Ibu matter. So many jobless irritants in Nigeria.
Aboki is not a derogatory word. Aboki means friend. But come to look at it, when Gumi said u complementarity statement against Wike, this man didn’t make any comment. Is this part of unity?
I am not in support of what Boniface did, but if Mr. Bashir Ahmad could come out to do this. Why couldn’t him fight the corrupt politicians and the NFF this way, ba?
You should have gotten in touch with Boniface privately and solved the matter, but doing this is not helping the situation either, Mr. Bashir.
The way some people respond to the situation sometimes if they react like that to our politicians and NFF, I believe Nigeria will be among the best.
Not only Boniface in this situation, but all of us have to be cautious of what we say or do as well. Hmm. It is well o je e. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
I really enjoyed reading your post.God bless you.
This goes to show the level of intelligence and PR of some players in the national team. The other day it was a basketful GK running his mouth like a homeless kid.
This time it’s a player who is attracting interests from bigger clubs that is finding it difficult to manage the recognition of his hardwork.
Why use aboki in a denigrating manner. Glad to know that he has deleted the tweets to show remorse and he can do more by controlling his actions next time.
Omo9ja, you have a point there.
All these while NFF have been owing coaches and players, Mr. Bashir no talk anything.
Refusing to pay coaches and players and other forms of blatant corruption sows far more division and discord in the team. Corruption sows far more discord and disunity in the country as a whole.
Mr. Bashir said Boniface’s Aboki comment is “disheartening”. Indeed, Boniface should have been more careful with his use of social media, as the whole world can see what you post.
However, is the NFF’s constant owing of coaches and players also not disheartening? So why has Mr. Bashir not spoken up to address that?
Since Mr. Bashir is now Nigeria’s champion and chief spokesperson for equity and propriety, why has he not voiced his displeasure over NFF shenanigans? Abi he picks and chooses when to be offended?
Mr. Bashir is even reporting Boniface to NFF, who’s sins are far worse! You caught somebody stealing meat from a pot of soup, you now went and reported him to an armed robber? Is that not ridiculous?
Not everything is to be taken seriously. If we take everything seriously, war will be going on all over the world, not only in Ukraine and Gaza. Pipo need to calm down and stop being so sensitive.
Something is wrong with most of you…are you guys mad or what? Must you play politics with everything? Even a blind man knows what he said was wrong? In all ramifications he should be called to order. He’s a young man and it’s okay to make such mistake. If some of you don’t know something, just keep quiet.
All you need to understand how Nigeria works is to compare and contrast how an average IGBO and YORUBA reacts, responds and comments on issues. Nuff said!
Leave Boniface alone, the things that matters the most Bashir Ahmad won’t fight for it instead the idiot is focused on a single word Aboki.
Simply put, Humour gone wrong.
It was unwise from Boniface. That statement was unnecessary.
Even though it was meant to be banter. It’s in bad taste.
Glad he took it town.
So it’s behind us.
I know you will surely stand for the truth, VB goof big time on this and good to know he already do the needful by taking the tweet down, we move.
When a man does not have genuine things keeping him busy he will busy with frivolous, mundane things and will be creating non sense issues he should have laughed over.
The next thing will be to take it to religion issue.
Just getting to know that this BONIFACE is so dumb and insensitive. If he is not he would have understood that aboki actually means friend..so ironically he trying to paint an average hausa man as illiterate and dumb, he ended up being dumb…
Anyone that follows the round leather game will know the worth of the award you were given be he/she from the north or south and if you are not a football fan whether from the north or the south, you will surely argue that its just a mere iron…
So I don’t know the reasons for his childish post
He should have posted glory to God that’s all…
Please why must he mentioned Aboki?
Thank God Tinubu is the president otherwise if na Buhari this guy might be excluded from Afcon. Boniface please mind what you put on social media in fact be less constant on the social media ,be more focused on soccer . My fear for Osimhen is that he may not sustain the tempo he is at the moment for a long time. Sala has been consistent for the past six years let’s see if our own will be like that. Watched Napoli last two matches doesn’t seem they missed Osimhen even their coach came out to say they are still strong offensively. Too much talk on media for Osi , and even Assisat . Then Tella has been invited for the World Cup matches hopefully he will grant the opportunity
We don’t want to hear anything like buhari over here