The Honourable Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh who led the Super Eagles of Nigeria back home after the final AFCON 2023 match, which saw Nigeria play the host country Cote D’Ivoire to bring home the Silver medal, had a tete-a-tete with Super Eagles Midfielder Alex Iwobi following recent social media hullabaloo by cyber bullies.
“ I am aware of what is happening on Social media and as a ministry , this isn’t the first time we are going to make a statement against bullying, not just you but our sportsmen and women in general who are exposed to bullying due to the out come of competitions. We are concerned about how our sportsmen and women are treated“.
The final AFCON 2023 match has seen the jersey number 17 forward player experience a routine of unpleasant remarks hurled at him by cyberbullies and schmucks. Iwobi confirmed leaving Social media after the final game.
“For me , i have taken myself out of social media after yesterdays game”.
Senator John Enoh encouraged the footballer saying :
“You did your best for your country and i am proud of you.The leadership and the rest of the country is proud of you.Those who are not are in the far minority and do not speak for the rest of our country, so just be strong”.
“ You did your best, you are part of a team that brought home a silver medal which the country last won at AFCON 2000, which is 23 years ago.You put in your best, thank you very much “.
The Minister of sports strongly condemns any activity which seeks to bully or harm any Nigerian athlete.
The tete a tete ended on a reassuring note.
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COMMENTS
True talk
Abeg . Who is the greatest buller ..I work for my company 6 month dey paying half salary. And dey are making gain .super eagles match benefits no pay . Coach salary 6 month no pay . That means my company are bullying me . likewise ministry of sport etc bulling their own worker too .. and coach is bullying everyone with players not fit for team assignment.. the least is endless.but the people collecting bonuses, salary,now are enjoying their payment. And the online buller is been called to question.. if not for the online buller uzoho wil be the no 1 to afcon .. now the middle field is the next in question. So govt can start again by sending coach to France england or Egypt to meet those good midfielders to beat south Africa in Kano in June or else sa will come use wat dey saw in Cote D’Ivoire to beat eagles at home again.
Few days to women football olympics qualifiers with cameroon no news about our Super Falcons Everybody rush go Ivory Coast with this all important match around the corner.
My brother, the thing dey surprise me O! Super Falcons is playing Cameroun next week Monday (2024 Olympic qualifier), and nothing to suggest that the team is ready. What is the secretariat of the NFF doing? I have searched the net for information with respect to our team, but nothing. You sure say dem never forget?
Let’s be objective please –
Nobody is attacking him for his patriotism..not at all in fact only a blind man will deny that he has been very patriotic indeed, what they are attacking him for (And I definitely do not support that kind of appalling behaviour in any way shape or form)- However what they are attacking him for is his lack of tackling or tracking back in games! How Oh How can the Super Eagles Ever win and take top position if someone charged with and given a very crucial role in the team consistently falls short? It is not as if even he would not understand that as a midfielder, not to mention a creative midfielder, you must be prepared to create IE take on the opposition and goes past 1 or 2 and then give intelligent “killer” passes to the forwards to advance on goal and hopefully score them, but to be given that role and to not only not track back, never put in A SINGLE TACKLE and always shy away from putting up ANY RESISTANCE to the opposition is akin to a suicide move and if that is his best then we might as well not have him in the team at all – The opposition already know this and always take the SE on knowing that with Iwobi in the middle all they have to do is build a strong and forwardly mobile midfield and Nigeria are toast!
Now having said all that – I would very strongly still condemn any attacks on Iwobi and say to you all fair and square, why shoot the messenger?? The problem lies really with the man who appoints Iwobi to man that role – Now before anyone runs off and starts attacking that man – Peseiro, that is not what I am advocating – there are is more than one way to skin a cat – we have a few options, either we try and continue with Peseiro and ask him what is views on Iwobi’s game is to gauge where his head is at, because if he says that he has not noticed this glaring weakness in the team then he definitely does not deserve to be the coach – at that stage we could then seriously considering getting an upgrade and if I am to offer a suggestion I would immediately offer up 2 names Hervé Renard or Mosimane and in that order – these are just two off the top – there are many able candidates and I don’t think Amunike or any of the Nigerians mentioned on these pages are suitable or able at all – If we’re looking at Nigerians, there are far better candidates in Mike Emenalo, Shola Ameobi and a few others as well – or we could tell him in no uncertain fashion that he cannot not/must not play Iwobi in that role again and furthermore only have him in the team as an option from the bench and not somebody to put the hopes of over 200 million Nigerians on, tell him to go and find a capable replacement, after all that is a chief part of a coach/manager’s role which he gets a good wage for – Look at the top managers in the world and you’ll see that they are always improving the team’s personnel and are generally fluid with tactics deployment and can read games and change tactics even mid game – it’s easier said than done but it’s ultimately not rocket science
Finally – nobody should feel sorry for Iwobi for getting dropped and permanently relegated to the subs bench for so many reasons – how many should I list? Is it the fact that he 100% already knows this fact -very evident in his career trajectory to date, he has been in some of the best teams in the world but has constantly been moved on and if you ask any of the fans of any the teams he has played for they will tell you the same thing and he is certainly not new to the experience of being trolled for his lightweight contribution to various different midfields he has played in, so he should almost expect it if he does not change and start doing more and producing more opposition and helping out the teams he is lucky to play for, secondly he is not a child and must apply football intelligence and common sense to his game, his has been playing for long enough already to know these things unless he simply does not have it in him or does not have the capacity to adapt and improve and cut out what is so glaringly wrong in his game and finally, he is not a poor boy now is he?? Even at this age a person like him can decide to resign and go into any kind of business , the level of riches he has already attained, he can NEVER be a poor man again in his life so there are very many scenarios and solutions to these issues
I could go on and on but please stop the online trolling and attacks on Iwobi or any other of our players or athletes – if they’re not pulling their weights let the people responsible for selecting them be very quick to do the needful and always upgrade by introducing better replacements..No long thing as my people would say.