Combat Cyber-Bullying, celebrate, don’t denigrate our National Team, by H.M. Wada
Cyber-bullying of our National Team players at AFCON started with Zaidu Sanusi. The biased Social Media influencers attached all sorts of discriminatory labels to his person.
He was accused of undeservedly being on the team. Many even went as far as saying he was a Federal Character player and possibly got there due to having the same ethnicity and religion as the NFF president.
Suddenly Zaidu was now an “Aboki” and “Malu”, which are accepted discriminatory terms used to describe persons of Hausa/Fulani ethnic stock in Nigeria. They didn’t stop there. They dug up all the mistakes he had made in the tournament to justify their biases.
A lot of these criticisms came as a result of his subpar offensive performance against Angola in the Quarter-Finals. Mind you Zaidu being a defender wasn’t judged based on his defensive prowess.
In that same game, Iwobi’s performances were subpar, yet very few criticized him since we ended up winning by a lone goal. Come Sunday’s finals against the host Nation.
From the start, it was very obvious that Iwobi was a misfit on the pitch. Either due to the eagle’s formation or his current form. He had a very lethargic game and drew criticisms from the general supporting populace.
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I think that if the Eagles had pulled through and won the tournament, his failings would have been tolerated. The coach would have been blamed for playing him out of position. His Uncle, Jay Jay Okocha would have put up a defence for him. Unfortunately, we didn’t win, and the angry patient dogs lost their cool.
Since the Cyber-bullying of Iwobi started, there’s been a massive counter-campaign by team leaders in the Eagles, Government Officials, and some notable influencers. The message out there is simple. Iwobi has made sacrifices for Nigeria and shouldn’t be blamed for our lackluster performance on Sunday. Football is a team game, and one player can’t determine the outcome for the team.
I am in total agreement with the strategy put up to protect Iwobi.
My worry is why wasn’t the same done to protect Zaidu? If this counter-campaign against Cyberbullying had started with Zaidu, chances are the attacks against Iwobi wouldn’t have gained traction or momentum. The deafening silence from Zaidu’s teammates and notable influencers indirectly gave a tacit approval that Cyber-Bullying of our players is an acceptable norm.
Super Eagles Striker, Taiwo Awoniyi was the only player who used his Facebook page to defend Zaidu.
All over the world, just as players crave to represent their country, the representation in itself comes with a lot of sacrifices. It is a two-way thing.
The modern-day trend of denigrating people on social media can have a long-lasting negative psychological effect on players.
They may appear physically strong on the outside, but internally many of them are emotionally weak.
Hence the constant pampering by their national teams and club managers. Furthermore, denigrating players based on their ethnicity and religion sends the wrong message to the general public.
The idea that some players are on the team because of their religion and ethnicity is a strategy that has constantly been used to look down on players of Hausa/Fulani origins.
They did it to Dahiru Saidi, Garba Lawal, Tijjani Babangida, Ahmed Musa and now Zaidu Sanusi.
Football being the major unifying asset in Nigeria should be separated from our social issues and biases.
Zaidu and Iwobi made sacrifices to represent Nigeria. They should be celebrated and not denigrated.
Congratulations to the Super Eagles for putting up a good showing at AFCON. We live to fight at AFCON 2025 in Morrocco.
H.M Wada is a digital creator and a social media activist.
