Last Saturday, this column dwelt extensively on the crisis in Nigerian football. The crisis reached its crescendo with Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen’s unpalatable video tirade on the person of the then Super Eagles Head Coach, Finidi George....Read The Full Story Here ▶
Be that as it may, the crisis literarily consumed Finidi George, who took the most honourable path by resigning his appointment as the Super Eagles Head Coach. It will be recalled that what led to the crisis is the Super Eagles’ poor showing in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament. This is as the country’s most priced football assert was placed on the pedestal of not likely qualifying for the World Cup, having placed fifth in Group C of the qualifying tournament with three points from possible 12. What even makes the present state of the Super Eagles more worrisome is because of the team’s failure to qualify for the last edition of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Worse still, Nigerians, whose love for football knows no bound, are yet to recover from the team’s failure to qualify for the last edition, cannot comprehend the team not qualifying for the 2026 edition to be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico.
Since Osimhen’s video rant surfaced online, not a few Nigerians have tended to vent their anger on the player, forgetting that the Super Eagles can still qualify for the World Cup, despite castigating him for insulting Finidi George. Many on social media have gone to the extent of comparing these two Nigerians achievements by saying that Finidi’s feats dwarf that of Osimhen.
There is hardly a day gone by since the spat came to limelight without a write-up surfacing on the social media with majority, if not all, castigating the player, forgetting that this is the player we will all call upon to help salvage the situation when the qualifying tournament resumes next March.
Please Nigerians should not get me wrong by assuming that I am supporting Osimhen in his video rant. I believe, though he has a good case, but the way he went about venting his anger was unbecoming of an African who grew up in Ajegunle, a suburb of Lagos. I am an African; as an African I believe that we must not for whatever reason abdicate our culture of respect for elders, no matter what. In African context, if an elder offends his younger one, it’s the younger that will apologise not to talk of a younger one offending an elder.
However, do we because we want to let the young man know that what he did was unbecoming and unflattering of a superstar of his status, even as went to the extent of destroying him? This is what it looks like. It is as if there is a plan to destroy the young man. It is like Osimhen has offended some people who see this video rant as an opportunity of having their own pound of flesh. If this young man is your younger brother, are you going to ensure that his career ends prematurely? Like as Jesus Christ requested, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”, who among us are painting Osimhen as a devil, has not at any time in the past not committed a misdemeanor?
Why I take this position is that as father, as somebody who is in his 60s, at times when reflecting on some of my past misdemeanors, I ask myself, what sort of spirit was controlling me then? It goes on to show that we did certain things in the past not knowing the implication of our actions.
Many of us in our youthful days chased girls when we should face our studies; what of sneaking out at night to attend parties. It is during such disco-parties that many developed the habit of smoking, even marijuana. Do we know the implication of such habits, if not later in life when reminiscing about our youthful days?
Why should we not view Osimhen’s outburst in this light? It is when we see him in this light that we can begin to understand the young man’s anger problem and seek for ways to solving it without destroying him. All this negative write-ups on the social media will not solve the problem, but only toughen him the more.
Personally, I see Osimhen as my son. And if my son should exhibit such brashness, what I will do is to sit him down, calm him down and then let him understand the implication of his outburst, and that he does not become remorseful. I will let him understand that it is more honourable to keep quiet when angry. As a Christian, I will take him through the Bible and let him know those whose bout of anger denied them their blessings. How anger denied Moses, a man God described as the meekest, the opportunity of stepping into the Promised Land, despite leading the Israelites from Egypt through the Red Seas and 40 years in the wilderness still remain to be untraveled.
Against the foregoing backdrop, nothing stops me from making him to understand what the Bible says about anger as noted in Ecclesiastes 7 v 9, “Be not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” This bible passage simply called someone who gets angry easily as a fool.
I will also let him understand that Proverbs 16 v 32 admonishes that, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” And also that Proverbs 14 v 17 advises, “A quick-tempered man acts foolishly.”
By the time one sits him down and let him understand the far-reaching implications of his outburst, I am convinced that he will turn a new leaf. He should be made to understand that in life, you build bridges and not otherwise, and that you don’t build bridges the way he responded to Finidi.
Without a doubt, those castigating him have families, friends, business associates and that there is no way he would not cross the path of one of them in the future. Does he think any of these personalities will treat him like a king or like a tissue paper? He should be made to understand that by his actions, he is not building bridges; rather he is destroying them. He should be told that he could still make amends now by apologising to whoever he has wronged. In life, you only know today, and not tomorrow. He should be made to understand that in life it is better to stoop to conquer than to let ego destroys one future.
As I noted earlier, I have never met Osimhen one-on-one, but I believe he is a character that should be forgiven, and should not be taken to be a Judas that should be condemned in totality.
