I will start my essay by extensively copying extracts from a public lecture that was given by Prof Sola Adeyeye…

Alas, the average Nigerian mind has been buffeted and drowned by gales of superstition and supernaturalism.

In my second year at Ilesa Grammar School, I was smitten by love for a girl who was at St. Margaret School, Ilesa. I felt that I had little chance of winning her hand in love. It occurred to me that I could become most popular if I could win the 100 yards race for junior students. I knew that St. Margaret girls would come as guests at our annual Inter-House Sports Competition. So, I went with a friend to a babalawo in town. He made lacerations in my ankles and gave me *Ọfẹ* which he promised would propel me to supernatural speed as I pronounced incantations during the race thus: _Ọfẹ, gbé mi, Ọfẹ, gbé mi_ meaning __Ọfẹ_, lift me!

Unfortunately, my ankles got infected and septic; I suffered severe pain. Worst of all, as the the gong sounded and others ran, I was still stooping and reciting incantations- _Ọfẹ, gbé mi, Ọfẹ, gbé mi_

Stupid _Ọfẹ_ refused to lift me! Other students had run almost 50 yards before I finally began to run! The whole field bursted into guffaws. It was (and must still be) the worst record in the 100 yards sprint in the history of Ilesa Grammar School!

I was a member of the House of Representatives When Bellview Airline crashed in October 2005. At the conclusion of the usual debate, the Chamber resolved to pray for the souls of those who had died. I jumped on my feet and raised a point of order. Only Uche Onyeagocha backed me. We insisted that we should let prayers be offered in our churches and mosques while we legislators focused on doing proper oversight to ensure that our aircrafts were well maintained and our pilots well trained. We asserted that after all our prayers, another plane would crash within six months because of a poorly maintained fleet. The chamber erupted into spontaneous denunciation and protestations. “No plane would crash again in Jesus name!” “You are prophets of doom; we bind and reject your prophecy in Jesus name!”

Alas, about two months later, Sosoliso aircraft crashed in Port Harcourt killing a famous lady preacher (Bimbo Odukoya) and students from the Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja. When the plane crashed, there was not one drop of water in the tankers and trucks packed at the Airport Fire Station! Ironically, this was in Port Harcourt, a city at sea level and the capital of a State named RIVERS!

We, Nigerians, are a superstitious lot. It does not matter too much what religion we profess, or the level of education that we have acquired; superstitions run through our blood. This is the reason that when things are clearly not well, when they get as bad as possible, when we should get angry and be emboldened to take corrective steps, we calmly retort by saying “it is well!”

This proclamation, ostensibly an exercise of faith in the ultimate triumph of omnipotent God, insidiously yields a docility of temperament and cadaverous unconcern!

The favorite houseboy, or perhaps errand girl of a religious Nigerian, is the very God he/she claims to worship! That is why once we knowingly say “it is well” in the face of staggering evidence to the contrary, we also affirm that “God will do it!” All these emanate from the supreme confidence that we often express that “God loves Nigeria!” The way we say it, you would think that God hates either Cameroon or Ghana!

The truth, of course, is that nations, just like individuals, sleep on whatever bed they have laid. The pervasive dysfunction and decay in our national institutions are the creations of Nigerians, not God. We can pray for as long as we wish in our churches and mosques. We can tarry in our endless camps and so-called vigils. None of these alters the immutable truth that whatever a nation sows, the same it shall reap.

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway probably hosts the highest concentration of sectarian zealots in the world. It also had the distinction of being the only Federal expressway in the world where trucks were parked anywhere that suited the insanity of their drivers. God sees it all. He probably smiles at it all!

Meanwhile, we keep praying even as we suffer and smile as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti once sang. We forget that the righteousness which exalts a nation (Proverbs 14: 34) has little to do with the endless religious jamborees and superstitious abracadabra on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Most Japanese neither worship Jesus Christ as the Son of God nor accept Mohammed as His Prophet. Because of its endless Buddhist temples, Japan might be classified by Nigerians as a nation of infidels! Furthermore, the natural resources of Nigeria by far exceed those of Japan. Yet, see what the Japanese have made of their country.

What do we see when we look at the world? Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and countries predominated by Christians are doing well. Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Kuwait, the UAE all of which have Muslims as majority are doing well. Israel, the only country in the world whose majority subscribe to Judaism, is doing well. Japan is doing well with its Shinto and Buddhism. Needless to say, China and Russia, both of which are predominated by atheists, are doing well. This variegated array of countries that are doing well show that progress and well-being of nations are not exclusively fostered by just one theology!  Every religion has its own superstitions. Only societies that move past these superstitions make progress. 

Now I will end in this manner, before you do anything, whether we agree or we choose to debate, think!

One day a shepherd offended a man. This man harbored a grudge against him and decided to take revenge on him. He chose a day and, late at night, began to dig a hole for his offender.

When he was digging this hole, he imagined how his offender would fall into it and break something, for example an arm or a leg, and maybe even die in it, without having a chance to get out of there. Or, in extreme cases, his sheep, ram, cow, or at worst, a goat will fall into the hole. He dug long and persistently, dreaming of revenge, and did not even notice how the hole was getting deeper and deeper.

Dawn came imperceptibly, and he woke up from his thoughts. Imagine his surprise when he saw that during this time he had dug such a deep hole that he himself was no longer able to get out of it!

Hence the conclusion: before you dig a hole for someone else, even if only in your thoughts, remember that in order to dig it, you yourself will have to be in it, since the first one in it is the one who digs it.

Whether it is the bandits, terrorists ravaging in the Abuja FCT, Kaduna, Sokoto, Plateau states, or the bench and bar in miscarriage of justice, politicians eroding our fragile confidence in governance, or the intentional ethnic and religious state sponsored parapotic policies or the deliberate state abetted murder of our educational institutions, and first-degree murder of our health facilities. We are digging holes everywhere, so, whether we agree or not, the truth is that Nigeria, and Nigerians need to do more to find the right direction or else, we are disintegrating internally—May Nigeria win!

One Nnamdi Agu has been arrested for purportedly fabricating his own abduction to deceive his relatives.

In a statement released on Saturday evening, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, refuted claims suggesting the occurrence of a kidnapping incident at the River Park Estate, Lugbe.

According to her, no individual was abducted within the estate, firmly asserting that Nnamdi orchestrated his own kidnapping as a means to defraud his brother, who happens to be a resident of the aforementioned estate.

The statement reads, “The FCT Police Command is aware of the news making rounds about an alleged kidnapping incident at River Park estate on Saturday and wishes to state that contrary to reports, nobody was kidnapped in River Park Estate.

“One Nnamdi Agu ‘m’ of Games Village only faked his own kidnap in an attempt to defraud his brother who lives within the said Estate.

“The suspect is currently in police custody undergoing interrogation.

“While an investigation is still ongoing, further development would be communicated to the public.”

The manager of the Senegalese national team, Aliou Cisse, was reportedly admitted to a hospital in Ivory Coast last Friday.

Reports obtained by Naija News revealed that Cisse fell ill following Senegal’s 3-1 victory over Cameroon in the second group match of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The 47-year-old coach was taken to Yamoussoukro hospital, as reported by Canal+ Sport.

The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) released a statement stating that Cisse received treatment for a “benign infection.”

However, no specific information regarding the nature of the former Portsmouth FC defender’s medical condition was provided in the statement.

The statement reads: “The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) informs the public that coach Aliou Cisse was taken care of by the medical staff and care services of the Yamoussoukro hospital for a benign infectious pathology on Friday, January 19, 2024 in the evening after the Senegal-Cameroun match.”

At the time of this report, Cisse, who had undergone overnight tests, had been discharged from the hospital.

The FSF further stated that Abdallah Sima, a player from their team, has withdrawn from the tournament and rejoined his Scottish club side, Glasgow Rangers, due to an injury.

“In addition, the FSF informs that player Abdallah Sima left the den today after passing exams following an injury contracted during training on Wednesday,” it said.

“Seeing an injury to the long adductor of the left thigh resulting in a long unavailability of the player, the medical staff of the selection and his club, Glasgow Rangers decided to return to the club for optimal management of his injury.”

The Nigerian economy is looking good in some sectors. This is not a harebrained assessment, despite the high inflation and the unstable exchange rate of the Naira. Those who doubt this don’t need to look far, for a reality check. The economic boom is happening at the Nigerian Exchange, where stockholders are not only recording unprecedented capital gains, but are poised to earn equally unprecedented dividends on their investments. The prosperity promised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the campaign is becoming a reality, for millions of Nigerian investors, among whom will be the 6.6 million Nigerian shareholders of MTN, the biggest telco in the country.

 The upswing in the market began 30 May 2023, the second day Tinubu was sworn into office. What triggered the big rally in the market was the announcement by the new President of the end of the fraudulent petrol subsidy regime. The market took notice of this bold measure, along with the President’s promise to harmonise the exchange rate. Although the latter remains ‘work-in-progress’, it has been a bullish run in the market since then.

 The All Share Index which tracks the general market movement of all listed equities on the Nigerian exchange was 55,738.35 on 30 May 2023, a day after Tinubu was sworn in. In July it rose to 65,091. By 24 December, it reached 73,768, which as Bloomberg reported on 1 November, when the ASI first crossed the 70,000 mark, was the highest on record.

 As at the close of trading on Friday 19 January, the index leapfrogged to 94,538.12, more than 69 percent growth, since last May,  creating yet another huge record. 

 Market capitalisation also grew exponentially from N30.3 trillion recorded at end of May 2023   to N51.7 trillion on 19 January 2024. This means investors have gained more than N20 trillion since Tinubu came into office.

 The record gains have made the Nigerian Stock Market the best in the world, outperforming the MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa Index.

 Not surprising, investors are bringing more and more money to the market. Last Friday alone, 844.4 million units of stocks valued at N15 billion were traded in 15,255 deals.

 The phenomenal growth of the market was fuelled by the record profits announced by many Nigerian banks and some of the manufacturers, such as Dangote Cement, Bua Cement, Lafarge Africa, formerly known as WAPCO.

The banks were the first to rally the market into a frenzy, beginning from their second quarter reports, when they reported huge gains from their forex dealings. Zenith announced earnings per share  in H1 at N9.29 from N3.55 in the same period of 2022. UBA’s earnings per share stood at N10.95 in H1 2023 from N1.98 per share in the same period of 2022.

 The positive Q3 reports also threw the market into more frenzy as banks announced further increases in profits. Investors, in response lapped up the shares of the banks, sending the prices higher.

 UBA Plc which at the beginning of 2023 was trading at about N8 has seen the biggest jump in its stock price. By last Friday, it traded for N32. Access Bank which started the year at about N11-N12, has soared to N29. Zenith and GTCO are now trading in the N40s, from about N24-25 in January 2023. First Bank, FCMB, Fidelity, Sterling, Wema, Stanbic have all experienced the upswing in prices.

 Dangote Cement, Bua Cement and Bua Foods, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Okomu Oil, Presco, Transcorp, NAHCO and WAPCO have similarly  experienced some boom. Dangote on Friday, sold for N538, adding N48.9 to its weight, from its previous close of N489.9. WAPCO, otherwise known as Lafarge Africa traded at N31 in December. On 19 January, it traded for N47.

 The rise in stock prices is being propelled by investors who are taking positions, according to EDC Securities Research, ‘in fundamentally driven stocks as we approach the earnings season”.   The expectations and sentiments out there among the investors are that some  dividend windfall is on the way.

 The prosperity promised by the Tinubu administration may not be felt by all our 200 million people simultaneously. But it will not be far away as the government confronts the low inflow of forex into the economy, the fundamental reason exchange rate has gone bonkers and prices of imported and locally produced  goods have increased. President Tinubu and his cabinet expressed concern about  the rising costs of pharmaceutical products at the last Federal Executive Council meeting. His government is poised to implement a series of measures to assist local drug manufacturers so that they lower the costs.

 To address the low forex inflow, Nigeria is discussing as much as $1.5 billion of World Bank funding support for the budget, Finance Minister Wale Edun said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The country is also looking forward to the fulfilment of the pledge by Saudi Arabia to invest billions of dollars in our economy. NNPC Limited in the coming weeks will continue to be under pressure to bring in more dollars into the country’s foreign reserve to boost dollar availability and overturn bleak predictions for the national currency in 2024.

-Onanuga is the special adviser Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu.

Security is too important to be left in the hands of security agencies and their political principals alone. That much is clear to every Nigerian now. Most of us are mere sitting ducks, unsure of whether we shall someday fall victim to the kidnapping gale terrorising the country from the desert to the coast.

When Muhammed Yusuf founded Boko Haram in 2002, the Nigerian government arrogantly thought that a mere police action would be adequate to stamp out the extremists and consign their madness to the trash bin of history. Two decades later, the fire of insecurity ignited by the terrorists has birthed new franchises across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

Collective War

The choice before Nigerians and their government is simple: We either join hands together to collectively fight the war against the various manifestations of insecurity or continue acting in our various tribal silos and perish together. Self preservation is the first law of nature. We must, therefore, cast aside the luxury of political partisanship and assist the authorities with ideas on how to defeat our collective foe.

In my view, there is no difference between Boko Haram terrorists and their cousins-in-crime, euphemistically called kidnappers or bandits. Anyone who unjustifiably takes the life of another person does not deserve to live. If we had applied that simple rule to the problem instead of speaking from both sides of the mouth and lionising the criminals, perhaps we wouldn’t have been supplicating on our knees today.

Our lethargy has emboldened the criminals to the extent that each gang now digs deep into its book of horrors to enact new ways of inflicting physical and psychological pain. Take the gut-wrenching case of Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, a 400-level student of Biological Sciences at Ahmadu Bello University, who was kidnapped with her father and five sisters. The criminals released her father to go and arrange the payment of the ransom of N60 million demanded. While the man was still running from pillar to post in search of donors or benefactors, the bandits became impatient and killed Nabeeha with a promise to continue executing the other sisters one by one if the ransom was not promptly paid. She has since been buried.

The family and well wishers took to social media to try and raise the ransom. As usual, the traditional official statements and assurances by security agencies rent the air. The police are always “on top of the situation” while other security agencies always claim to be “on the trail of the fleeing criminals”.

If we have any respect for ourselves at all, it is about time we stopped our habitual perambulation. Enough of those heartfelt nonsenses we parrot instead  of taking concrete action to ensure that parents won’t have to be burying their children again. During the Buhari years, a circus was always made of every tragedy— “Mr. President has held a closed door meeting with service chiefs” — as if the holding of the meeting was in itself a great achievement.

No Ransom

The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru, recently frowned at ransom payment. “We all know there’s an existing law against payment of ransom”, he said. “So, it is very sad for people to go over the internet and radio asking for donations to pay ransom. This will only worsen the situation; it will not help. If we stop, over time the kidnapping will not be profitable and they will stop. It is not easy though but that is the law,” he said.

The minister’s statement was not well received by the grieving public. And that is putting it politely.

Let’s do things differently henceforth. As I have stated above, security is not an exclusively esoteric matter on which ‘bloody civilians’ are not allowed to comment. If I was the president of Nigeria, I would make use of as many patriots in the creative industry as possible. We first have to out-think the bandits before we can rout them. Agatha Christie, the English crime novelist, short-story writer and playwright, was never a ‘security expert’; but I wager she would have given any security chief a run for his money in scenario planning. If the government opens the space, they’d be surprised at how resourceful some ‘non-experts’  currently being overlooked could be.

Many knowledgeable people who have spoken out have wondered how kidnappers always manage to collect ransom without being detected by the police. In other cases where money is wired to the kidnapper’s bank account, why are the authorities still unable to lay ambush for the criminals or trace the owners of such accounts? It doesn’t take much thinking to come to the conclusion that there is collusion in some of the cases. It is not impossible that the terrorists share part of their loot with officers of the law.

In the dying days of the Buhari administration, the United Arab Emirate (UAE) handed over a list of over 200 sponsors of terrorism to the Nigerian government. That list is still being kept under wraps because, as some officials explained, investigations are still ongoing. President Tinubu has to read the riot act to those in custody of that list so that they can be made to face the law.

Also, those romancing terrorism under the guise of religion have to be told in unmistakable terms that the state can no longer tolerate their duplicity.

Mercenaries

Extreme diseases deserve extreme treatment.  We must not close our minds to the plan rolled out during the Jonathan presidency to engage some foreign entities to assist in winning the anti-terror war. The truth is that there are several mercenary groups now called private military companies (PMCs) which play an ever-increasing role in armed conflicts. They are not so anonymous anymore. And some are bigger than the combined armed forces of many countries.

Mercenaries are hired professional soldiers who fight for any state or nation without regard to political interests or issues. Employment of mercenaries could be politically dangerous as well as expensive. Nevertheless, the outsourcing of a number of basic functions which traditionally were carried out by national armies or police forces— known as the top-down privatisation— has blurred the borderlines between the public services of the State and the private commercial sector creating a dangerous “grey zone”.

PMC Wagner Group is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. Evidence suggests that Wagner has been used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing it to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and hiding the true casualties of Russia’s foreign interventions.

Whether acting individually, or in the employ of contemporary multi-purpose security companies, the mercenary is generally present as a violator of human rights. On occasion he acts as a professional agent in terrorist operations; he takes part in illicit trafficking; he commits acts of sabotage, among others. But, most times, he gets the job done because as far as he’s concerned, he’s executing a contract. In our peculiar situation, mercenary operations are best supervised by the office of the National Security Adviser while policing is democratised to include state police and even local government police services.

Shields

In Iraq, the number of “private contractors” fulfilling a number of military and quasi-military tasks varies according to different sources and the manner they are counted, ranging between 20,000 and 100,000 persons working for PMSCs. The US uses contractors in order to shield its normal forces from the atrocities which inevitably attend such assignments.

So, President Tinubu can take his hard decision now. The goal is clear: rid our land of terrorists, bandits, kidnappers or other violent criminal elements by whatever name called. Anyone who routinely commoditises Nigerian lives and makes money from hostage taking or cold-blooded murder does not deserve to live.

A former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed that the only financial benefit he receives from the government is N577,000 monthly pension as a former governor of Lagos State.

He also said that he is not receiving billions of naira from the federal government as speculated by some Nigerians, after serving eight years as the minister.

Fashola said this on Saturday while appearing as a guest on Arise TV programme, “Perspectives.”

When asked if there were financial benefits accrued to him as a former public servant, he said, “The benefit I get I think is N577,000 monthly pension from Lagos State. That’s all I get.

“So, in spite of all the stories that we got several billions of money (after leaving office), I’ve come out to deny that repeatedly. Well I don’t know how long it lasts, but all I know is that I get N577,000 per month consistently.”

When asked if there were other benefits from the federal government, he said “no.”

Responding to a question on if he could advise current public office holders, the former Lagos governor said he was not in the position to issue advice but admonished that they “should remain true and authentic” in their duties.

In September 2023, Fashola said he did not need to hold office for serving in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

“I do not need a title to serve: the president can only appoint at least one minister, for example, from each state in which he has done that,” Fashola had said.

[DailyPost]

United States Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Molly Phee has given an insight into what Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will discuss with President Bola Tinubu in Nigeria next week.

Phee spoke at a teleconference.

The Secretary is also visiting Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire and Angola.

He said the internal security challenges in Nigeria will be a major talking point between Blinken and Tinubu.

The U.S., he said, has had a longstanding security partnership with Nigeria, which has been battered by ISIS-WA, Boko Haram and bandits.

“We can never get away, though, from peace and security issues. So, when we are in Cote d’Ivoire, we’ll talk about the situation in the Sahel and coastal West Africa.

“As many of you know, Nigeria is dealing with a lot of internal security challenges. And Angola has played a really important role in trying to address and reduce the tensions in the eastern Congo.

“So those will also be topics I expect we’ll discuss,” Phee said.

The talks in Nigeria, he said, will also include artificial intelligence, an African seat on the Security Council, and Security Council reform. 

“So, there’s a lot to discuss, a lot of work we do together on the continent and globally, and that’s going to be the focus of the trip,” Phee said.

He added that the visit was a follow-up to last year’s U.S Africa Leaders Summit.

Phee said: “It’s in part a follow-up to the very successful U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that we held in December 2022.

“The Secretary wants to go to the continent and demonstrate and assess the follow-up that the United States has undertaken to implement the commitments and topics we discussed during the summit.

“So, we’ll be looking at issues like our economic partnership, how are we promoting the development of commercial ties?

“We’ll be looking at our longstanding health partnership. We’re looking at areas that really excite the Secretary, particularly in food security. 

“We’ll be, of course, sort of furbishing our diplomatic constant engagement on so many issues, not only on the continent but in the global conversation.

“So, there’s a lot to do to show where we are, what we’ve done, and where we’re going.

“We think this trip will hopefully be very positive. A lot of times, the news out of Africa is negative.

“I think it can highlight the great capacity of the African people, particularly the youth.

“It can show really forward-looking types of engagements – for example, our partnership with Angola in outer space.

“And I think it will demonstrate the advances that Africans have made that will contribute to the continued progress on the continent.”

On the military bombing in Kaduna, Phee said: “I wouldn’t call it an attack.  The Nigerians have admitted it was an operational error that tragically killed people in Kaduna State.

“I think the Secretary will definitely talk about that with the president.

“The president and the leadership of Nigeria went to Kaduna State.  They acted with transparency, immediately acknowledged the horrific accident.

“They set up a reparation process and a transparent investigation. So, they have, I think, responded to that tragedy in a constructive way that will contribute to rebuilding confidence of the Nigerian people and the security services.

“And these issues of how to protect civilians when doing complex operations in a fraught security environment, which Nigeria is dealing with, the importance of promoting and protecting human rights, including religious freedom, and, again, sort of the best practices of accountability and transparency, are part of our ongoing dialogue with the government and with the security services.

“We host – we are hosting this week a Nigerian delegation led by the national security adviser, and we hosted about four hours of discussions here at the State Department yesterday, and that was a running theme throughout the day.

“So, I’m certain the Secretary will talk about it when he sees the president and the foreign minister.”

[TheNation]

A survivor of the explosion which occurred in Ibadan, on Tuesday, Mr Abiola AbduIsalam, said he jumped from a storey building on Dejo Oyelese Street, Adeyi Avenue, Ibadan, where the explosion happened, to save his life.

AbduIsalam  spoke with Sunday PUNCH at one of the wards of the University College Hospital where he was receiving treatment.

Recounting his experience, he said, “If I can recollect, I was inside Harrington Hotel around the area where the explosion occurred. So, immediately I heard the bang, I had to jump from the first floor of the building where I was with my friends.

“After I had landed the on the ground while still conscious, I tried to stand up and walk but I couldn’t, and it was then I noticed I had a fracture on one of my legs.

“While alone in that state for about three minutes, my friends who had escaped through the staircase, which I couldn’t easily locate because of panic caused by the explosion, searched around and found me still conscious, and swiftly brought me to this ward.”

In another development, Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, on Saturday, condemned the Tuesday explosion in Ibadan.

Adams urged Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, to bring the culprits responsible for the explosion to book.

Adams, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, described the incident as very unfortunate, and advised the government to unravel the perpetrators and bring them to book.

In another development, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa, visited the University College Hospital, Ibadan, on Saturday to empathise with victims of Tuesday’s massive explosion in Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the minister and members of UCH management, led by the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo toured the hospital to assess the impact of the explosion.

[Punch]

It was only one match, but it moved Nigeria several notches up the rung of victory at AFCON 2023.

The match against Cote D’Ivoire confirmed the often-held notion that a potential Champion can be identified when a team can win a crucial match even when it does not play brilliantly. That’s what happened on Thursday night.

The Super Eagles played with the attitude of potential champions – winning a most difficult match against the host team by deploying with very disciplined style of play, and, with a bit of luck, curtailed an anxious and determined Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire.

The Super Eagles definitely earned their victory! What most people have refused to consider here is to credit Jose Paseiro for any part of that victory. The man has gone too far down the bad books of Nigerians that more of the credit seems to be going to a player-William Troost-Ekong. He was the ‘coach’ on the field of play that the team lacked outside it.

Troost – A new leader of the Super Eagles?

A new leader of the Super Eagles may be finally emerging from the shadows. His individual performance on this night reminded Nigerians about ‘Gentle Giant’ Uche Okechukwu, ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu, and ‘Big Boss’ Stephen Keshi.

The three were excellent Liberos, organisers of their defense from the centre-half position, clearing all loose balls that resulted from the close-marking and hard-tackling of their co-defenders, and taking on the responsibility of unofficially ‘coaching’ the team ON the field of play.

William Troost-Ekong may have joined that special class when he stepped forward and took responsibility to nail the Ivoriens by taking a very ‘dangerous’ penalty kick that was heavily laden with pressure and tension! It was a very thin line to cross for him – between becoming a hero and new leader in the team, or becoming a ‘villain’ for the rest of his career (had he missed the kick).

Troost-Ekong’s individual performance made a big difference in that match. He was a deserving ‘Man of the Match’. He played with his heart and head, stabilising the defense, in particular, and rest of the team, generally.

Uncharacteristically, the Nigerian defense line was cool, calm, confident, well-organised and impregnable.Thanks to Captain Ekong!

Are the Super Eagles back to their best?

No, not yet. It is a team in progress, coming up slowly but steadily.

Should the Eagles win the last match against Guinea Bissau very well, they will remain in Abidjan to play their round-of-16 match. That will be a huge advantage for them that they can use as launch pad to get to the top of the pyramid.

Against all the odds, the Super Eagles looked better and more organised in their defensive play. When Osimhen, somehow eventually finds his feet and his rhythm, the team will become better and stronger. Stopping them will now become a huge mountain to climb for any team at AFCON 2023.

The AFCON 2023 Roadshow — Report

Last Thursday evening, 30 minutes before the end of the Eagles/Elephant clash, my crew and I finally landed in Abidjan. It was too late to go watch my first LIVE match at the stadium.

I immediately converted the ‘disappointment’ into an opportunity to catch up with Ivoriens and watch them react to seeing their team is slowly and steadily asphyxiated by the Eagles.

We drove to Treichville, downtown Abidjan metropolis. The streets were quiet and traffic was light. Many shops had become temporary viewing centres. People massed around big and small TV sets, anxiety written on their faces as the minutes ticked on to record Nigeria’s first victory at AFCON 2023.

Anxious faces concocted into mournful looks, frustrated by the impregnable wall of defense put up by the Eagles.

According to commentators, as the match moved towards the closing moments, both the town and the stadium terraces went into silent mode, like a graveyard.

Into this mood and mourful environment we drove in a very colourful branded van, with the logos of some Nigerian products and services, into the Treichville neighbourhood, downtown Abidjan, attracting a lot of public attention.

Then, out stepped some Nigerians in their customary Green and White Tee shirts and face caps, branded ‘Peculiar Ultimate Concerns’, proud ambassadors of their country and of the beautiful game.

That neoghbourhood immediately became the unofficial centre of celebration for some Nigerians in a few bars in that part of Abidjan that remained open for business after the pain of their country’s loss.

Some Ivoriens took the punch on the chin well, and remained in some good spirit. Some coolly accepted their fate and went on with their lives in painful submission and silence.

Travelling to Abidjan

I shall surely produce a documentary of my experience travelling on the single existing road linking the countries along the coastline of West Africa.

The dream of an East to West superhighway connecting the cities was birthed in the late 1950s, and construction work must have started shortly after on the Dakar to Lagos road. 70 years later, the dream remains largely unfulfilled.

All the way, from Seme to Abidjan, there is not a single dual-carriageway.

The distance that we covered through 4 countries to get to Abidjan are on single lane, face-me-I-face-you, roads.

There is potential danger every inch of the way. No room for any careless driving throughout that long route. It demands the utmost care and concentration by drivers.

In Nigeria and most of Ghana, the roads are bad (worse in Nigeria), littered with patches and small irritating potholes.

Speed breakers, bumps and security checkpoints are endless on the roads in Ghana, and easily double travel time.

Although reassuring for safety purposes, the checkpoints are at 2 or 4-kilometre intervals through most of our travel inside Ghana. We were stopped at every one of those check points because of our unique van and colourful branding. The security officers were mostly very friendly but still created delays. Night travel, which we did only once, going to Cape Coast in Ghana, was worse.

Generally, the roads through Togo are better, smoother, and with less check points.

In Cote D’Ivoire, we found a delightful surprise – the best roads, but single lanes until you get to 14 kilometers to Abidjan. To enter Abidjan is like entering a new world – the road opens into the most beautiful dual carriageway in this part of the world.

Gbenga, our driver from Lagos, for the first time on this journey tested the speed of our 8-cylinder Chevrolet Van. He put his foot down on the throttle for an experience that I have not had since I was 25, driving my new Mercedes 280E on the freshly completed but yet-to-be-opened Ibadan/Lagos expressway. I covered the 120 or so kilometres to Lagos in 45 minutes.

By the way, on this trip, in the past 4 days, we have driven and covered a distance of 1100 kilometres, the single, longest but slowest journey I have ever undertaken. At the same time, it has been a unique and incredible experience.

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