The 2023 edition of African Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosted by Cote d’Ivoire would be remembered as one of the best in the history of the tournament. The officiating, especially the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), was highly applauded. The just concluded tournament has again proved beyond doubt that there are no minnows in African football as the so-called smaller teams sent big ones packing. There were lots and lots of surprises and revelations from AFCON 2023. The standard of African football has tremendously improved. Almost all African teams in the tournament are populated by players who play in Europe and other foreign countries. The home players in these teams are few.
The Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire won the 2023 AFCON trophy after coming from behind to defeat the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-1 in an explosive final encounter at Alassane Quattara Stadium in Abidjan on Sunday, February 11, to clinch their third AFCON title. The Nigerian team, which came second in the tournament, was not among those tipped to lift the trophy. The pundits never gave the Super Eagles any chance of reaching the final before the tournament.
Having been eliminated in the round of 16 in the AFCON 2022 edition in Cameroon, the Super Eagles came into the tournament without much expectation from the fans. Following the 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea in their opening group match, many supporters didn’t believe that the team would eventually reach the final. Although the Super Eagles lost the 2023 AFCON title to the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire, they lost gallantly.
The team progressed with scoring fewer goals in their defensive approach to all games to reach the final. They were unbeaten by any team expect the title winners. It is the same defensive tactics after scoring one goal that cost them their 4th AFCON title. In all, the Super Eagles did not disappoint Nigerians and their numerous fans across the world. We witnessed an improved Super Eagles, with fantastic players who are hungry for goals.
The rejuvenated group of Super Eagles players under the supervision of Jose Peseiro is quite different from the Super Eagles that didn’t fly in Cameroon. For once in many years, the Nigerian team was predictable and Nigerians were happy and united with them throughout the AFCON 2023. They gave us cause to smile and cause to be happy and proud to be Nigerians in spite of our obvious differences, bad politics and suffering in the land. We also recall that some Nigerians died while watching the Super Eagles play. That alone can explain their level of patriotism and belief in the national team. They didn’t die in vain. They died hailing and supporting their national team. May their souls rest in peace.
In AFCON 2023, the Super Eagles played as a Nigerian team, ever determined to win laurels for the country and not for their individual ethnic groups, faith or political affiliation. During the tournament, Nigerians were truly united for football despite the rising cost of living and economic hardship arising from government’s bad policies. Let our politicians emulate the Super Eagles in their politics and governance styles.
Moving forward, the team and coaching crew should be kept together for more soccer exploits ahead. Peseiro must be allowed to stay and take the team to the next World Cup. We were not at the last World Cup because of some tactical blunders on the part of the then team handlers. Nigerians would not like a repeat of that sad episode. There is no point disbanding a winning team. Peseiro surpassed his target. He should be rewarded with prompt renewal of his contract. He proved critics wrong. He ensured that our goal-keeping dilemma was resolved by including Chippa United’s Stanley Nwabali in the team and made him play in all our matches. For their good performance in the AFCON 2023, President Bola Tinubu rewarded each member of the team with the national honour of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON). They were also rewarded with flats and plots of land in Abuja.
After coming second in AFCON 2023, the next thing for the team and its handlers is how to qualify for the next World Cup. The preparation must start immediately. There is no time to waste. The federal government and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) must do everything possible to ensure that the Super Eagles qualify for the next World Cup. The National League should equally be further developed through adequate investment. Grassroots football can also be encouraged. Football talents abound in the country waiting to be tapped.
The AFCON 2023 has come and gone but there are many useful lessons we should learn from the tournament as individuals and as a nation. The Super Eagles and their handlers have learnt many lessons as well from the football fiesta. No doubt, Nigeria is a great football-loving nation. Every time the Super Eagles are playing, Nigerians forget their sorrows and differences and become truly united. Why is that so? Why is it that only football can unite Nigerians like no other thing? Honest answers to these questions can help us resolve some of our national issues.
We can organize our democracy, politics and governance around the principles of football as a competitive game. The choice of players in a football team is based on merit and competence. At times politics and other considerations can intrude in the choice of players in the national team. However, that is an aberration and not the rule. Football is based on set of rules which all players must obey. There is the main referee in the football game and other assistants including the VAR.
We can use these principles to animate our politics and governance templates. The players in a team play with a vision to score goal(s) and win the match. They are not bothered about their ethnicity, religion or political party. All that matters to them is to win glory for Nigeria. Those in governance must have realistic and achievable goals. They must have autistic reasons for venturing into politics. Governance is not a jamboree; it is not a jollof rice party or living in opulence as our politicians do presently. It is not about one’s ethnic group or circle of friends. It is about improving the standard of living of the people. It is more about ensuring the welfare and security of the citizens, which is the primary function of government.
Governance is about saving the masses from hunger, starvation and poverty. While the unity engendered by football is good, it is not enough that we are only united in a football match or when the Super Eagles win a match or trophy. After that we go back to our trenches. Such unity is euphoric, temporary and of little or no significance to national development. It can never take us anywhere. Anyone who believes in football unity alone is deluding himself.
What we should do now is to copy those things that make us see football as a unifying factor and allow them to define our national life, politics, governance and democracy. It is sad that after over six decades as an independent nation, the envisioned Nigerian spirit can only be expressed in football and not in our politics, democracy and governance.
We must begin to redefine our politics and governance and make them pro-people and pro-development. The emerging political culture, which is manifestly self-centred in favour of the political class, is anti-people and anti-development. There is urgent need for a change of tactics in our politics and governance and inject in them the spirit of fairness and competition which competitive football is all about.