Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, has described comments made by some Nigerians that President Buhari’s call to the Super Eagles made them lose their match against Tunisia which saw them crash out of the 2021 African Cup of Nations tournament as ‘idiotic,’
Before the match which was held on Sunday, January 23, President Buhari held a video conference with the Super Eagles to wish them well.
“You’ve been doing Nigeria proud. You’ve been winning. Please keep on winning. The Federal Government is supporting you, and I say thank you to all the technical crew and the players. Please keep doing the country proud,” he told the team.
However, as soon as the game ended in a loss for the Super Eagles, many Nigerians took to social media to blame the President for the defeat.
In a post titled, ‘Losing Is Part Of The Game,’ Adesina berated those behind the social media post. According to him, the same people would have come out to condemn Buhari if the Super Eagles had gone into the game without encouragement from him.
His post read in part;
“I have read many silly, idiotic and imbecilic comments, trying to link the loss to the video conference the President had with the players on Sunday morning. Witless. Thoughtless. And incidentally, if the Super Eagles had gone into the match without encouragement from their President, the same people would have come out to condemn the leader of the country for being taciturn and insensitive. Head or tail, you never win with some Nigerians.
There are countries, and football teams, who have established a tradition for being outstanding in soccer. But such teams and countries have lost scandalously before, underscoring the truth that losing is part of the game.”