How else does one explain the sad deaths that occurred in the past few days over a football match? It was not just a football match, it was a demonstration of love of the country.
Arsenal supporters don’t die often (or maybe we don’t hear) in spite of their many losses in the last years of Arsene Wenger.
The final of AFCON 2023/24 won’t be played on Sunday. It was played last Wednesday, 7th February. That day was National Heart Attack and National Heart Failure Day. It was also National Tension Day. It was also a day that took trolling among continental allies to Olympic (read amapianic) heights.
Nigerians love South Africa. South Africans love Nigeria. I know because I know.
If the tournament was the FIFA World Cup and only one of the two was advancing to the knockout stages, most Africans would become citizens of the country playing. Such was the case in Italia ’90 when Cameroon flew the African flag, led by Roger Milla. Such was the case in South Africa 2010 when Ghana was the last of the African mohicans.
The Super Eagles were palpably super on Wednesday. They soared so high that Nigerians forget the many issues besetting us at the moment. For about 150 minutes of play, the fault lines that often reared their head to cause disharmony in national discourse ‘soared’ away. Religion, tribe, gender, ethnicity, political affiliation all paled into insignificance.
The Nigeria that many hope and wish for happened. It was our eureka moment.
Sunday will be epic. The Ivorians will be playing to keep the cup at home. Their 12 will be playing against our 11. The home advantage will be theirs. Alassane Ouatarra will have only one duty – cheer his national team to victory. Bola Tinubu will do same. I reckon he’ll have a pep talk with the squad in the locker room.
Whichever way the pendulum of victory swings on Sunday, AFCON 2023 will go down in history as a most memorable one. Sports history books will be replete with the power of VAR to capture moments and change score lines, the magic saves of goal keepers, the luck of being a best loser and reaching the finals and the adoption of the No Gree for Anybody spirit of Nigeria’s Super Eagles.
I am a Nigerian, a proud and repentant one. I am also amapianic, whatever that means.
*Babajide Benson, a public affairs commentator, writes from Lagos
