Duro Ikhazuagbe
Super Eagles Captain, Ahmed Musa, has asked Nigerian football fans trolling midfielder Alex Iwobi on social media to stop the cyber-bullying, insisting that the former Arsenal star was not solely responsible for why Nigeria lost the 34th Africa Cup of Nations final 1-2 to Côte d’Ivoire on Sunday night.
Iwobi has become the butt of angry Nigerian fans since the match ended in favour of the hosts country. Majority of them are blaming Iwobi for the loss, insisting that his performance in that championship game was far below average.
They have been trolling him with ridiculous jokes and messages reminiscent of what they did to Maduka Okoye that frightened him from further representing Nigeria.
But yesterday, Musa on his X handle: @Ahmedmusa718 sent a strongly worded appeal to these cyber bullies to desist from further attacks on Iwobi.
Musa’s message read in part: “Dear fans, I want to please urge you to halt the cyber-bullying directed towards Alex Iwobi. Cyber bullying is not just a violation of decency but also a serious crime. It’s hypocritical to claim that football unites us while engaging in such behavior.
“Losing a game is undoubtedly tough, but targeting a single player for the team’s shortcomings is unfair and unjust. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. Alex gave his all on the field, just like every member of our squad.
“Instead of spreading negativity, let’s show genuine love and support to our players. They need our encouragement now more than ever. Let’s uplift each other and stand united, both in victory and defeat. THANKS,” concludes the Super Eagles Captain who did not have playing time at the just concluded AFCON In Côte d’Ivoire.
Musa and defender, Kenneth Omeruo were the surviving duo from the 2013 Super Eagles that won Nigeria’s third and last AFCON title 11 years ago in South Africa. They had hoped to go into Nigeria’s history books as players with two AFCON titles to their rich CVs.
Iwobi who represented England up to U18 level switched his international allegiance to Nigeria the country of his parents and made his debut in October 2015. He was part of Super Eagles squad to the World Cup in Russia in 2018 that crashed out in the group stage and the AFCON in Egypt in 2019 where Nigeria won the bronze.
As nephew of Super Eagles legend, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, most ball fans expected so much from him but has been unable to step up to fill the gap created by his uncle. They failed to realize they are two different footballers, each playing to his strength for the national team.
