By Friday Omosola
Social media went agog a few minutes after the Tunisia national team defeated Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Sunday when some Nigerians started crediting the loss of Super Eagles at the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) to President Muhammadu Buhari’s call to the team before the game kicked-off.
Nigeria suffered a 0-1 defeat to Tunisia in round 16 of the ongoing tournament in Cameroon.
Reacting to the loss, some Nigerians who took to their different social media handles said the President Buhari ought not to have called the Eagles at all.
On his Twitter handle, Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan said all the time the players have been playing nothing of such had happened. He wondered why the Super Eagles loss to Tunisia on the day President Buhari spoke to the players.
He tweeted, “Iwobi red card, Iheanacho yellow card. At the time they have been playing this never happened. Why is it that it is the day they spoke to Buhari that these series of unwelcome events rained on us. Energies are very contagious. Avoid negative people.”
In the same vein, Inibehe Effiong, the National Legal Adviser of the African Action Congress (AAC), wrote on his Facebook timeline, “Buhari and bad luck are inseparable. Failure is Buhari, Buhari is failure ”
This is coming even as some Nigerians warned that Buhari’s President call is not a call to be taken by anyone as it comes with failure.
“There are some calls you should never pick. Never! When the caller says, “I ashua you” know it’s going to end in sadness,” Dr. Penking said on his handle. Adding that it ought to be clear to the players and coach that speaking with the president means they will lose the match.
Read Also: Tunisia, One of the Best Third-place Finishers Knocks Nigeria Out of AFCON
“Everything was going so well until Buhari addressed his team. Wetin be all this”, Agba wrote in his Twitter handle.
Corroborating, the King of Photoshop tweeted that if someone wants to end a relationship, such a person should allow Buhari to make the call.
Moreso, Alhaji Baerdless Smaller on his Twitter handle tweeted, ” Hello Buhari, with due respect sir, we didn’t send you to call super eagle oooo.”
Ace Disc Jockey, DJ Switch, tweeted, “Buhari you just use f, f spoil our game. Buhari to super eagles: go and make us froud. Now we don pail.”(sic)
While also airing his opinion, Chairman of the lion kingdom blamed the president’s call for the Super Eagles loss. He tweeted, “Buhari did to super eagle what he did to Nigeria economy.”
Nigeria, which put up the best performance in the group stage, suffered its first loss to Tunisia on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, President Muhammadu Buhari had spoken with the Nigerian squad via video call, where Coach Augustine Eguavoen assured that the team would not let the nation down.
This was made known via a statement on the Facebook Page of the President, noting that Buhari had called to thank and encourage the Super Eagles for their exploits in the Cameroon.
The statement reads: “A video call this morning with the Super Eagles, to thank and encourage them. We are very proud of their exploits in the ongoing AFCON.
“It was a pleasure to speak with Coach Augustine Eguavoen, Team Captain Ahmed Musa, President of Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, and our Ambassador to Cameroon, Gen Abayomi Olonisakin (Rtd).
“I told the team, ‘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’.”
