Sports
“Come to Cote d’Ivoire” — Ahmed Musa to Nigeria’s President
Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa, has challenged Nigeria‘s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to come watch the team live in Cote d’Ivoire as opposed to watching Nigeria’s matches on television in the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast.
Ahmed Musa conveyed this message during a Zoom meeting with the Minister of Sports Development, Sen. John Owan Enoh, on Wednesday.
Expressing gratitude for the minister’s encouraging words ahead of their crucial AFCON Round of 16 fixture against Cameroon, Ahmed Musa called on the President for his direct support for the Super Eagles team in Ivory Coast.
“We have a message that we are going to send to you [Enoh] to the President. We don’t want him to watch the game on TV anymore; we want him over here [Ivory Coast] to come and cheer us together. So this is our own message to the President,” Musa stated.
In response, Minister Enoh assured the team that President Tinubu would come to support them in person.
He conveyed the president’s interest in the team’s performance and his expectation of an impressive display in the knockout stages.
“The president will come. I can assure you the president will come. He has told me when he wants to come, and my prayer is that gradually we are going to get to the point where the President can come. He will come. I will bring the president; he will come,” Enoh affirmed.
This is in reaction to Enoh revealing the Nigeria’s President’s stance on the Super Eagles’ recent performances, specifically in the game versus Guinea-Bissau.
According to Enoh, the president was not pleased with the performance, stating;
“I went to the Villa for something else and the president cornered me and said, ‘we managed to qualify [for the Round of 16].’
“I said your Excellency, that is how we will be going until we win the tournament. And he said, ‘tell our players I wasn’t too impressed in our last match but I know that now that they are off the Group stages, I know they are going to impress me more and more.’ That is what the president told me,” Enoh said.