By TUNDE BUSARI
Our top striker, Victor Osimhen should and must not wait till the time his team mates, all of them, old and new, would rise in unanimity and tell the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that they have had enough of his irritations and irrational reactions on the pitch.
Osimhen should and must remember his days of selling satchet water on Lagos roads and his prayer point to his creator to crown his hustle with unimaginable breakthrough.
If he remembers this humble past, that past should be his guide on how to manage his success today. Fame and stardom are temporary. Fake! With due respect, where are the stars of yesteryears today? Except a few of them, how many still have public heads turning to their direction again upon a mention of their names? A word is enough for the wise who has listening ears.
After Galatazaray, there is life. There is brighter life. Who says he cannot make it back to Europe in a big club? But when on and off pitch statistics are collated and the figures act against you, you’re out.
It is not too late before you retrace your step and behave like a leader who must treat his team mates with honour to inspire them to work for you and boost your leadership credential.
In 1996, while understudying Mr Feyi Ogunduyile, my own big boss, at the NTA, Ibadan, Ogunduyile assigned me to interview late Rashidi Yekinni after a live session with him in the studio.
I asked the smiling Yekinni a question about his relationship with his team mates at the USA 94 World Cup. A naturally frank man told me lamentably that he suffered a gang up in the team, leading to his only goal against Bulgaria in our first group match which we won 3-0.
If a player is suspected to be a cancer in a team, mates, coaches and management would not want it to spread and do maximum destruction to the life of the team.
I like Osimhen’s seriousness, his energy, his hunger to win and his patriotism. TheTabloid.net has celebrated him in different issues since 2021. But I hate his unguarded, reckless reactions, especially that he put up last night.
If the result had turned out differently and Mozambique beaten us, he would have been held responsible, condemned and grossly insulted to run away from the team and create a room for other strikers waiting in the wing for opportunity to also play.
*Busari is the publisher of TheTabloid.net
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