Nigeria is my country, and I am very proud of it despite the awful things happening here. I get very vocal(support )about my country, and two of the major means through which I express this are our music and football.
One good thing that happened recently:
The AFCON 2025 tournament, which concluded in January this year, gave us a lot of good vibes because, for a long time, we had not seen Nigeria play football the way they did in that tournament. I cannot remember the last time the team was knocked out of a tournament without the players receiving backlash from Nigerians as a whole.
We were knocked out of the tournament by Morocco during the semi-final stage, and even at that, the players were applauded. The unity it brought upon us was beyond measure. Everyone, at that moment, was proud to be a Nigerian. The hype was loud, the ovation was massive, and the joy was overwhelming.
We became so joyful that we started rating our Super Eagles alongside top-class football teams such as Argentina, Spain, and Germany. We even wished it were possible for matches between Nigeria and those countries to be fixed so we could play and beat them with the same spirit we used to beat every country that came our way. For all I know, this is the only genuinely good thing that has happened to the nation at large since the year began.
One bad thing...
I am not deeply into politics, but I understand the game very well, especially how politicians can go to any length to win an election. This has always been happening in Nigeria, but recently, it has gone haywire in a manner we never imagined, and it has become very alarming.
The current government in charge of the nation has performed very poorly. Every now and then, there are massive killings and the slaughtering of innocent people in the northern part of Nigeria, and they appear completely unbothered. The killings eventually spread to the western states, and still, there was little to no concern from those in power. Everyone keeps wondering what their true aim of being in leadership is.
So bad that we have become used to killings, and each time we hear reports of mass deaths, we sympathise for a few seconds and then move on as if nothing happened.
Now, to make matters worse, elections are coming next year, and this same government is already campaigning to be re-elected. About 90% of Nigerians are very angry with the government, yet recently, some groups of people who have always been vocal about the well-being of Nigeria suddenly joined hands with the current government to campaign for their re-election.
It feels like a dream, and a large percentage of Nigerians are still struggling to believe what is happening. It is as if they have been enchanted by some occultic force to act the way they are currently acting.
They organised a movement called the City Boy Movement, and I must say that about 90% of Nigerians are furious about it. Well-respected and reputable figures in the country have reduced themselves so low as to join in dividing Nigerians, and this has given the people every right to drag them relentlessly. Na this one dey pain me pass.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Week 205, Edition 03 of the Weekly Featured contest in Hive Learners Community