Many politically conscious Nigerians knew that the criminally incompetent rulers in Nigeria, were indirectly indicted when Victor Osimhen was crowned the African Footballer for the year 2023. Why? The answer is not far-fetched. At that grand ceremony at the Palais Des Congress in Marrakech, Morrocco, which was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on December 11, 2023, Victor Osimhen was a triumphant guy that came out of a rotten and careless Nigerian system. As a boy, Victor Osimhen sold sachet pure water and snacks in Lagos traffic and operated in construction sites, carrying mixed concrete on his head near his home to make ends meet. Osimhen always loved and knew football was his only way of breaking away from excruciating poverty and picked his first pair of soccer boots from Olusosun dumpsite, a suburb of Lagos.
For us at Alltimepost.com, we decided to choose Victor Osimhen as our Man of the Year 2023, to send a very clear message to the Nigerian youths, never to allow the unbearable impoverishment and suffocating realities in Nigeria to truncate their dreams.
It is unfortunate that thousands of Nigerian youths have chosen to survive in a country that has sinfully abandoned them to fate, by going into the satanic craze of get-rich-quick money-making business.
A good example is the terrible scenario where innocent unsuspecting family members and girlfriends of many male Nigerian youths have fallen victims of destructive abominations in the name of blood money rituals.
We must not forget that it is bad, insincere and visionless political leadership by shameless political bandits that have turned many Nigerian homes and street corners into calamitous nightmares of which ‘yahoo plus’ and cultism are an integral part.
Many politically conscious Nigerians knew that the criminally incompetent rulers in Nigeria, were indirectly indicted when Victor Osimhen was crowned the African Footballer for the year 2023.
Why? The answer is not far-fetched. At that grand ceremony at the Palais Des Congress in Marrakech, Morrocco, which was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on December 11, 2023, Victor Osimhen was a triumphant guy that came out of a rotten and careless Nigerian system.
As a boy, Victor Osimhen sold sachet pure water and snacks in Lagos traffic and operated in construction sites, carrying mixed concrete on his head near his home to make ends meet. Osimhen always loved and knew football was his only way of breaking away from excruciating poverty and picked his first pair of soccer boots from Olusosun dumpsite, a suburb of Lagos.
Here is Victor Osimhen:
“The place where I came from, nothing is promised. I am so happy about my breakthrough because nobody gave me a chance of making it out of the trenches. Not just me but my whole family. For me to work my way up, I have shown the kids there that when you work hard and you’re focused, anything is possible with God…For a boy from Olusosun, who would have thought I would have my picture beside Maradona’s. It is a dream come through.”
Victor Osimhen in Marrakech, Morrocco, not only won the African Footballer of the Year Award, he became the next Nigerian to achieve the feat after Kanu Nwankwo performed that feat in 1994, about twenty four years, after.
This 24-year-old soccer genius took Napoli to their first domestic title in 33 years, and it is therefore unsurprising that the striker knocked down Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi to the golden ball.
When Victor Osimhen said, “The place where l came from, nothing is promised,” he was re-echoing how the Nigerian state has been mercilessly ruined and stagnated; made ruthlessly hopeless by systemic destroyers in different strata of Government Houses in Nigeria.
Here is an extract from renowned human rights activist, Barr. Femi Falana’s ‘catalogues of lootings in Nigeria’ thus:
“Globally, subsidies, whether for food, transportation, energy or housing, are part of good governance. So, the issue is not subsidies but who benefit from them.
“In Nigeria, subsidies are primarily of the rich, by the rich and for the rich…Successive regimes have been selling assets and enterprises owned by the Federal Government to members of the ruling class in the name of privatization.
“The buyers turned round to engage in asset stripping. According to the Bureau of Public Enterprises, between 2004 and 2020, the federal government sold 142 public enterprises to members of the ruling class.
“The 10 per cent shares reserved for the staff of every privatised enterprise have been cornered by the so called “core investors” contrary to the provision of section 5(3) òf the Privatization and Commercialization Act”.
Nigerian youths should emulate the fantastic example of Victor Osimhen who stoically graduated from street hawking to the pinnacle of African football as a champion. Nigeria youths must never allow their dreams to be shattered or continuously be used as cannon fodders for unscrupulous and demonic politicians.
As we have chosen Victor Osimhen as our Man of the Year 2023, we hereby challenge Nigerian youths to continue to pursue their dreams unshakably, and to fix their eyes unrestrainedly on how to join progressive forces perpetually; to take sides consciously with those calling for unambiguous electoral reforms, to ultimately reclaim Nigerian State from the annihilating monsters who called themselves ‘leaders of the people.’
