I remember the infamous handshake between Victor Moses and Amaju Pinnick, I also remember the unceremonious exit of Vincent Enyeama before then and the many crisis that followed.
Now let me take us down memory lane.
Super Eagles captainship handbands over the years, have been given to players with these qualities
1. Longest serving
2. Most vocal
3. Most passionate
4. Most committed
5. Always available
6. Oldest
From the days of Stephen Keshi, to Augustine Eguaveon, Sunday Oliseh, Austin Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Joseph Yobo, down to the likes of Mikel Obi and Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria football can remember some very vocal captains, who stood up to speak when it really matters.
Yobo fought for the team, Enyeama was dropped because he became too vocal and just when it seem like Victor Moses was looking good for the band, came that infamous handshake snub that got Amaju Pinnick asking for a take two.
Yea, I was among the Amaju boys that managed to play down the effect of that snub and we were quick to act a part two of that movie just to douse the tension. The aftermath of that incident, saw the early exit of Victor Moses from the National team.
We all know that Amaju is a man of big egos. That snub, got him below the belt and in order to prevent future occurrences, eggheads in the NFF thought it wise, to look for a gentleman captain and that was how Ahmed Musa emerged.
Without trying to sound tribalistic, Ahmed is my friend of many years but I must add here that the appointment of Musa was the beginning of our many failures in football.
He came at a time when so much was going wrong in Nigeria football. A time when we needed a bold captain to stand up and talk. On a few occasions, when he tried to speak, he was rebuked.and rebuffed and after that, came the apologies. I remember the complains about the Asaba and Abuja pitches.
As if that damage was not enough, they gave us William Troost Ekong the youtuber as his vice captain and ever since then, our Super Eagles became so docile, weak and maximumly ineffective.
We didn’t qualify for the Worldcup and everyone kept quiet as if nothing happened. The silence that greeted that disappointment was appalling. It tells you how bad things have turned.
With Ahmed Musa, it is business as usual. He laughs, eats and drinks with the administrators. He is their friend, so will not speak. The media hardly get exclusives from him.
If you want one, then wait for the next video from the Super Eagles welcome party. That is where you will see the best of Musa. He is always the master of ceremony, conducting the initiation and makes some silly jokes when men should be seriously looking ahead to the next big match.
We need a new Super Eagles Captain NOW, and he should be someone that is not scared to speak.
