Izuchukwu OkosiPresident Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed deep concerns about the performance of the Super Eagles in the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire despite the round of 16 qualification, reports Prime Business Africa.
The Nigerian side defeated Guinea Bissau 1-0 thanks to an own goal by the opponents to guarantee Nigeria’s passage to the knockout stages.
However, the country’s number one citizen, Tinubu, was not particularly over the moon after seeing the game against Guinea Bissau.
This was disclosed by the sports minister, Senator John Enoh in a zoom meeting with the players on Wednesday where he conveyed the message from Tinubu.
“One of the main reasons that made me have this call with you is the chance I had meeting with Mr President yesterday,” Enoh revealed.
“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,”
“The president is actually watching your matches and he is urging you and he knows that there was a lot of consciousness at the Group stages and he knows that from the Round of 16 that they [Super Eagles] are going to be more and more impressive.”
Three-time African champions Nigeria will on Saturday evening face Cameroon in one of the round of 16 games after both teams finished in second placed in Groups A and C behind Equatorial Guinea and Senegal respectively.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
