Chinedum Treasure
The Labour Party Senatorial Candidate for Anambra Central, Ven. Tochukwu Ikezue, has congratulated Nigeria’s Under-17 women’s football team, the Falconets, on their historic victory over Japan to clinch the country’s first U-17 Women’s World Cup title.
He however warned against attributing the achievement to President Bola Tinubu’s goodluck.
Ikezue who gave the warning in a chat with newsmen shortly after church service at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Awka, congratulated the players, their coaches and management for their outstanding performance, which he said had brought pride to Nigeria and the African continent.
The clergyman, however, cautioned politicians and their praise-singers against taking political credit for the team’s achievement, insisting that the victory was a product of hard work, discipline, tactical preparation and teamwork.
According to him, attributing the victory to one man’s goodluck is an insult to the sweat of the female players, their coaches and management.
“These girls worked hard. They trained hard. They were disciplined, they were diligent, and they played with tactics and courage. Do not insult their sweat by saying it was one man’s goodluck that took them to the final,” he said.
The Senatorial hopeful maintained that success in international football was earned through diligence, discipline, preparation and teamwork, not political influence or the goodluck of any individual.
He lamented what he described as a growing culture of sycophancy among politicians and their supporters, who attribute every national achievement to the President while blaming failures on other people.
“Politicians should have a limit to lies and deceit. You cannot claim goodluck for football success, yet claim sabotage for hunger, insecurity, and bad economy. If it is goodluck that wins matches, let that goodluck also fix the naira, fix insecurity, and fix unemployment,” he added.
Ikezue urged Nigerians to give honour to whom it was due by recognising the efforts of the players, coaches and management, rather than using the achievements of young Nigerians to massage the egos of politicians.
Ikezue also expressed hope that the Falconets would lift the trophy and continue to make Nigeria proud.
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