Nigerian Politicians Should Play Football.... John Onaiyekan

Nigerian politicians should play football – Onaiyekan By Amaechi Agbo The Bishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan has called on politicians gearing up for the 2019 elections to come out and play football and learn how to lose with honour and win with humility. Cardinal Onaiyekan stated this while addressing newsmen on Saturday at the end of Soccer for Peace competition held at the practicing B of the National Stadium. Organized by Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace, COFP, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja Ecclesiastical Province, called on Nigerian politicians to show the spirit of sportsmanship when they lose election citing former President Goodluck Jonathan for setting the standard on how to concede defeat as a politician. He therefore called on the present political leaders to emulate such good step when their time comes. “Let the politicians come and play football. We should bring all of them to come and play football first and learn to lose and learn to win. Unfortunately, they will not come after all election means that you offer yourself as a candidate to the people and you tell them you want to serve them and they should vote for you. Then you wait for them to vote for you. If the majority says they want you by their votes, then you go and serve. If the majority says they don’t want you, then you go to your house and continue whatever you are doing before because politics in itself is not a job that everybody should use as a means of making his livelihood. Unfortunately, we have turned politics into a means of making money and that is why we are in trouble. The major lesson is sportsmanship – learning to lose with friendly passion. “Former President Jonathan, say whatever you like about him, at least, he brought out this great message in 2015. Like I always say, he agreed to lose. He could have refused and create a lot of problems in Nigeria but he agreed to lose and congratulated the winner. I hope people who are there now will follow the same spirit,” Cardinal Onaiyekan said. On the essence of the Soccer for Peace competition, the founder of COFP explained that it was to promote peace, interreligious harmony and unity in Nigeria. “The idea of Soccer for Peace was brought about due to the fact that in our effort to bring about interreligious harmony, we need to pay attention not only to the imams and the bishops who you often see on television but also the people at the grassroots especially the women and the youths. Women are used because generally when you are talking about religious leaders, the youths will not appear because they are too young to be leaders and the women are not often parts of the leadership of either the Christian or Islam. “So in our efforts to focus on the youths, we realized that the best way to bring youths together is sports. Football is only one, there are other sports we know and we will also use some of them in the future to promote peace. “As far as I am concerned, the expectation has been met just from the mood of the young men here. These are just ones that are here. There were 8 teams that participated in the competition but others are not here. The mood is going round and this is the first edition and we will gather again, God willing, in more elaborate passion and we are hoping that other Nigerians can encourage such things especially those Nigerians who can give the young people millions and not thousands that we are given so that more and more young people will come out and use their energy just to play sports, get to know one another instead of being separated and fighting one another. From what I am hearing, the ones killing people are not these youths, those who are killing people in Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna and so on, these are the terrorists armed to the teeth with latest weapons. So it is not these young people we are talking about. When there is a major interreligious confusion out there on the streets, unfortunately, the youths are the first people that will be used to start causing troubles. We pray that those who are playing football together will not agree to fight one another because they have known one another,” he concluded. On his part, Mohammadu Nuru, Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters, described football as a unifying spot and caaled on youths to avoid being used as thugs by michivioues politician to perpetrate crisis during and after te 2019 elections. “We have observed that there are many things that can bring the youths together but football is in the forefront. It is the only language that every youth speaks and it is what every youth will like to participate in or watch. That is why when this initiative started, we came to embrace and support it because we want our youths to be together, love one another and preach the word of love. “My message to the youths is that they should know that there is no seat that is more important as their lives. They should not allow anybody to play politics with their lives. People that don’t use their own children even for vote but they are using our children to kill themselves. We are not going to allow it anymore.” Solace FC won the inaugural tournament after beating their opponents, Golden Boys FC 1-0 in the final match courtesy of Junior Clement’s 85 minutes strike  while Puma FC won the best losers position. For emerging champions, Solace FC got a trophy and a cash reward of N400, 000, the second-placed team, Golden Boys FC got cash reward of N300, 000 while Puma FC was rewarded with N200, 000. Highlights of the final match were presentation of certificates to the match officials as well as recognition of the highest goal scorer, Most Valuable Player and Most Disciplined team of the tournament.   A total of 8 teams participated in the tournament.