Sports Development Minister, Senator John Owan-Enoh, has strongly condemned the cyber bullying of Fulham attacking midfielder, Alex IwobI.
Iwobi did not offer much when the Super Eagles of Nigeria suffered a 2-1 defeat against Ivory Coast in the final of the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Sunday night.
He was a shadow of himself in the game as he failed to create anything big despite giving one key pass as a result of which the 27-year-old was replaced with Alhassan Yusuf.
Nigeria’s loss to the Elephants thereafter triggered a wave of criticism directed particularly at Iwobi who has in turn decided to delete all the pictures on his Instagram page.
This led the Sports Minister, Owan-Enoh to issue a statement on X where he condemned strongly the cyber bullying of Iwobi or any other sports man or woman.
He said these sports men and women give a lot if not all of themselves when representing Nigeria.
According to him, the least the public can do is rally support for them, be kind and gracious with words and actions towards them.
He said that cyber bullies do not determine what the leadership of the country, the rest of Nigerians including himself, think of Iwobi.
“Dear Alex Iwobi, be strong. You were part of a team that brought home a silver medal from AFCON 2023. The last time we won a silver was twenty three years ago at AFCON 2000,” Owan-Enoh wrote.
“You did your best, gave over fourth days for the love of the nation,” the Sports Minister said.
“We applaud you. We are proud of you, keep soaring.”
