Entertainment

By Muhsin Ibrahim

Cristiano Ronaldo is unquestionably one of the greatest footballers in the world. Needless to say, he has lifted almost all trophies, except the World Cup. Notwithstanding, his recent performance at Manchester United is anything but superb. I am not a football pundit, but I am old enough to understand if someone is no longer in their prime or the odds do not favour them anymore.

Naomi Osaka is a much younger athlete than Ronaldo. She had a winning streak, including defeating her role model, the undisputable tennis GOAT, Sareena Williams. However, the lady luck stopped smiling at her after that remarkable performances and victories. Much unlike her much older athlete colleague (i.e. Ronaldo), she didn’t summon her grit at that time. Instead, she had a rethink. Thus, she tried the fashion industry and, well, succeeded.

In his book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, Adam Grant subtly criticises Angela Duckworth’s argument on grit in her famous book, Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success. He says we should avoid “escalation of commitment”. What’s that?

Grant defines escalation of commitment as “When we dedicate ourselves to a plan, and it isn’t going as we hoped, our first instinct isn’t usually to rethink it. Instead, we tend to double down and sink more resources in the path.” Isn’t it what many of us do?

Of course, Osaka goes back to tennis. And, yes, Ronaldo may come back. However, if I were him, I would rethink my commitment to professional football. Grant (2021:229) points out that “gritty people are more likely to overplay their hands in roulette and more willing to stay the course in tasks at which they’re failing, and success is impossible”. In other words, gritty people go into foreclosure.

Honestly, I side with Grant’s argument more than Duckworth’s. We may be passionate about several things. Nevertheless, we may not succeed even after trying our best possible. For instance, how many relationships have had to let go? That doesn’t mean they aren’t our calling. Instead, it tells us that we aren’t cut for it. Hence, instead of pushing and pushing, rethinking and reversing may be our best way out – and, of course, way forward.

Being on social media for nearly two decades, many young people (I am also young, by the way) have talked to me about their passion for writing or doing postgrad programmes abroad, among other things. So naturally, I do my best to advise many, if not all of them. But, frankly, some of them should rethink their dreams. It’s glaring that some do not have what it takes to be writers or secure foreign scholarships.

I am also experimenting with a profession outside academia. Bluntly, I am beginning to rethink. I am not under duress to foray into any field. I am deeply grateful to God that my take-home salary pays my bills and more. While I may still pursue the – or another – profession in addition to teaching and research, I will not foreclose my thoughts.

Finally, try and try harder. Suppose you fail ad infinitum, please, stop and have a rethink. Rethinking should not necessarily come after a series of failures. It could or should come almost at any time. Moreover, that doesn’t mean grit is unimportant. I think without it, both Ronaldo and Osaka would not have gone that far. Even yours faithfully had to apply grit to be where he is – Alhamdulillah.

Muhsin Ibrahim wrote from Cologne, Germany. He can be reached via muhsin2008@gmail.com.

By Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani

It is no longer news that another African coach has won the African Cup of Nations, bringing it to six out of the last nine editions won by African coaches. Coach Aliou Cisse of Senegal joined the illustrious list of African coaches that have won it in the period under review:  Hassan Shehata of Egypt, three times, Steven Keshi of Nigeria, Djamel Belmadi of Algeria,  all once.

While I don’t know have anything personal against expatriate coaches, I have everything against the perception that our African coaches are not technically sound to manage our national teams. This is absurd. There are good coaches all over the world.

There are brilliant football managers all across mother Africa who should not be disapproved merely because of what can be referred to as our syndrome of not valuing our own. It shouldn’t be so. 

Of course, Nigeria’s best coach in history is a Dutchman, Clemens Westerhof, who coached Nigeria from 1989 to 1994: winning silver in Algeria 1990, bronze in Senegal 1992, and winning gold in Tunisia 1994.

Westerhof Qualified Nigeria to her maiden World Cup, played some of the most entertaining football ever in Africa and achieved the highest ranking by an African national team, 5th in April 1994 FIFA rankings.

Thus, there isn’t any way I would despise foreign coaches. It isn’t logical. However, I advocate that they be given fairgrounds to compete with our local coaches, and when appointed, all should be supported sufficiently to succeed. 

It is still fresh in my mind how Nigeria Football Federation got itself trapped in a web it is still striving to overcome. They sacked Gernot Rohr at the eleventh hour, which I still think is debatable. Yet, they went ahead to ‘appoint’ a new manager while an interim manager was in place. Who does that before a major tournament and the World Cup playoff around the corner? 

I had thought they should have waited for the AFCON to conclude before appointing any manager, especially with an interim manager already appointed. And all those who shared my views have been proven right with the latest development of allowing the interim manager, Austin Eguavoen, to continue until after the World Cup playoff against Ghana.

I think we would have been saved all this rigmarole if the NFF had at least trusted him enough to be the interim manager and not gone ahead to supposedly have an agreement with someone to succeed him regardless of his performances. 

Until, the Nigerian football fanatics reigned and rallied around the interim manager after some spectacular displays at the group stage of the AFCON, which seemed to have been adequate to make NFF take this recent decision, despite our shock elimination at the last 16 by Tunisia.  May we learn to give our best any job, support, and trust them to deliver. God bless Nigeria. 

Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani wrote from Turaki B, Jalingo, Taraba State via abdulrazaksansani93@gmail.com.

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

Unless you don’t follow European football, you might have seen a viral video of a man of black ancestry kicking and slapping a cat inside what appears to be an apartment. That man is a French, West Ham footballer, Kurt Zouma. Since that video came to public consciousness, Zouma has been in the eye of the storm. When writing this article, more than 250,000 people have signed a petition calling for Zouma’s prosecution on account of animal abuse. And if that were to happen, he may be facing up to a 4-year prison sentence.

Again, Adidas, the famous German multinational sportswear conglomerate, have terminated their contract with him. And to add insult to injury, his club has fined him his two weeks’ wages. Of course, what Zouma did is indefensible in its entirety. As vulnerable as they are, animals, too, need to be protected from our cruelty. However, I believe that the whole incidence is being blown out of proportion.

When I first read the news, I assumed it was just another mundane story that would naturally wane away in a matter of days. But seeing how the story was trending on all news platforms, I quickly visited YouTube to watch the video. My impression at the time was of Zouma being overly aggressive towards the animal. This is largely down to the sensational headlines across several media outlets. After viewing the video carefully, I observed that the player was not violent towards the pet cat. His kick was just a mild one, attempting to chase the animal away. But is this the first time the Western media maltreat Blacks? No.

In 2013, the then Liverpool striker, Luis Suarez, was accused of racially insulting former Manchester United captain Patrice Evra. Suarez unequivocally admitted to using the word ‘negro’ (a term with a racist undertone) to refer to Evra. At that time, no one launched any petitions against Suarez. On the contrary, his Liverpool teammates even donned a commemorative shirt to support him, alleging that his remarks against Evra were taken out of context. And coincidentally, Suarez was also an Adidas player. However, Adidas felt no need to terminate Suarez’s sponsorship deal. Instead, they sent him a toothless warning, asking him to watch his future behaviour.

Similarly, Eden Hazard once kicked a ball boy and was only fined a paltry £250,000 and never lost his sponsorship. Harry Maguire was convicted for human assault and bribery in Greece but received only a suspended prison sentence. He neither lost his Manchester United captaincy nor any of his sponsorship deals as a result. These incidents beg the question, ‘is animal abuse more serious in Europe than human rights abuse’? Have all these events transpired the way they did because Suarez, Hazard and Maguire are all white, while both Evra and Zouma are blacks?

From Samuel Eto’o, Emile Heskey and Peter Odemwingie to Daniel Alves, Franck Kessie, and Raheem Sterling, the list of Europe-based black players subjected to monkey chants is endless. Ironically, sometimes the racist abuses were done by supporters of the very clubs for whom the players ply their trade. However, no clubs were ever punished by points deduction or even a severe fine to make the mean-spirited fans behave appropriately. No arrests, no stadium bans for the culprit and nothing. Compare this to another event late last year involving West Ham fans who were filmed on a plane chanting anti-Semitic songs at a Jewish man as he was boarding the plane. That incident generated wide condemnation. All the fans involved were promptly arrested. West Ham issued a public statement that squarely condemns all the perpetrators. A similar incident happened to a Chelsea fan who posted anti-Semitic tweets directed at a Tottenham player. He, too, was promptly arrested and prosecuted.

I am happy about how fans on Twitter quickly pointed out the hypocrisy of Adidas. This is a corporation that specialises in producing shoes from animals’ hides. Which animal has ever granted anyone permission to kill it and use its hide to make shoes? Who draws a line between right and wrong as far as animals are concerned? And where are the animal rights agitators when riders use canes (made from animal skin) to whip animals during horse racing? Besides, who has ever sought approval from any animal before he rides on it?

Look, I am not out to defend Zouma. He undoubtedly made a mistake, and that is beyond doubt. I only want to point out the double standard that has trailed this incident. Black players in Europe are adjudged on a different set of criteria. When they are racially insulted, they expect to look the other way and not be overdramatic or create an unnecessary scene. They are always expected to exhibit good behavioural conduct or risk facing social stigma. The mantra of ‘what is good for the goose is good for the gander’ does not apply to footballers of the black race.

Aliyu is a lecturer at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.

By Usama Abdullahi

It’s highly frustrating that music is swiftly dominating Nigeria. So many people, especially teenagers, consider and consume music much more than anything. Despite their indecency and vulgarity in most videos, the youths see the musicians and actors as role models. 

One hardly watches a music video that’s free of impurity or indecency. Unfortunately, this is not seen only in the music industry, but it has become the norm in the entertainment industry. Take, for instance, Nollywood. Unsurprisingly, the movies they release every year are mostly not good for the sanity of Nigerian adults, let alone children.

Yet children sit comfortably to watch this with their parents – their so-called responsible parents. The comedy skits are much worse. Women who get featured in those comedy skits are usually inelegant vixens. They derive joy in flashing their nudities before the audience. And the audiences are often vulnerable kids. They are kids who barely think independently, so they learn whatsoever they see. 

What’s more disgusting is the vulgar languages in these skits and movies are not being filtered or edited by the supposed editors. This is proof of willful neglect of the future of young adults. But who do we blame for this? The blame lies with the supposed editors, reckless actors, irresponsible parents, vulnerable children, or the entertainment industry for its fatal disregard for prevailing indecency. I won’t fault anyone for this because society at large is undoubtedly blamable.

I’m writing this because I’m also a victim. I watch some comedy shows when I feel bored sometimes. But what I used to watch in the past few years is quite different from what I watch today. There’s an unfortunate compromise in our entertainment industry. Some contents are not merely nasty, but they are rather invective. The actors use swearwords and vulgar language excessively. For this reason, watching it diminishes the good morals that parents have infused in their children. 

We can see that moral decadence in children’s increasing disrespect and utter preferences for filthy films other than films with educative content. They imitate what they see in these movies, hence the overwhelming rate of juvenile crimes. And they are too quick to download newly released songs or films, but they fail to install PDFs for free books. Moreover, they can mime words from multiple songs, yet they barely memorise a single line from their books. This is why there’s a continuous decline in the education sector.

It didn’t surprise me when I heard a seven-year-old lad miming “Coming”, a song by Naira Marley featuring Busiswa. I can’t deny his talent for miming, but, given his age, the thing is, the song is grossly inappropriate for his hearing. That is it! Arguably, there are a lot of children who have mastered numerous songs. But, you know what, this mere mobile phone has flawed the reputation of many children and corrupted their behaviours.

Do you find it hard to believe me? Please, do create a time of your own and glimpse through TikTok. I bet you can’t believe what your eyes would see. The most important question is, how do we build a better future for the upcoming or unborn generations? With all these “unavoidable” indecencies, can we actualise this vision? 

Although the damages seem too much, still we can lessen it through the help of the National Film and Video Censor Board (NFVCB). Therefore, let’s appeal to the NFVCB to double their effort in seeing that songs with foul lyrics, X-rated movies, video clips and comedies are filtered or banned entirely from cinemas or social media.

Usama Abdullahi wrote from Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached via usamagayyi@gmail.com

• Director: Ali Gumzak
• Producer: Abubakar Bashir Maishadda
• Screenplay: Jameel Nafseen
• Language: Hausa
• Company: Mai-Shadda Global Resources Limited
• Release Date: 28/01/2022

Mai Shadda Global Resources Limited, a film production company that recently emerged as Kannywood’s powerhouse, has produced many blockbusting comedies with the veteran director, Ali Gumzak. Their last release, Kayi Nayi, was the biggest hit of the previous year. However, as the new year arrived, they came in with another comedy entitled LAMBA.

The film is a social satire set against the backdrop of ‘Audio money’ (a slang term for the fake display of wealth). It tells how some three young men (Adam A. Zango, Umar M. Sharif and Ado Gwanja) flaunt false riches to impress the classy girls they meet on social media. They look for the girls who post their filtered, stylishly snapped pictures on the platforms.

Quite incidentally, the girls, too, are living under false pretences. They rent all the trendy clothes and latest phones they use. They hire everything from a dubious merchant, Salo (Aminu Shareef Momo), at any price. The unveiling of their true identity and what transpired later is shown in brilliantly executed hilarious scenes that get the audience laughing throughout.

The film bears some striking similarities to Makaryaci and Kalen Dangi (both directed by Ali Gumzak in 2017), but this doesn’t make it a clichéd one. It’s, in fact, somewhat of an unconventional comedy for having up to three choreographed song and dance routines. The songs are pretty melodious and well shot. But Zango’s dance in the last one, which has thumping music, impresses the most.

Also, due to the film’s need for multiple actors, the producer (Mai Shadda) didn’t cast his favourites (M. Shareef and Maryam Yahaya) alone. He, this time, featured Adam Zango alongside many others. This is particularly interesting for, until this film, the star (Zango) has not appeared in any big production since Karamin Sani (Dir. Falalu Dorayi, 2020).

Moreover, Ado Gwanja, Aminu Sharif (momo), Maryam Booth, Amal Umar and Aisha Najamu acted in pivotal roles. Dubbing artist-cum-actor, Sultan Abdurrazak and rising starlet Ummi Rahab also play supporting roles along with many new faces.

All the leading cast show great comic timing. Zango is larger than life, and Gwanja amuses with great gusto. M. Shareef shows a vast improvement as an actor. Aisha Najamu shines with her signature look, and the new faces seem promising. The credit should go to the director (Ali Gumzak), who handles them effectively.

In sum, though LAMBA lacks an innovative script, it’s an excellent comedy that succeeds in tickling the funny bone. It will surely entrance you and leave a long-lasting smile on your face. Watch it!

Habibu Ma’aruf Abdu wrote from Kano via habibumaaruf11@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Miss USA 2019, Cheslie Kryst commits suicide. Law -enforcement sources told reporters that the woman who leaped to her death in New York on Sunday, January, 30, is the beauty peagant, Cheslie Kryst.

Just hours before her death, she wrote on her verified Instagram, “May this day bring you rest and peace.”

Her family confirmed her passing in a statement.

“In devastation and great sorrow, we share the passing of our beloved Cheslie. Her great light was one that indpired others around the world with her beauty and strength.”

“Cheslie embodied love and served others through her work as an attorney fighting for social justice, as Miss USA and as a host on EXTRA. But most importantly, as a daughter, sister, friend, mentor and colleague – we know her impact will live on,” Her family wrote.

By Usama Abdullahi

If there’s anything I have learnt from Super Eagles’ sad loss in this year’s AFCON is the absurdity associated with it. Of course, it’s unfortunate Nigeria lost to Tunisia in the round of 16 yesterday. But, as a patriotic citizen, what do you do? Of course, you express your grief about that and hope for the better next time. Period!

Contrary to this, several unpatriotic citizens who are also lacking in maturity attribute the team’s misfortune to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari. I thought they were joking, but it turned out that they meant what they said. Before the commencement of the match, Buhari had a virtual call with the team in which he encouraged them. 

But as the match ended in favour of Tunisia, the media was full of aggressive and disparaging remarks about the call and the President. Some foolishly described the President’s call as a disastrous one, which, however, ‘led’ to the painful yet unexpected exit of the Nigerian Super Eagles from the AFCON.

However, this didn’t surprise me because, before the match kickoff, some simpletons had already predicted and discounted the team’s failure out of obviously immutable dislike for the President’s encouraging call. We are a society easily driven by silliness. 

If you buy into the nutty notion that the President’s call was the reason for the team’s woeful undoing, then you’re no different from the person living with psychosis. This mental illness makes you behave abnormally and believe things that aren’t true. 

Let’s stop this nonsense, accept the defeat smilingly, congratulate our lads for their previous victories, and encourage them to do better ahead of the Qatar World Cup playoff match.

Usama Abdullahi wrote from Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached at usamagayyi@gmail.com.

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

The group stages have come and gone at the ongoing AFCON in Cameroon, with Algeria and Ghana being the biggest casualties. For the 2-time winners Algeria, it was nothing short of a travesty that they failed to qualify from their pool. After all, they were on a 33 game unbeaten streak before the tournament. They were also odds-on favourite to go all the way. And to be fair, they crafted more than enough chances to win their opening two games against Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea before they met their waterloo against Ivory Coast. But unfortunately, their tournament can best be summarized as a combination of poor finishing, complacency and rotten luck.

As for the 4-time champions Ghana, the least said, the better. They played some of the most dreadful football in the tournament. Add this to their ill-discipline, and you have the Ghanaians knocked out in the first hurdle. That they couldn’t defeat the debutant Comoros is a damning indictment of the once-proud footballing nation.

Now that the group stages are over, the margin for errors is entirely gone. Our own Super Eagles have been the team of the tournament so far, but that counts for nothing if we fail to get the job done in the subsequent tournament rounds. Our reward for winning three out of three games is a tantalizing tie against former champions Tunisia, who have largely underwhelmed in the tournament. On the evidence of what has been seen so far, bookmakers would have Nigeria as the firm favourite to advance to the quarter-finals; and rightly so. However, I earnestly pray that our fantastic showing does not get our players and coaching staff complacent. The winner takes all nature of knockout rounds makes it an unforgiving business. It only takes an avoidable error by a player or a coach for a team to book the next flight home. Besides, the Tunisians are no pushovers. On the contrary, they have the experience and the pedigree to cause an upset.

Often, a team performs wonderfully at the group stages only to be undone by their heralded opponents. I always remember the 2002/2003 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in which Juventus sent Barcelona parking. At the time, Barcelona got 16 points from the second group and had won a total of 11 out of 12 group stage games (there were two group stages then, in case you were wondering), and Juventus managed to crawl their way out of the second group with 7 points. When they were paired against Barcelona, many football fans and pundits regarded it as a foregone conclusion. Against all odds, Juventus not only defeated the seemingly unbeatable Barca, but they went all the way to the final, where AC Milan narrowly defeated them via penalty shootouts. The biggest lesson I have learned from that encounter is that as long as a team is still standing, it stands a chance to win a tournament. I hope our players think the same way.

The round of 16 fixtures has drawn up the path to the trophy, with Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Tunisia as the biggest teams on the same half of the draw and Egypt, Morocco, Cameroon and Ivory Coast on the other half. If (not when) we overcome Tunisia, we are scheduled to play the winner of Burkina Faso and Gabon. And if we win that tie, we would be facing one of Senegal, Cape Verde, Mali and Equatorial Guinea before the final showdown at Yaoundé. So here’s wishing the Super Eagles all the good luck in the world.

Aliyu is a lecturer at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

President Muhammadu Buhari congratulates Super Eagles on their brilliant wins against Egypt, Sudan and Guinea Bissau at the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

The President took to his verified Facebook account to commend the victories of the Super Eagles and urged them to maintain the zeal in making Nigeria proud.

The President posted, “Congratulations to our Super Eagles on winning all their three games and advancing to the second round of the AFCON in grand style. “

The President also advised the players to be good ambassadors of their country on and off the pitch.

He also noted that Nigerians are looking forward to Super Eagles bringing the cup home and assured them of his unflinching support.

He wrote, “They are assured of my unflinching support as they soar like the Eagles that they are to write yet another brilliant chapter of the unfolding story of Nigerian football”

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

The annual FIFA Best Awards 2021 ceremony took place yesterday, January 17, 2022, in Zurich, Switzerland, amidst glitz and glamour. Many awards were contested and won by deserving players. Bayern Munich Polish marksman, Robert Lewandowski, was the biggest winner, as he scooped the prize of the FIFA the Best Men’s Player for the second year running. However, a few controversies left fans watching the event on TV and social media scratching their heads in disbelief. I will highlight just five of them.

• Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi, and Mohamed Salah were selected as the three best players in this order. However, in the annual FIFPro World XI, there was no place for Mohamed Salah. In other words, the Egyptian who was deemed good enough to be the third-best player for the year was considered not good enough to be in the team of the same year. If this is not utterly dumbfounding, I don’t know what is. And somehow, FIFA managed to include Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Braut Haaland, who were ranked lower than Salah, in that team. Ridiculous!

• A similar scenario played itself out again in the goalkeeping category. Chelsea Senegalese custodian, Edouard Mendy, was chosen as the Best Men’s goalkeeper. But somehow, he was overlooked for the same FIFPro World XI. Instead, the PSG Italian shot stopper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, was selected. Fans all over the world were left fuming with this absurdity. How can you choose a player as the best in his position and then fail to select him in your best team of the year? Inexplicable!

• Barcelona Spanish player Alexia Putellas won FIFA the Best Women’s Player in the women’s category but was omitted from the FIFPro Women’s World XI. In other words, the best player of the year was deemed not good enough to have a place in the best team of the year. In case you don’t know, Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or just two months ago. But still, FIFA decided that there were better players to be in the World XI than the double award-winning Spaniard. Baffling!

• Barcelona Women’s team won a treble last year. They won the women’s equivalent of La Liga, Copa Del Rey and the Champions League. Yet, none of their players was chosen in the FIFPro World XI, not even the aforesaid Best Women’s player, Alexia Putellas. Controversial!

• Barcelona Women’s treble-winning coach Lluis Cortes was somehow not chosen as the women’s coach of the year. Instead, the award went to Chelsea Women’s coach, Emma Hayes. By the way, Lluis Cortes and his Barcelona destroyed Emma Hayes and his Chelsea team 4-0 in the Women’s Champions League final late last year. Absurd!

Surprisingly, despite these apparent inconsistencies, there were no cries of robbery, no rubbishing of the awards, no nothing. SMH!

Aliyu is a lecturer at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.