Stephen Keshi, former Super Eagles
coach died today, at the age of 54. This made him the 2nd sports legend to pass away between Saturday and today. The other was boxing legend
Mohammed Ali.
Stephen Keshi’s death did not
however trend on social media in Nigeria as much as Mohammed Ali’s did. While
there were a lot of headlines on it and papers were awash with stories
of Keshi, most television and radio stations continued their regular
programming with just a passing comment on Keshi’s death. Foreigners and
foreign news outlets seemed to even celebrate it better. Even stranger was that i wasn’t seeing his pictures on blackberry DPs or PMs. On Saturday when
Mohammed Ali died, the first thing that greeted me that morning were his
pictures awash on most of my blackberry contacts. Glowing tributes were paid to
him on twitter, instagram and facebook by Nigerians, some of whom barely knew
him. Today, that same social media is eeringly silent. No one is trying to compare both sport giants but it is really sad that one of the greatest players and coaches of the greatest
sport Nigerians love did not receive the celebration he deserved
Is it that we don’t know how to
celebrate our own? Do we have more value for foreign celebrities than local ones? Do we
lack records and data for quotes, record clips and commentaries
of Keshi’s most fantastic moments? Is there something wrong with our media’s
reportage?
Whatever the case may be, its
definitely double standards for Nigerian social media to stand still for Ali
and leave a deafening silence for Stephen Keshi. We need to look inward and
learn how to celebrate our own.
RIP Keshi
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