Football Fans Sent Death Message To Ola Aina After Nations Cup Final, Omeruo Reveals

Super Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo, has opened up on the death message sent to his teammate, Ola Aina, following Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Ivory Coast in the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Omeruo stated that the fan sent the life-threatening message to Ola Aina after his below-par performance against Ivory Coast’s Simon Adingra in the final.

He has urged football fans to desist from cyber-bullying the Super Eagles players because the players are giving their best for the team.

“There are a lot of people who are angry for nothing’s sake and they will come at you. Before this tournament we have been getting criticisms,” Omeruo told Arise News.

“For example, someone wrote to Ola Aina on Instagram, ‘I hope you die’. They just write whatever, they don’t care about the consequences and most times I have stopped myself from replying to a lot of messages.

“If I reply like this, one blog will pick it and they will make a big deal out of it but we just have to grow thick skin and hopefully keep winning because when we win they forget about every other thing.”

Another Super Eagles player, Alex Iwobi was a victim of cyber-bullying on social media following the team’s loss to Ivory Coast in the final and there were reports that he was considering taking time out from the team due to the abuses.

Omeruo stated that losing players to cyber-bullying will affect the team.

He continued, “I was speaking to Ola and he made some comments that I won’t say here but if we lose a player like him just because of some bullying from some fans that are not even important, then it is going to affect us.

“Imagine Ola Aina, for me, was one of the best players in the tournament and was named in the Team of the Tournament as well.”

Several Super Eagles players have been victims of cyber-bullying from some football fans on social media. The likes of Odion Ighalo, Maduka Okoye, Francis Uzoho have been targeted in recent times.

The Super Eagles will team up again for the international friendly match against Argentina in March before the World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Benin Republic in June.