Last Sunday, Nigerians went to the soccer battlefield against Côte d’Ivoire with multiple dead weights of grief on their minds. Having been buffeted by hunger, insecurity and sundry harsh economic conditions for quite some time, two tragic incidents befell the nation during the 2023 African Cup of Nations, AFCON semi-final and final.

Shortly after the semi-final, Nigerians realised that they had lost six of their countrymen. They died of anxiety-driven seizures while watching the match between the Super Eagles and Bafana Bafana of South Africa, Wednesday last week.

Among the Nigerians who died were Cairo Ojougboh, a former member of the House of Representatives from Ika Federal Constituency of Delta State; Mikail Osundiji, a sales representative; Osondu Nwoye, an Anambra State-born businessman who lived in Abidjan; Alhaji Ayuba Abdullahi, Deputy Bursar of Kwara State University; and Samuel Yunana, a youth corps member.

After hobbling into the finals, on Saturday, February 10, 2024, a day before the final match, Nigerians across the world got hit by the news of another tragedy. Herbert Wigwe, Group Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank Plc, his wife, son, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the immediate past Chairman of Nigeria Exchange Group Plc died in a helicopter crash in the United States of America.

They were on their way to watch the Super Bowl, America’s National Football League final in Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada, a match that was also fixed for Sunday, February 11, 2024. Access Bank which Wigwe led had just concluded its yearly Lagos City Marathon race that Saturday morning before the bad news broke.

Following those heart-wrenching tragedies, before the Nigeria-Côte d’Ivoire match began that Sunday, February 11 night, some Netizens had warned that the two tragedies that befell Nigeria during the semi-final and before the final were bad omens. They not only predicted that Nigeria will suffer defeat in the hands of Ivoirians, but also that a dark cloud is hanging over the country.

Curiously, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God in Kaduna that same Sunday while on a visit to the state governor, Uba Sani, declared that the challenges facing Nigeria are more than political; that they are problems that require spiritual solutions.

“Nigeria needs the help of God, and it needs the help urgently… We don’t want a situation where people will begin to think of taking their own lives…It has become more and more clearer to us that the problem our nation is facing is more than political. Our problems will require a bit of spiritual solution…We as a country are blessed; we are blessed with people with great intelligence, we are blessed with all manners of resources and yet we have so many problems,” Adeboye said.

It appears Nigeria is the middle of an activated time-bomb, and the minutes are ticking away.

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