Osio Agama, the sister of Nigeria's Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been kidnapped in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The incident was confirmed by the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmad Mohammad, on Friday.
According to Mohammad, Agama was kidnapped on Tuesday while she was returning from church.
He Rivers State Police command, authorities are yet to establish contact with the kidnappers and are yet to know the level of relationship she has with the Minister of Petroleum.
Meanwhile, Okey Wali, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association who was kidnapped in Rivers State some weeks ago has been released. No connection has been established between both incidents.
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Peter Obi’s latest comments calling for President Bola Tinubu’s resignation, based on a comparison with the British Prime Minister’s voluntary exit, are not only misplaced but also reflect a selective and distorted view of Nigeria’s realities since 2023.
His view is also simplistic, as is often the case anytime he opens his mouth. Obi forgets our country does not run a parliamentary system of government like the UK. We run a presidential system, with the president elected to a fixed 4-year term. The people of Ekiti State and the Senatorial constituents in Nasarawa, Enugu, Ondo, and Rivers have just delivered a resounding victory for President Tinubu and his party. The election results, some early referendum of sorts, show that President Tinubu and his party are popular with Nigerians. This should be more concerning for Peter Obi and his new Special Purpose Vehicle, NDC, as we move towards the January 2027 election. Obi should wait until the presidential election to know what the people think of Tinubu’s government. Moving to use X to harangue the President out of office is off the mark and anti-democratic.
It is important to note that President Tinubu did not inherit a country in perfect shape. The security challenges we face today are longstanding and deeply rooted. Yet under President Tinubu’s leadership, Nigeria has made significant, measurable progress. Hundreds of people have been rescued from captivity, including high-profile operations in Borno and the Northwest. Our gallant troops have neutralised terrorist kingpins, sometimes with the help of our foreign allies. Over 15,000 terrorists have been taken off the streets and forests, and security operations have intensified nationwide. President Tinubu has not only sustained but also expanded investments in security by deploying advanced technologies and drones, and by appointing a Special Adviser on Homeland Security to ensure a holistic approach. These actions demonstrate commitment, not failure. It is laughable that Obi, who, as governor, was a colossal failure, unable to secure lives and property in his small state of Anambra, as documented by his successor, Willie Obiano, is now the one calling for President Tinubu’s resignation over security breaches in some parts of the country.
On the economic front, Obi’s depiction of decline and his verdict that “We are in the worst possible condition” ignore verifiable data and global plaudits for President Tinubu’s economic and social policies. President Tinubu inherited what another successor of Peter Obi described as ‘a dead horse economy’. When he came on board in May 2023, President Tinubu introduced bold, courageous policies that his predecessors had shied away from. Since then, the Nigerian economy has posted positive GDP growth every quarter, surpassing the global average. Trade surpluses have been recorded consistently, and foreign reserves have hit new highs—over $50 billion. Oil production has risen from less than one million barrels per day to about 1.8 million, reversing years of decline. Federation revenue is projected to hit over N30 trillion this year, far above the 2022 level of N7.7 trillion. By May this year, N15.7 trillion has already been collected, more than twice the entire revenue collected in 2022. State governments now have more resources to pursue development projects in education, infrastructure, health care, housing, and so on. The stock market has soared, with the All-Share Index rising from 50,000 to over 250,000, creating wealth for about 6 million Nigerian investors. The Naira-to-dollar exchange rate has been stable. Foreign Direct and Portfolio Investments are at record highs, reflecting renewed investor confidence, especially in the oil and gas sector.
President Tinubu has also set records in infrastructure delivery, building concrete roads that will last 100 years or more across all the country's geopolitical zones and actualising the Lagos-Calabar and Sokoto-Badagry superhighways, roads dreamt of for decades.
Unlike leaders before him, President Tinubu has proven not only to be a reform-minded and courageous leader but also an innovator, for instance, replacing expensive petrol and diesel with CNG and offering close to two million Nigerian tertiary students interest-free loans to pursue their education. Are conditions worsening in our country when, in three years of Tinubu’s leadership, we have recorded no disruption of the academic calendar by trade unions such as ASUU or NASU? That is one of President Tinubu’s campaign promises to our students: a four-year programme will be a four-year programme. It has been a promise well kept, which Obi, in his penchant for bad news, has never sung about and will never acknowledge.
Concerning President Tinubu’s campaign promises on power supply, it is misleading for Peter Obi to parrot the claim that candidate Tinubu guaranteed 24-hour electricity for all. What he actually said on that occasion in Lagos and which Obi and his followers have consistently misquoted, for the sake of mischief, was: “Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. A promise made will be a promise kept. If I don’t keep the promise and I come for a second term, don’t vote for me—unless I give you adequate reasons why I couldn’t deliver.”
The first policy President Tinubu implemented upon taking office was to sign the Electricity Act, which enables states to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity independently of the centralised grid system. To end the fraudulent estimated billing, his administration has rolled out millions of prepaid meters and plans to install seven million more. Power generation is increasing. The government has intensified its provision of off-grid solar power to schools, hospitals, and markets in many parts of the country. The real challenge remains transmission infrastructure and sustainable pricing, which are now being addressed, to attract fresh investment into the sector.
No one denies that Nigeria has challenges, especially regarding the high cost of living. But any honest politician will agree this is a global problem resulting from the tensions in the Middle East. Just recently, as inflation was receding in Nigeria, a disruption to the global economy occurred when America and Israel attacked Iran, and Iran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz, creating disruption in the global supply system and high prices of many commodities, including crude oil.
Peter Obi’s call for President Tinubu’s resignation is childish and hollow. It is not a call to hold the leader accountable. It is merely a political grandstand and an unworthy distraction just hours after President Tinubu's party recorded resounding victories in the weekend polls.
Leadership is about determination to confront the challenges facing our country and the economy. President Tinubu focuses on solutions, not rhetoric—investing in reforms, stabilising the economy, improving security, and laying the groundwork for a more prosperous Nigeria. He is not waiting to learn from Bangladesh, Rwanda or Egypt. He has a team of thinkers and doers. And Nigeria, under him, has been an exemplar for other nations to copy.
True leadership means staying the course, learning, adapting, and delivering results. President Tinubu has shown he is up to the task, and Nigeria is on the path to progress.
With his puerile tweet on X, we are now convinced that Peter Obi lives in his self-constructed echo chambers, where he reels off lie after lie to himself and believes his self-created reality about the situation in Nigeria. We sympathise with him. That reality he fantasises about is mostly a figment of his imagination.
News
For decades, the financial elite of Zurich and London viewed international drug trafficking as a coarse, localized problem. It was a menace measured in street corners, plastic baggies, and gang rivalries. However, a major global sting operation has smashed this illusion. The arrest of Nigerian billionaire Amadi Simon in Switzerland, alongside his female co-conspirators in West Africa, reveals a much deeper issue. It exposes a sophisticated, multi-billion-dollar network where modern fintech, West African drug wealth, and Russian sanctions evasion meet. This case is not just about a single drug bust. It serves as a modern lesson in how easily global finance can be weaponized. When illicit drug cash from European streets can flow smoothly into the Russian financial system through Swiss fintech firms, Western regulators must face a harsh truth: their digital anti-money laundering systems are failing.
The Mirror of the Network
At the center of this web sits Amadi Simon, a high-profile tycoon who lived luxury lives in both Nigeria and Western Europe. While he presented himself as a legitimate businessman, international investigators saw a different reality. They uncovered a massive, globe-spanning drug baron. The network operated with corporate precision: The African Anchor: In Nigeria, female kingpins Jecinta Amara Ikechi and Blessing Ngozi Amadi managed the local footprint. They ran operations in Anambra and Delta states to handle logistics and secure assets. The Swiss Conduit: In Zurich, Sergey Salpanov, a Russian-trained lawyer turned tech founder led Swiss Remit. This fintech firm provided the crucial financial pipeline for the group. Together, these players linked West African networks with European drug markets and eastern financial systems.
Weaponizing the Fintech Frontier
The cartel successfully bypassed traditional global banks by exploiting the gaps in modern financial technology. Traditional banks use slow compliance systems that flag suspicious transactions days after they occur. Fintech apps like Swiss Remit, however, pride themselves on instant, cross-border transfers.
The network exploited this speed to stay ahead of the law. They poured cash into virtual banking platforms through complicit money transfer businesses. Once the dirty paper money became "digital ledger cash," the fintech infrastructure quickly routed it into Russian financial systems or crypto assets.
To hide their digital tracks, the cartel used a strategy known as "nested banking." They passed funds through a confusing maze of foreign exchange businesses, shell companies, and virtual wallets. This completely hid the original owners of the cash. They also broke up large deposits into small amounts using "money mule" accounts opened with fake or stolen IDs. By the time computer algorithms flagged the transactions, the money had already cleared and disappeared into another country.
From Laundromats to Luxury Hotels
When the money returned to Nigeria, it was poured directly into the local economy to look like legitimate profit. The cartel relied heavily on high-end luxury hospitality assets to blend their drug wealth with clean, mainstream commercial cash flows. Following Simon's arrest, Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency working closely with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), moved swiftly to seize his multi-billion naira real estate portfolio: Jovi Hotel Asaba: a prime hospitality property used as a major commercial footprint in the Delta State capital. Jovi Hotel and Suites Agbor: a prominent multi-story hotel venture built to absorb massive amounts of cash. Jovi Apartment Abuja: a luxury residential complex in the upscale Mabushi district used as an administrative front. Alongside these physical properties, authorities froze numerous traditional bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets. These accounts held hundreds of billions of naira in digital ledger cash before they could be moved out of the country.
The Geopolitical Trap
The most alarming aspect of this case for Western security agencies is how organized crime intersects with geopolitics. By routing hundreds of millions in drug wealth directly into Russian financial systems, these networks do more than just clean dirty money. They create alternative pipelines of hard currency into Russia, bypassing traditional banking guardrails and international sanctions. For the Kremlin, cash-heavy networks like Simon’s are highly useful. They offer a steady supply of Western currency that is completely hidden from the eyes of global regulators. This exposes the fatal flaw in the West's current economic defense system. While governments impose strict sanctions on paper, the digital backdoors remain open. A fintech startup in Zurich can accidentally undermine the foreign policy of major world powers, simply by failing to verify the identities of its users.
The Way Forward
Dismantling this network required an extraordinary international coalition, including the NDLEA, the U.S. DEA, and Swiss and Greek federal authorities. This level of cooperation shows that law enforcement can successfully work together across borders. However, chasing criminals after the money has already moved is no longer enough. If governments want to protect the global financial system, they must change how they regulate the fintech sector. Fintech platforms can no longer be allowed to prioritize speed and user growth over basic security. Regulators must enforce strict, real-time identity checks and treat virtual banking platforms with the same scrutiny as traditional banks. Until the digital loopholes are closed, global syndicates will continue to exploit the international financial system—laundering drug money, evading sanctions, and hiding their wealth in plain sight.
In The Spotlight
President Bola Tinubu's Democracy Day address was an exercise in a peculiar form of political optimism: the sort that flourishes most luxuriantly when reality is at its bleakest. One almost admired its audacity.
The address read more like a dispatch from a parallel republic, blissfully detached from the grim realities of the nation he governs. To praise twenty-seven years of unbroken civilian rule is a fine thing for history books, but it offers cold comfort to citizens who cannot afford bread. Nigeria is currently caught in a vice of worsening socio-economic misery and pervasive insecurity, making the president's lofty rhetoric feel not just out of touch, but deeply offensive.
As schoolchildren languish in captivity, as retired generals die in the custody of bandits, as churches and mosques organize national prayers against insecurity, and as vast swathes of rural Nigeria remain subject to the whims of terrorists, kidnappers and armed gangs, the President invited Nigerians to celebrate "the enduring Nigerian spirit" and contemplate a nation moving "from uncertainty to stability". The most striking failure of empathy in the address is the lecture directed at Nigeria’s youth. Tinubu urges them to "build here, code here, work here, and vote here," scolding those who leave as "abandoning ship." This is a rich demand from a political elite whose own children are routinely educated and housed abroad. Young Nigerians are not leaving out of a lack of patriotism. They are fleeing a system that actively stifles their talent, devalues their labor, and threatens their physical safety. To expect the youth to stay and fix a broken ship while the captains lounge in luxury is not leadership; it is rank hypocrisy that stinks to the high Heavens.
Democracy Day is, of course, a suitable occasion for reflection. The heroes of June 12 deserve remembrance. The struggle against military dictatorship remains one of the noblest chapters in Nigeria's modern history. Yet the purpose of democracy is not merely to remember freedom; it is to exercise it. Citizens cannot meaningfully enjoy liberty when they are afraid to travel roads, cultivate farms, attend schools, or sleep in their homes. The President himself inadvertently acknowledged this contradiction when he declared that "democracy without security is a mirage." Quite so. Democratic institutions are empty shells if they cannot provide basic human security. While Tinubu extols the virtues of resolving disagreements in courtrooms rather than through violence, millions of Nigerians face a different kind of daily violence. Wild inflation and a collapsing currency have made feeding a family an act of daily heroism. Bandits, kidnappers, and insurgent groups operate with terrifying freedom across vast swathes of the country. The state's primary duty is to protect its people and their livelihoods. In this duty, the current administration is failing. Celebrating the "ballot" when the state cannot secure the "bourse" or the "boma" is a luxury only the ruling class can afford.
The difficulty is that this statement functions less as a defense of his administration than as its most devastating indictment. For if democracy without security is indeed a mirage, then millions of Nigerians are currently inhabiting precisely such a mirage. The President's solution was familiar: statistics. Thirteen thousand terrorists neutralized. Terror-related deaths down. Thousands recruited into the police and military. Trillions allocated to defense. Governments facing difficult questions often retreat into arithmetic. Numbers possess an attractive quality. They cannot be interrupted. They do not ask follow-up questions. They create the impression of progress without the inconvenience of proving it. Yet Nigerians are not experiencing security through spreadsheets. They experience it through the inability to move freely across their own country. They experience it through ransom payments. They experience it through abandoned villages. They experience it through children kidnapped from schools. They experience it through the extraordinary fact that a retired Major General; a man who once stood near the apex of Nigeria's security establishment could be abducted and die in captivity. If the state could not protect one of its former defenders, what reassurance does it offer everyone else?
There was something especially curious about the President's plea that Nigerians should not "assign blame or point fingers." In ordinary circumstances this might sound statesmanlike. In a democracy it sounds peculiar. Assigning responsibility is, after all, one of the principal functions of democratic government. Citizens elect leaders precisely so that someone may be held accountable when things go wrong. A President asking citizens not to assign blame for a worsening security crisis is rather like a football manager urging supporters not to discuss the scoreline. One suspects the request is made because the scoreline is unfavorable. The address was similarly optimistic about the economy. Reforms have restored credibility. Investment is returning. Revenues are rising. Stability is replacing uncertainty. Perhaps. But the true measure of an economy is not found in ministerial presentations or investment brochures. It is found in kitchens, markets and pay packets. There is a reason the administration repeatedly tells Nigerians that prosperity is coming. It is because prosperity has not yet arrived.
The political danger for Tinubu is not merely that Nigerians are suffering. Nations can endure hardship when they believe sacrifices are producing visible results. The greater danger is that citizens increasingly feel they are being asked to trust official narratives that bear little resemblance to their daily experience. The President spoke eloquently of hope. Hope is a valuable political commodity. But it is not an inexhaustible one. The tragedy of contemporary Nigeria is not that its leaders lack ambition. The speech was full of ambition. It was rich with plans, reforms, initiatives, task forces, strategies and promises. The tragedy is that these aspirations coexist with a mounting sense that the state is losing its monopoly on security in significant parts of the country.
A government may survive economic disappointment. It may survive political controversy. What it cannot indefinitely survive is the perception that it cannot perform the most elementary function of government: protecting citizens from violence. The most revealing line of the speech may not have been the celebration of democracy or the defense of reform. It was the President's appeal to traditional rulers, faith leaders and community heads because "the government cannot do it alone." That was intended as a call for national solidarity. It sounded, instead, like an admission. For governments are not elected merely to join collective efforts. They are elected to lead them. The heroes of June 12 fought so Nigerians could choose their leaders. They did not fight so that elected leaders could explain why they are unable to secure the republic entrusted to them.
The president invites criticism from the press and civil society, calling them the "guardrails of our republic." Yet, these guardrails are being tested to the breaking point by economic mismanagement and official corruption. A democracy cannot be strengthened by speeches alone. It requires a government willing to cut its own waste, secure its borders, and create an environment where business can breathe. Until the Tinubu administration faces these harsh truths, Democracy Day will remain a celebration for the politicians, while the rest of Nigeria continues to suffer. Twenty-seven years after the restoration of democracy, Nigerians deserve more than commemorations of freedom. They deserve the substance of it. And until insecurity ceases to dominate national life, until children can attend school without fear, until citizens can travel without calculating ransom values, until communities no longer depend on prayer as a substitute for protection, the gap between official rhetoric and lived reality will continue to widen. Democracy Day was meant to celebrate how far Nigeria has come. Instead, it served as a reminder of how far it still has to go.
Opinions
In The Spotlight
The World Cup 2026 kicked off June 11, and as of today, 13 match-days after, in the middle of the second round of the group matches, we have witnessed the beautiful game on display - the first World Cup to take place in three countries: the US, Canada and Mexico, 16 cities, 104 games, over a period of 39 days, and the most expansive with 48 teams instead of the 32 in the last World Cup in Qatar, and arguably also the most expensive World Cup ever. This is also the most controversial World Cup in recent memory, organized against a background of complex issues: including US immigration policies, high cost of tickets with FIFA President Gianni Infantino not properly offering any explanation beyond the mercantilism of the world football body, geopolitical conflict between the United States and Iran, both at war, and the menace of the hostility of the immigration, border and customs officials in the United States.
Some of the participating countries were subjected to the worst humiliation ever on their arrival in the United States, and before then, officials and fans were denied visas and entry. The Senegal national football team, The Teranga Lions, were subjected to very strict, hands-on security screening as they alighted from their aircraft. Somalia’s FIFA-graded referee Omar Artan, Africa’s Men’s CAF Referee of the Year who would have been the first Somali official at the World Cup, was turned back and repatriated at the Miami International Airport, Florida. He comes from a country considered a piece of garbage by President Trump, his possession of valid documents did not matter. The players from Uzbekistan were received, as if they were common criminals, with drug-sniffing dogs, and metal detectors when they arrived at their training venue in New York! Players from Iran, whose country has been at war with the United States were told that they could not enter the United States. This was reviewed and they were only allowed to go to Mexico, and for their matches, they could only come in and go out after, strictly not allowed to sleep over in the United States. They have now played two Group G matches against New Zealand (2-2) and Belgium (0-0) at the Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, California, Los Angeles only to cross the border back to Tianjun in Mexico.
Their final upcoming group-stage match is against Egypt on Friday, is in much farther-away Seattle. Iran has remained unbeaten after two games, and that was without their officials who were denied entry. This is a statement of defiance, and self-assertion in the face of hardship by the most oppressed team in the tournament so far. When the Iranian team arrived in Mexico, there was even an ongoing internal protest by activists fighting the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum. In their two matches, Iranian dissidents in the US displayed the country’s pre-revolution lion and the sun flag. The World Cup is called the most beautiful game for a purpose given its place as a symbolism and a celebration, a melting pot, of global unity, friendship and togetherness. Ian Wright, the former Arsenal and England striker, now a pundit, had however described this year’s tournament as “a World Cup of chaos”. Wright was referring to the pre-tournament drama: the visa denials/controversies, the travel disruptions and the high-ticket prices.
The New York Times in an editorial described the World Cup 2026 as “Trump’s nightmare”. This is one World Cup tournament in which Gianni Infantino’s FIFA has acted and behaved so far like a lickspittle, lackey of the United States and President Donald Trump. It is a shame and an even bigger one considering the fact that this same Infantino’s FIFA gave President Donald Trump a Peace Prize on December 5, 2025 for having taken “exceptional and extraordinary steps for peace and global unity.” Trump called the prize “one of the great honours of my life”. It is doubtful if he has lived up to that honour with his country’s hosting of the 2026 World Cup Tournament and the hostile and discriminatory conduct of US immigration, border and customs enforcement officials. Nor has he done so with his upending of the global order and diplomacy with the role of the United States in the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East. The good news is that it is football that is winning nonetheless. Founded in 1930, the prestigious game has continued to write its own history against all odds, in a unique and memorable manner and it is no different with what we have seen so far this year, after more than 36 matches and about 123 goals, and what we may still see before Sunday, July 19, when the final match is played at the Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, near New York in the United States.
For the Nigerian reader, the main concern would be that the country’s national team, the Super Eagles did not make it to the 2026 World Cup. The Eagles lost their wings during the preliminary, qualifying stages due mainly to the gross incompetence of the Nigeria Football Federation, a congenital ailment that no one can confirm as having been cured, and of course the casual approach of the average Nigerian to everything that requires seriousness, a habitual ailment in its own special category. The result is that Nigerians are spectators at this year’s World Cup and the provider of special talents for more serious countries. There are at least about 15 players of Nigerian descent at the World Cup fighting for the glory of other nations. They include Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke (England), Jamal Musiala, Felix Nmecha (Germany), Folarin Balogun (United States), Michael Olise (France); Manuel Akanji, Noah Okafor (Switzerland), Tani Oluwaseyi, Promise David, Owen Goodman (Canada), David Alaba, Carney Chukwuemeka (Austria), Antonio Nusa (Norway), and Ime Okon (South Africa). These are global elite players who were either born abroad by a Nigerian parent, or who left Nigeria for greener pastures elsewhere and made good, and of course as we always do, we are quick to claim any Nigerian DNA doing well in any part of the world be it in sports, politics or academics. Back home, Nigeria does not provide an enabling environment for its people to shine and excel. The country is blessed with an abundance of talents in all fields of human endeavour but there is a perennial leadership crisis that rewards the dregs of society and frustrates the gifted and committed. And the country pays a heavy price.
Nigerian newspapers have of course been busy lamenting Nigeria’s absence at the World Cup. Martins Oloja of The Guardian says it is “a shameful absence”. He cannot be more correct. Premium Times newspaper in an editorial titled “Another World Cup without Super Eagles” (June 15, 2026), laments that “this is the Super Eagles’ second failure in a row, to participate in the global football tournament.” It is indeed, the newspaper adds, “a true and poignant reflection of the abysmal depths our football has plumbed, and the incompetence of those entrusted with its administration.” Again, I concur. On June 11, 2026, Vanguard newspaper published an editorial: “2026 World Cup without Nigeria” noting that “Nigeria fell short during the two-year qualification journey and got eliminated in Africa’s playoff final.” Earlier, Nigeria’s Punch Newspaper had also written an editorial titled “An Uncertain World Cup” (March 9, 2026) in which it also noted that Nigeria’s Super Eagles “failed miserably”.
But now that the World Cup 2026 is in full swing, it is not so uncertain anymore. Nigerians who are now bystanders at the year’s most important cultural event are not just spectators, they have also shifted their passion to the fumbling performance of South Africa at the World Cup. There is no love lost between South Africans and other Africans on account of the wave of xenophobia targeted at other Africans in South Africa who have now been given a June 30 deadline to leave or face the wrath of the indigenous people. When South Africa lost their first game to Mexico in the opening match of the tournament at the Mexico City Stadium on June 11, there was jubilation across Nigeria. About 258 Nigerians resident in South Africa had just been evacuated, the same June 11, and brought to Lagos by the Nigerian authorities. There has been no information about a second batch that is meant to be evacuated a week later, and that speaks to the typical shabby manner in which the Nigerian government is wont to handle such serious matters of public interest. When will the second batch return? South Africa lost their first game against Mexico, and got a point in their second match against Czech Republic. But there is no strong indication that the Hugo Broos men would make it to the knock-out stage, even after facing South Korea on Thursday, and that makes Nigerians very happy, a major comment indeed on the so much-vaunted idea of African brotherhood and solidarity. Nigerians however are not as contrarian with the performance of the nine other African countries in this year’s World Cup or the fact that Africa has benefitted from the expansion of representation at the World Cup after Qatar in 2022: Senegal, Tunisia, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Egypt, Cape Verde and DR Congo.
So far, Africa has tried to put up a good showing. Tunisia is out, after a poor performance. Algeria lost 3-0 to defending champions, Argentina in a match that did more to advertise Lionel Messi’s GOAT status in football. Morocco has been impressive against Brazil and Scotland. Cote d’Ivoire stood up to Germany but lost. Senegal lost 3-1 to France but they were not disgraced. Ghana managed to beat Panama. Egypt trounced New Zealand. Cape Verde and DR Congo have been impressive. DR Congo held Portugal to a 1-1 draw despite the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Portuguese squad. In fact, Ronaldo was close-marked out of the game. He has been sulking since then. Cape Verde, a country of just 525, 000 people appearing at the World Cup for the first time, the second smallest country in the tournament, has also so far surprised everyone with its performance in Group H alongside Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. This small country caused a major upset, by drawing 0-0 with Spain, a global football powerhouse, in their first ever World Cup match. In their second group match, they drew 2-2 with Uruguay, another giant and a two-time World Cup winner. Cape Verde’s talisman is a 40-year-old goalkeeper called Vozinha who saved seven onslaughts by Spain and was so remarkable that the United States had to waive the visa bond for his mother to enable her travel to the United States to watch her son, making history at the World Cup. Everyone is talking about Cape Verde, and it is not just about the players but also the beautiful ladies from this island country who have shown so much beauty, charm, colour and enthusiasm off the pitch.
This is a World Cup of emerging surprises. Apart from Cape Verde, another country of interest is Curacao, the smallest country to reach the World Cup. It has a population of just 156, 000 people. The small Caribbean Island country is a self-governing entity of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Most of its players were either born in the Netherlands or elsewhere, but this team, known as the Blue Wave, managed to put their island on the map. They lost 7-1 to Germany, but they held their own in a draw with Ecuador. Their main star is Eloy Room, the goalkeeper who made 15 saves in one match, and gained the attention of the world!. The defeat by Germany, the draw with Ecuador, and the one point that they gained already looks like victory to the Curacao team. The Dutch king was so excited, he danced with the team. This is perhaps the most culturally diverse World Cup ever, and the celebrations in the streets, the joyfulness of the fans and the excitement in the stadiums provide the necessary evidence. It is also likely to turn out as a profitable enterprise with the United States, hosting 78 of the104 matches, pocketing most of the returns from tourism and hospitality. With the exception of Ronaldo who is still working hard to make a difference, the usual stars are standing up to be counted: Harry Kane (England), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Erling Harland (Norway), Kylian Mbappe (France), Folarin Balogun (United States) , Vinicius Junior (Brazil), and Lamine Yamal (Spain).
History is also being made. Messi is now the all- time top scorer at the World Cup after scoring goal No. 17 in his country’s match against Austria. Mohammed Salah helped Egypt to secure their first ever World Cup win to beat New Zealand, 3-1 and was player of the match for the first time in his career. Jeremy Doku (Belgium) took time off from the World Cup to witness the birth of his son, Praise, and hence missed the Belgium vs. Iran match on Sunday. Harry Kane drew level with England’s all-time scorer, Gary Lineker with ten goals at the World Cup. But as the Three Lions face Ghana today, Kane has to worry not about football, but a famous Ghanaian shamanist, Nana Kwaku Bonsam, who has vowed that he would target Kane spiritually to prevent him from scoring a goal against Ghana. This. is what makes this World Cup so unique: the competitiveness across all fronts - from the field of play, to street dramas and voodoo, the beautiful game remains what it is: a fine blend of culture, fun, politics and excitement.