In the dance of destiny,
Wicked souls birth Corrupt reigns,
Corrupt reigns sculpt Valiant hearts,
Valiant hearts forge Just rule,
Just rule seeds..🙏followback
“He pose no threat, he was already tied…are they trying to conceal something or a confession that we do not know?… when he was trying to confess they k!lled him… they k!lled him further in the police station… this story look like more than meets the eyes to me”
~Rufai Oseni
“AFCON SMEAR CAMPAIGN”
(Same Game, Different Judgement)
A comment by Darren Lewis, a respected British sports journalist, deserves real credit. Paraphrasing his point:
We need to stop pushing the lazy narrative that what happened at the AFCON final is somehow a stain on all of African football.
When England fans vandalised Wembley after Euro 2020, it wasn’t framed as a failure of European football.
When Calciopoli exposed deep corruption in Italy and Juventus were relegated, it wasn’t used to discredit European club football as a whole.
When Steve Bruce led Sheffield United off the pitch during an FA Cup tie against Arsenal at Highbury, no one claimed it represented English football.
Yet, similar incidents at AFCON are quickly weaponised to question the legitimacy, organisation, and credibility of African football as a whole.
That double standard is the real issue, not the tournament.
Same game. Same problems. Different judgement.
AFCON isn’t the problem, the bias is.
It takes a lot to lie to me. I grew up among sleuths; people who could read the lie you haven’t even thought of and, of course, pre-punish you for it.
My father could sniff out the most sophisticated lie before it ever settled on your tongue. My mother could too, but she had a subtler cruelty: she’d let you bask in your deception, let you think you’d gotten away with it, only to wake you around 3 a.m., eyes blazing with righteous fury and a cane, sometimes two, in hand, to remind you of the lie you told. That was her justice: delayed, precise, and mostly unforgettable.
In my dealings with people, especially in relationships, I’ve become a quiet analyst of truth. I’ve seen many lie. Some, I allow, because I find a strange amusement in watching people think they’ve fooled me. It gives them comfort; it gives me data. Not the kind you flash during an argument to defeat your partner or use against them, no. This kind of data is the one you sit with in silence, to evaluate what could have gone wrong for someone to think you that foolish.
Other times, I call it out instantly. But truth be told, the moment I have to call you out, something in me begins to withdraw. Because if you must lie to me, at least make it worth my intelligence. And worse still, don’t lie badly. My mind leaps, connects dots you didn’t even know existed. Whatever you tell me will be dissected, stretched, examined until the marrow of it shows. That’s the curse of being raised by truth-hunters and gifted with a restless brain.
Yet, I understand that not all lies are born equal. Some are harmless bandages. Others are murders. And some murders, once committed, cannot be forgiven.
I won’t moralize about lying; people lie for reasons the heart sometimes understands before the mind can condemn. Some lies save lives, protect peace, buy time. My only point is this: if you must lie, at least respect the craft. Gauge the mind you’re lying to. Sharpen your story till it gleams. Deliver it with conviction. And when you do, remember it well, because someday, somewhere, that lie will circle back, without warning, looking for its maker.