Osimhen Napoli Mockery: Ibadan fans protest against football racism
Following the incident of TikTok video involving Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen fans of the round leather game in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State trooped out on Monday, October 2nd to hold a peaceful protest against racism and discrimination in football.
The rally which was spearheaded by Splash FM and Lagelu FM Ace Sportscaster, Olawale Hamzat popularly known as ‘Top Striker’ alongside his friends, colleagues, and large fanbase of his popular Yoruba radio program tagged ‘Jekanmo’ protested round some notable parts of the city.
Following a poor performance in which he missed a penalty in Napoli’s goalless draw against Bologna in Serie A on Sunday, Napoli posted a video on TikTok where they appeared to be mocking their own star striker for the penalty miss, sparking claims of racism especially from Osimhen’s Nigeria fan base.
Although the Serie A champions later released a statement on Thursday evening, where they claimed that Victor Osimhen is a treasure to the club, most Nigerians believed what happened to Osimhen is nothing but a clear display of racism and discrimination.
According to Olawale Hamzat, the peaceful protest held on Monday, 2nd October, 2023 within Ibadan where all the participants wore white and/or green T-shirts was done as their own way to fight for Nigerians and other African footballers facing discrimination and racism because of their colour
While speaking with the sporting press after the rally, the award winning sportscaster explained that “we all assembled at the Splash FM office, Felele, Ibadan from where we commenced the peaceful protest within Ibadan in a campaign against racism and discrimination.”
“Racism has been a very tough scourge to eradicate from global football even for FIFA, as many efforts made to put an end to any form of discrimination and racism especially in European football are yet to yield good results.”
“It is unfortunate this is coming from the club official TikTok account of Napoli, hence we can’t keep quiet with the way our own blood and fellow Nigerian is being harassed and dragged to the mud, this must stop,” said the convener of the peaceful rally
