Kenneth Omeruo, the central defender for Nigeria, has highlighted the severity of cyberbullying faced by Super Eagles players when they underperform and fall short of expectations.
After the Super Eagles lost to Ivory Coast in the 2023 AFCON final, players faced abusive messages from fans. Alex Iwobi, a midfielder for Fulham and the Super Eagles, was a target of cyberbullying and deleted all his Instagram photos following blame for the team’s performance in the tournament.
Omeruo revealed that Ola Aina received a death threat from a supporter after Ivory Coast winger Simon Adingra outplayed the wing-back in the AFCON final. Despite Aina being one of the team’s standout players en route to the final, some fans expressed dissatisfaction.
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In an interview with Arise News, Omeruo expressed concern about the impact of fan cyberbullying on players’ confidence. He mentioned that such behavior could lead players to consider leaving the national team, emphasizing the need to address this issue.
Omeruo stated, “There are a lot of people who are angry for nothing’s sake, and they will come at you. Before this tournament, we’ve been getting criticism. 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 a lot of messages.”
He continued, “If we lose a player like him just because of some bullying from some fans that are not even important, then it’s going to affect us. Imagine Ola Aina, for me, was one of the best players in the tournament and was named to the Team of the Tournament as well.”
Omeruo emphasized the importance of addressing cyberbullying to ensure the well-being and confidence of the players, stating, “It’s really wrong and it kills the confidence of the players, so what if they decide it’s not worth it, I’m not coming. It’s nothing; they are playing for their clubs, they earn money at their clubs, and we should really, really address it.”
Ola Aina, a former captain of England U19, made his debut for Nigeria in a 2018 World Cup qualification match against Zambia and has since accumulated 39 appearances for the Super Eagles.