Ola Aina Got a Death Threat Following Nigeria’s Loss in the AFCON Final
Super Eagles and Kasimpasa Central defender, Kenneth Omeruo has revealed that Nottingham Forest full-back, Ola Aina received a death threat after Nigeria lost the AFCON 2023 final.
Capped sixty-one times for the senior team, Omeruo mentioned how the reaction of some of the Nigerian fans after the loss against Ivory Coast at the AFCON 2023 final went over the line, and should be stopped.
According to Omeruo, someone wrote to Ola Aina on Instagram, hoping he should die, while. Some of the people on social media are just angry because they lost their bets.
Quizzed about the effects cyberbullying has on footballers in general after Iwobi suffered the same fate, Omeruo said he spoke to Ola and he made some comments as well.
Omeruo said Ola Aina was one of the best players in the tournament and he made the team of the tournament, but someone is threatening his life because he had one bad game and you kill him.
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While calling for restraint from fans, Omeruo also feels players themselves must develop resilience against online haters.
We just have to grow a thick skin and hopefully keep winning because when we win, they forget about every other thing, he advised.
Rising above criticism and maintaining elite performances appears to be the best policy for sports stars.
The sinister threats aimed at Aina chillingly echo the torrent of online abuse targeting Alex Iwobi after Nigeria’s early exit from the 2022 World Cup.
The attacks left Iwobi so disturbed that he deleted almost all social media content.
With top talents like Aina and Iwobi impacted, urgent collective action is still required around football’s escalating cyberbullying crisis before more players are hounded out of the sport they love.
