Super Eagles!

'I said it!'
'Did I not tell you?'
'I always knew they would make me proud!'
My middle aged neighbour,probably on his fifth bottle of Lager,kept yelling at his teenage son,trying his best to be heard over the din being made as the music kept blasting from the emergency street carnival to celebrate Nigeria's victory tonight.
In all honesty,he did not say it and I'm sure as hell that he did not tell anybody!
At least 159 of the 160 million Nigerians celebrating tonight did not give the Super Eagles a chance in hell to lift the trophy.

And the other million could not really be bothered.
It would take a man with absolutely no morals and  no fear of God whatsoever(we're not short of those in Nigeria anyways) to stand up and tell the world he thought Nigeria could win the trophy 3 weeks ago.
But as the tournament progressed,I witnessed that inimitable fair-weather spirit of the average Nigerian arise.
Long suffering fans who had snickered and rubbished the team as the Super Chickens were suddenly proud to be Nigerians.
Even people who cannot pick out Mikel Obi from a crowd,

Pls,why is Mikel wearing a hat?!

suddenly developed a zeal for the sport.
I am not here to to always play the bad guy!
Far from it.
Football once again showed how united we can be in this country.
During the tournament,there was little talk of tribe,religion or politics.
It was all about Nigeria.
Blackberry display pictures,personal messages,tweets and Face book updates revealed a deep sense of patriotism when things are going well.
And when 24 year old Sunday Mba scored the winning goal in the 40th minute or so,Oh My God,It was one Nigeria for real.

Those are not 24 year old bumps on your chin Mr Mba!But we shall let you be for tonight.

We had new heroes from Emmanuel Emenike to Ahmed Musa to Fegor Ogude to the beautifully ambiguously named Victor Moses.
It was one Nigeria!
So,thank you Super Chickens.....or sorry........Super Eagles for making me forget even for one night about the heat from no electricity,about the continued insecurity in the north,about the John Yakubu Yusuf's of this world and making my night truly SUPER!