Tuggar Decries Napoli’s Treatment of Osimhen over Missed Penalty

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Yussuf Tuggar has decried the mistreatment of Victor Osimhen by his club Napoli.

The Minister insisted that Nigerian sportsmen and women in the diaspora must be treated with dignity.

He made the assertion yesterday against the background of a viral video trolling the Super Eagles striker for missing a penalty kick in a football match against Bologna last weekend.

The Minister said the matter falls under the 4Ds Strategy of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also known as the Tinubu doctrine, which are Democracy, Development, Diaspora, and Demography.

He said the Diaspora component considers the life and dignity of every Nigerian in Diaspora sacrosanct and deserving of respect and dignity in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Tuggar said: “When we go about our duties, we should always remember Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

He further stated that by the foregoing “Napoli did not act in the spirit of brotherhood by the mocking of her star player Victor Osimhen who was instrumental to the team winning the Serie A Championship last season.”

He assured that the Nigerian government and Embassy shall continue to monitor happenings not only in Napoli but around the world on how her sportsmen and women are treated and all other citizens of the Nigerian diaspora and will waste no time in seeking redress of such mistreatments.

Meanwhile, journalist Gabriele Marcotti has praised  Osimhen’s attitude during the Serie A meeting between Napoli and Udinese on Wednesday evening.

In what was his first game since the TikTok saga, the Nigeria national teamer showed up pitch-side to gauge the reaction of the Napoli fans before kickoff at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Rudi Garcia, who doesn’t run Napoli’s TikTok account got booed by the fans, while Osimhen received a standing ovation.

After going goalless in four matches on the bounce, Osimhen proved that he is still a world-class finisher in the 39th minute when he doubled the advantage from close range.

Gabriele Marcotti highlighted that Osimhen conducted himself in a professional manner during the match against Udinese and his potential suitors would have taken notice.

Speaking on ESPN’s The Gab and Juls Show, he said: “Obviously he scores that goal and initially he doesn’t really celebrate. Mário Rui comes and jumps on top of him, and then over the course of the game you could see the adrenaline and so on.

“He became much more emotive. I think this reflects really well. If I’m a club looking at this, and then look at how did Victor Osimhen react in this moment? He reacted like an absolute professional and I think that matters.”

The timing of Napoli’s now-deleted posts about Osimhen could not have been worse given that the Super Eagles star is negotiating a new deal with the Serie A champions.