Victor Osimhen & Ademola Lookman- When False Prophecy Collides With Performance

By Dr. Bunmi Awoyemi

There is a peculiar genre of public fraud that thrives only where amnesia is abundant and accountability is optional. It dresses superstition as insight, guesses as revelation, and noise as divine instruction. Nigeria knows it well. We have canonised it. We even fund it with attention.

Enter the false prophet.
Primate Ayodele, in a moment of theatrical clairvoyance, thundered his now-embarrassing proclamation: If Ademola Lookman was included in the Super Eagles and Victor Osimhen played more than 45 minutes in any match, Nigeria would be eliminated from the 2025/2026 AFCON.

It was delivered with the confidence of a man unused to consequences and the comfort of someone who assumes facts will eventually get tired and go away.
They did not.

Instead, facts arrived like a firing squad.
Five matches into the competition, reality has not merely contradicted the prophecy—it has humiliated it.

Victor Osimhen, allegedly the harbinger of elimination, has produced 4 goals and 2 assists. That is six direct goal contributions, not in a fantasy league, but on the unforgiving altar of continental football. He has claimed one Man of the Match award, with performances that bend defences, terrify centre-backs, and energise an entire nation.

Ademola Lookman—the man whose inclusion was supposedly Nigeria’s curse—has responded with aristocratic disdain for superstition. 3 goals, 4 assists. Seven goal contributions in five matches. Two Man of the Match awards. Efficiency. Intelligence. Ruthless end product. The very definition of elite tournament football.

This is not survival in spite of them.
This is dominance because of them.

And this, precisely, is where my previous theses find their vindication.

Nigeria’s greatest recurring affliction is not lack of talent—it is the elevation of mystics over metrics, of vibes over verifiable performance. We have allowed a cottage industry of false prophecy freelancing to coexist with professional domains where evidence is non-negotiable.

Football, like governance, is allergic to incantations. It responds only to structure, preparation, and execution.
The pitch is a courtroom.
And numbers are sworn testimony.

Five matches played.
Thirteen combined goal contributions.
Three Man of the Match awards.
Zero eliminations.
Zero apologies from the prophet.

This is the familiar pattern: when the prophecy fails, it is quietly abandoned; when it accidentally aligns with reality, it is endlessly recycled. No audit. No retraction. No intellectual shame. Just the endless monetisation of error.

But let it be recorded—clearly, loudly, and permanently—that this particular prophecy did not merely fail. It was exposed. Exposed as unserious. Exposed as reckless. Exposed as the kind of pronouncement that survives only where people refuse to keep score.

Well, the scoreboard has been updated.
Osimhen and Lookman are not symbols of doom; they are instruments of progress. They are the embodiment of what happens when preparation meets opportunity and when talent is trusted over theatrics.

And as Nigeria marches forward in this AFCON campaign, one truth stands immovable:
Reality does not negotiate with falae prophets.
It overrules them.
Still counting.

Dr. Bunmi Awoyemi is a Real Estate Developer and Builder.