Adichie Revealed She Had A Mild Crush On Michael Essien

Popular Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, revealed she had a mild crush on a popular Ghanaian footballer, Michael Essien.

She added that she started crushing on him after the Ghanaian team defeated the United States at a World Cup tournament where Nigeria did not qualify.

In a video posted on her Facebook page, Adichie, revealed this in the introduction she wrote for a picture book, “Africa― The Future of Football” authored by a photographer, Pall Stefansson adding that she did not watch the match alone but was rather in the company of her friend Uju.

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She said, “I watched the game with my best friend, Uju, often shouting and then hugging each other when Ghana finally beat the United States.

“You know some of our boys started playing this game without shoes’, Uju said. ‘Our boys’ were, of course, the Ghanaians.

“A small consequence of that game was my developing a mild crush on the Ghanaian player, Michael Essien, as much for his looks as for his dexterity.

“But the larger and more important consequence was my realisation that sports allowed us, black Africans, to address historical and political grievances in the most cathartic way.”

Adichie appreciated the sense of nationalism that comes from the jubilation of a football victory noting how her sister who lived in Ilupeju, Lagos State and neighbour will put aside their differences and become friends the moment the Super Eagles beat Argentina in the finals of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

She said, “My sister put aside her stereotypes of her Yoruba neighbour and her neighbour put aside her stereotypes of my Igbo sister. They forgot about the flat not clean, water wasted and electricity bills unpaid. They became, for that moment, Nigerians, who had somehow contributed to the vanquishing of the world.”

“There is no doubt that football nationalism is not peculiar to Nigerians and to Africans. Indeed, the very idea of national games is based on the premise of national identities.”