Can Obi Mikel Grab African Footballer of the Year Award?

After waiting for seven years, the Super Eagles and Chelsea FC midfielder, John Obi Mikel, finally scored his first English Premier League goal against Fulham on September 21, 2013, Saturday, rapidly increasing his chances for the Glo/CAF African Footballer Of The Year Award billed for Lagos next year.

The fans in Nigeria celebrated the goal with frenzy, with some calling jokingly on the Federal Government to declare seven days holiday to mark the end of Mikel’s goal drought. It may sound amazing but that was the wish of Nigerian football fans. Football pundits in Nigeria are of the view that Mikel should be rewarded with the 2013 edition of the Glo/CAF African Footballer of The Year Award by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), judging by his recent performances. With a 2013 African Cup of Nations medal, the UEFA Champions League and EUROPA League medals to his credit, some believe that it is time Mikel was crowned the best player in Africa. Since Stephen Keshi was named as coach of the Super Eagles, Mikel has been a regular, with his sterling performance on the field as an added advantage for him if CAF wants to look in that direction in giving him the award. Mikel’s five star performances at the Nations Cup was pivotal to ending Nigeria’s 19 years wait before winning the AFCON tourney in South Africa early in the year. The Super Eagles had an abysmal performance at the 2013 Confederations Cup held in Brazil but Mikel, the former Lyn Oslo of Norway player, was on the scorer’s sheet in the 6-1 bashing of little known Tahiti. There are three other players standing in Mikel’s way for the award and they are his compatriots, Emmanuel Emenike of Fenerbahce of Turkey, Victor Moses, who is on loan to Liverpool from Chelsea FC and Cote d’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure. Therefore, Mikel has shown increase of his performance while Toure’s team were ousted from the Nations Cup, which makes it a lot easier for the Nigerian to grab the CAF award.