SDF Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi, has hailed former Indomitable Lions striker, Samuel Eto’o Fils, for taking Cameroon to the pinnacle of soccer glory.

“To me, Eto’o Fils remains a hero who enabled Cameroon to bask in the glory of football victory”, Fru Ndi told The Post in Yaounde recently. The SDF Chieftain said Cameroonians easily forgot the soccer exploits of Eto’o Fils and were now insulting and cursing him as if he is the worst thing that has ever happened to Cameroon.

The politician said he was not professing any sort of sainthood of the Cameroonian goal-getter, but said Cameroonians should recognise Eto’o Fils for what he did to put Cameroon on the high pedestal in the global public space.

“While blaming him for the poor outing of the Lions at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, we should hail Eto’o Fils for being our country’s greatest Ambassador in the world,” Fru Ndi cautioned.

He said the problems that cropped-up with the Indomitable Lions were a manifestation of poor management and wrangling among the bigwigs around the team.

He added that the possible problems rocking the Indomitable Lions are simply a reflection of the ills rocking Cameroon, where injustice, greed and power-tussle are commonplace. Fru Ndi gainsaid people who were blaming Eto’o Fils and his team mates for refusing to receive the Cameroonian flag at the Nsimalen Airport as they left for Brazil.

“They should rather investigate and make an in-depth analysis as to why the players refused to take the flag. They will discover that the problem was not with the players, but with the manager of the team who did not want to pay their allowances,” he said.

Going by Fru Ndi, the problems of Cameroon football are too many that it would be a sheer act of injustice to make Eto’o Fils a scapegoat.

Fru Ndi remarked that because Clinton Njie scored some goals, his name is on every lip.

“Just wait for the day he will fail to perform well, Cameroonians will start pouring insults on him,” Fru Ndi stated.

Fru Ndi reiterated that the problems ailing football in Cameroon are not with individual players, but with the fraud-ridden management of affairs.

He said it was a scandal that the Yong Sports Academy won the Cup of Cameroon last year and were not immediately given the cash prize that goes with the coveted trophy.

By keeping the money, he went on; the authorities could be passing on a clear message: that they are not happy that it was the Bamenda team that grabbed the coveted trophy against Canon of Yaounde that kissed the dust on its very field.