31, July 2016

Samuel Eto’o apology to Prime Minister Philemon Yang: CAMCORD News Chairman says Eto’o playing the Francophone game ⁰

Two years after Samuel Eto’o committed an act that remains today the biggest humiliation ever to a highly placed Cameroon government official, the former Cameroon skipper has apologize to Prime Minister Philemon Yang. The incident occurred during the final phase of the FIFA World Cup 2014 that held in Brazil. The Prime Minister and Head of Government, Philemon Yang, descended on that fateful Saturday, June 7, 2014 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium at the end of a friendly farewell encounter against Moldova to hand over the national flag to the team before their departure for Brazil. The captain, supported by his teammates, refused to leave the dressing room to receive the flag. They wanted their bonuses to be paid first.

The disgrace was complete and total and a beaming Prime Minister Yang Philemon eventually handed the flag to the German technician Volker Finke, then head coach of the Indomitable Lions. Two years later, Samuel Eto’o Fils says he regrets his behavior. Said the Cameroon football legend, “There is someone who has been deeply offended, which is His Excellency the Prime Minister to whom I apologize. I have never had the opportunity to explain myself before him and to our people”. Samuel Eto’o made this statement during an interview broadcast last Friday, July 29, 2016 on the antennas of the Vox Africa TV channel in an interview conducted by Martin Camus Mimb and moderated by Laura Dave.

Reacting to the Eto’o apology late on Saturday, the Chairman and CEO of Cameroon Concord News Group, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai observed that it was too little too late. Our chairman added that Eto’o was merely playing the Francophone game “because he understands that an apology to a senior citizen is not made via a foreign television channel.” Mr Soter Agbaw-Ebai blamed President Biya for the invitation he accorded Samuel Eto’o and his wife during the visit of French president Hollande when Eto’o had not apologized to the Prime Minister and the Cameroonian people for such a costly mistake.