The Shame of Samuel Eto’o: From Fighting Racism in Europe to Endorsing Dictatorship in Africa

Yaoundé: There are betrayals that sting, and then there are betrayals that rot something inside a nation’s soul. Samuel Eto’o’s descent into political servitude belongs to the latter.

This was the man who once stood in European stadiums and refused to be reduced to an animal. He threatened to walk off the pitch when racist chants rang in his ears, when bananas were hurled at his feet. He was admired because he embodied courage, not just skill, not just goals, but the courage to say: I will not be your victim. For young Africans, he was proof that dignity was non-negotiable.

Fast forward to today, and what do we see? That same Samuel Eto’o, Cameroonian legend, African icon, is parading himself as a campaign surrogate for Paul Biya 92 years old, clinging to power like a parasite that has gorged on its host for 43 years. While Biya lives in Swiss hotels, the Cameroonian people rot in poverty, hospitals collapse, roads disintegrate, and youth flee with nothing but desperation in their pockets.

And there was Eto’o, standing in a broken-down venue, addressing a crowd whose faces bore the unmistakable stamp of hunger and hopelessness, telling them, in essence, that their torment should continue. Campaigning for Biya’s eighth term.

From Lion to Lapdog

Let’s not deceive ourselves: Biya doesn’t need Eto’o. Rigged elections in Cameroon are as predictable as sunrise. No, Eto’o’s performance is not about helping Biya, it is about helping Eto’o. About ensuring that his perch at the top of FECAFOOT remains untouched. About keeping himself in the good graces of a regime that could crush him if it wanted. It is cowardice dressed up as loyalty.

And the world is watching. His former critics in Europe, who never took him serious in the first place, are now pointing and laughing: Look at your African hero. Brave against us, but obedient at home. Barking in Europe, bowing in Yaoundé. They laugh because they see what we try to ignore: too many of our so-called role models have spines of glass. They rage against Western injustice when the cameras are on, but they crawl before African dictators when no one is supposed to notice.

Elites

The Tragedy of African Elites

This is the rot of African elites. They love the glory of being called heroes but cannot pay the price of true heroism. They denounce injustice in the stadiums of Barcelona and Milan but turn mute when faced with the injustice killing their own people. They would rather be useful pawns to tyrants than dangerous truth-tellers to their own.

Eto’o’s fall is not just his own. It is symbolic of a continent that elevates heroes only to watch them sell their courage for access and titles. He has traded the roar of the lion for the whimper of a lapdog.

Shame on Samuel Eto’o. The boy who once carried the pride of Africa on his back has chosen to carry the burden of Paul Biya’s lies instead. He has stained his own legend. He has mocked the very people who chanted his name.

And to those who still look up to him, understand this: the Samuel Eto’o you admired no longer exists. That man died the day he stood beside Biya’s crumbling throne and called it leadership. What remains is just another pawn of power, another reminder that in Africa, even our lions can be bought.