Between Arsenal’s Victory and Road Safety – THISDAYLIVE

Road Safety

The streets of Lagos, Abuja, Accra, Johannesburg, Paris, London and major cities across the world erupted on Tuesday 19th May,2026. I couldn’t hit the popular lounges in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory to celebrate with the Gunners family. So, I chose the inner corner of my room to pray and thank God and to scream quietly, conscious of the peace and comfort of my neighbors.

In London, the streets also erupted in red and white with a beehive of activities by teeming supporters at the Emirates stadium. Cars horns. Flags fluttering from car windows. No red carpets. No glass clinking. But trust the Gunners family. Fans of all shades and color singing and dancing into the night as Arsenal Football Club finally lifted the English Premier League Trophy, after years of waiting, with the club setting other records, after that set by the yet to be broken Invincibles records.

The victory was emotional for me and others. It swept through people like wildfire, making strangers and even haters hug, dance, scream and sometimes forgot caution. Legendary Thiery Henry was not left out. Ian Wright too. So too was Arsene Wenger, the Mr. Invincibles’ coach and other Arsenal greats, all of whom couldn’t hold the tears of joy after years of hate, mockery and banter.

Even former players now plying their trade somewhere else like Granit Xhaka and Mahammed Elneny among others couldn’t hold back the tears. My tears came hours after the victory. It came with bantering from my son who, as a Manchester United fan, described the victory as ’unfortunate’. In the spirit of the celebration, caution was thrown to the wind and that is precisely where my road safety lesson for today begins

Football or any sports victory and road safety behavior are like twins; they have something in common. Both are decided by discipline, patience even if Arsenal’s lasted for over 22years, teamwork and respect for the rules. Arsenal did not win merely because the players knew how to attack. They won because we knew when to slow down, when to defend, when to stay in formation, and when not to make reckless decisions like getting a red card which slowed us down last year but never did this year. They knew when to pick the pieces like they did after the defeat to Manchester City Football club, our albatross for three seasons.

Driving behind the wheels is no different. Most drivers approach driving on the highway like a desperate, inexperienced and selfish striker with an agenda to score every minute. They overtake blindly at bends and at hills. They jump red lights which has been my focus in the last two weeks or so.

They ignore the rules in built- up areas and speed through crowded streets and roads and communities as if every journey is a cup final. They forget that the hospital wards, mortuaries and graveyards are filled with drivers and innocent commuters who hurried to arrive earlier but ended ‘late’

To be an Arsenal fan, you need to be made of steel. In patience. In endurance. In passion of the game. In trusting the project, according to our darling coach, Mikel Arteta. But if Arsenal’s victory after years of near misses and mockery teaches anything about life and road safety specifically, it is about consistency in reasonable speed and in all the rules which defeats recklessness.

The football season is long. It is like driving which could take hours, depending on your destination. For football, there are thirty-eight matches; home and away. In the case of the Premiership, you sometimes play with two days rest before the next, especially if you had another competition trophy in sight like the European Football Associations (UEFA)Champions League where Arsenal have qualified for the final against Paris Saint-Germain as the only undefeated team.

Being the league champion is not about the team that plays wildly, entertains, collects red cards and brags weekly. For three seasons ago, we were almost like that kind of a team; entertaining with no bench. But we learnt that the champion team is a team that manages risk, injuries, red and yellow cards. It is about the teams that understand that losing concentration for ten minutes can destroy days, weeks or months of hard work. The team that understands that losing requires getting up, which was the words of Declan Rice after the Manchester defeat, when he announced to his colleagues and spectators that, ‘it is not over’.

On our roads, a few seconds of bargaining with the devil through foolish driving mannerism such as reckless speeding results in avoidable deaths, injuries and damages; ultimately seven feet below. During this coming Sallah celebration, we will see the same dangerous driving patterns that we saw during the past Sallah celebration, during the easter celebration, and during the Christmas and new year celebration.

In fact, during all festivities. Excited but knowledgeable celebrants would mount motorcycles without helmets. Drivers would race through streets and major highways blaring horns and forgetting that speed kills. You would see young men hanging on moving vehicles while alcohol intake will drive the marketers and manufacturers to the bank smiling and counting their gains. Festivities that are meant to drive sobriety and sober reflection, would ironically increase intoxication, turning the celebration to weeping, gnashing of teeth and mourning.

Prior to every festivity, the Federal Road Safety Corps would hit the streets and parks with advocacies and public enlightenment campaigns, educating warning and counselling against irresponsible driving. Some would listen but not obey. Others would mock them that they have heard enough of the messages. Yet, some would end up celebrating their last Sallah or Christmas.

A handful of road users treat the Corps advocacy as time wasting. They feel they know enough. They brag about trust in a God who is a master strategist in compliance with rules. They forget that driving safe requires shared responsibility at all times, not just when our Marshals are cited on the road.

It reminds me of my Pastor friend who was recently arrested for one way driving and who ended up paying a sixty thousand naira fine into government coffers. So, why do we treat seat belts as decorative accessories? Why is common sense speed difficult to obey? Why the James Bond stunts, all in the name of driving to show off?

Do you know what being skilled means? Are you one? Skilled drivers don’t show off. They don’t weave through traffic at dangerous and risky speeds. His focus is safety; at night or daytime or even while driving under the rain, daily, weekly and yearly. He is not the type who thinks that accelerating is wisdom. He knows that it is pure foolishness to do so and that such foolishness may cause you your precious life.

Please let us consider Arsenal and their thirty-eight games; sometimes boring and sometimes entertaining and tactical with the goal being bagging the three points which is all that matters. You may not like us. You may be a hater. You may say we don’t deserve the trophy but the truth is that on Sunday, 31st May,2026, the victory dance and victory songs would usher Premier leagues’ champion.

Meanwhile, the teams whose players charged forward recklessly, entertained and wished us bad luck were beaten through counter attacks. If you doubt me, please ask Everton Football Club who were so desperate to equalize against Arsenal that their goal keeper, Jordan Pickford and all defenders crowded Arsenal’s eighteen-yard box, thus allowing sixteen-year-old Max Dowman to make history, scoring a vital goal for Arsenal. Everton’s albatross in that match was leaving their defense exposed.