AFCON 2021: Can a man trust the lion?

One day in the Goka rainforest, a hunter walked into a lion trapped in a net.
The poor lion begged the hunter to free him from the net.

"Won't you pounce on me for your food if I do this good to you? We're not friends, are we?" The hunter questioned the lion.

The lion kept on begging the hunter with tears until the goodhearted man agreed to his plea.

The hunter asked the lion to sleep with the aid of a potion made out of the prɛkɛsɛ (aridan) fruit he offered as he cut loose the net.

In minutes or less, it seemed the lion fell in a swoon and was snoring in his heavy slumber.

The wise sceptical hunter thinking he can't trust a ravenous fierce lion, first removed all the canines in the carnivore's mouth and replaced them with not harmful carved sticks.

With its claws, the hunter knifed them off and, in lieu, glued sliced tree bark.

Disarming the lion this way, the hunter released it of the net's entanglement, and the beast awoke from sleeping.

For the good done it, the now freed lion should have thanked the hunter, but thinking he had his tearing long teeth and claws intact, the ingrate enemy of mankind sprung itself on the hunter in an attempt to make him mincemeat.

His teeth and claws were useless, and the hunter got to lose in the lion's grips, and in turn, dominated the indomitable lion for a pet.

Today in West Africa's Cameroon, an indomitable lion has been brought into an arena to fight with other twenty-three strong gladiators in a thirty-third Africa Cup of Nations Championship.

The assembled includes the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Elephants of Ivory Coast, the seven-times champions Pharaohs of Egypt, the current trophy holders Desert Foxes of Algeria, and Ghana's four-times champions, the Blackstar's.

The first bout is staged in the Olembe Stadium as the host Indomitable Lions lock horns with the Stallions of Burkina Faso.

Those about to die salute the sons and daughters of Africa who are lovers of football as we fill the arena or the stadiums or see the combat through the screens of modern gadgets.

Who carries the crown on the last day, 6th February 2022?