Ivory Coast
Former Ivorian international, Didier Drogba, has dismissed talk of entering politics and possibly rising to become president of the West African county.
According to him, there were different ways a person could impact on their societies stressing that despite politics being part, he had other ideas.
The former Chelsea and Marseille forward was responding to talk that he could follow the footsteps of Liberia’s president-elect, George Weah, who won elections late last year.
“It’s not necessarily the case that all footballers will [now] want to become president. George [Weah] has opened the way for him to make an impact in his own way, and others can make an impact on their communities in other ways.
“He has been a model for me for a long time. He has been a big brother also for a long time and what he has done today shows that in the labor force, with perseverance, we can achieve our objectives and to realize our dreams for the good of the community.”
Weah had charged Drogba to follow in his political footsteps after the Ivorian send words of congratulations to him in late December when he was declared winner of a presidential run-off vote.
Weah gives Drogba a political ‘pass’: ‘Follow the same path’ https://t.co/pWJbj07oK7
— africanews (@africanews) December 28, 2017
Weah’s presidential dream extends to 2006 when he first contested. He lost to outgoing Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He run as a vice-presidential aspirant in 2011 but Sirleaf managed to secure a second straight term.
With Sirleaf out of the picture, the former Liberian skipper won the first round of the October 2017 vote but failed to secure an outright win.
The run-off between him and outgoing veep Joseph Boakai eventually delivered the seat he had started chasing over a decade ago. He is due to be sworn in on January 22, 2018.
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