“Mr. President of the Republic, who you show up at matches wearing your team’s colours, we, the APOEL supporters, guarantee that this will be your first and YOUR LAST TERM.”
This was the “boo” from APOEL supporters that made Nikos Christodoulides crack.
And it was enough. He rushed on the same day to throw his “sinful” minister under the bus. The one who had committed the cardinal sin of naming the team that appeared in court yesterday over millions owed to the state.
This is the essence we must record: the ease with which a head of state abandoned his minister. In a desperate attempt to stem the threats hurled by some football supporters. They happened to be APOEL supporters. Had they been Omonia, Apollon, or Anorthosis supporters, it would have been just as concerning if he’d thrown his minister to the wolves to appease whichever set of zealots.
Before Christodoulides’ die-hard supporters (yes, there are still some) rush to claim he was obliged to point out his minister’s misstatement, let’s explain how his petty motivation becomes clear.
The Labour Minister’s statement was made the day before yesterday on CyBC3. If the Presidential Palace genuinely felt Yiannis Panayiotou’s statements were so egregious, they had ample time to issue a statement. The Government Spokesman or Victor Papadopoulos could have made a corrective statement. Nothing of the sort happened.
The President’s alarm bells only rang much later. When APOEL’s organised supporters issued a combative statement around 4 PM. That’s when they strayed from attacking the Labour Minister and trained their guns on Christodoulides himself. With the reference quoted at the start of this column.
The supporters’ statement hit its mark. Heaven forbid the President’s re-election prospects might be threatened because a minister dared to name a specific team! So desperate was Mr Christodoulides to halt this targeting that on Tuesday evening, when he went to Larnaca for the Municipal Art Gallery opening, he actually prompted journalists to ask him about APOEL.
Readers should know the exact sequence of events to draw proper conclusions. Journalists asked him about Lavrov’s statements. They asked about the Justice Minister and whether he still had his confidence. They asked about police responsibilities in current cases. They asked about the coroner issue. They asked about his upcoming meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader. They even asked about the Pyroi checkpoint.
Those crafty journalists. Christodoulides kept answering, but as time passed without an APOEL question, he grew visibly anxious. When he realised they weren’t going to give him the opportunity to feed his minister to the wolves, he prompted them himself. “But you haven’t asked me about APOEL!” he told them!
And naturally, then they did ask. Leading to his ruthless dismissal of Yiannis Panayiotou. “The minister’s reference was wrong,” he said bluntly! Even when it was pointed out that the specific team was mentioned because their case was due in court yesterday, Christodoulides insisted: “I know, but it would have been better left unsaid.”
Perhaps now the President thinks that having sacrificed Panayiotou like Iphigenia, the “gods” will be appeased. Alas! You’ve lost this game, Nikos Christodoulides. Firstly, because you’ve shown that whenever supporters growl, you’ll backtrack. Secondly, because you’ve shown your ministers how easily you’ll throw them to the wolves to save your own skin. Good luck now convincing them to stand firm on matters of principle. Thirdly, because society has realised it cannot trust a President who tucks tail and runs at the first sign of pressure!
Have you really sunk so low, Nikos Christodoulides?
But equally small and insignificant proved to be the Labour Minister himself. After such a betrayal, Mr Yiannis Panayiotou, you had only one choice: to resign! Instead, you tucked your tail between your legs and told us the President was right.
It seems dignity, too, is now an endangered species!
