It was a historic moment for striker Victor Osimhen when he leapt above the Benin Republic’s defence to head past goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou to score his 23rd goal for the Super Eagles in their 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifiers on Thursday. That effort not only saved Nigeria from the ignominy of losing back-to-back to their West African neighbours at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (the Cheetahs had earlier beaten the Eagles 2-1 in World Cup qualifiers at the stadium), but it also etched the name of the Galatasaray’s forward in the annals of history.
His 81st-minute goal put him at par with the legendary Segun Odegbami in Nigeria’s goals tally. At 23 goals each, they are the second-joint-highest scorers in Nigeria’s history behind the now-deceased Rashidi Yekini, who scored 37 goals in 58 matches.
Osimhen’s run to that record looks more remarkable because he reached that milestone quicker than the legendary Odegbami. It took the former Lille forward just 37 appearances to score 23 times but Odegbami scaled to that level after 46 matches.
Records show that 16 of Osimhen’s 23 goals have come in 14 AFCON qualifying matches, four have been scored in World Cup qualification fixtures and he has netted one apiece at AFCON and international friendly games.
There have been many strikers who have come since Yekini quit the stage with many of these stars drawing comparisons with the late goal king but in truth, none of them looked as close to Yekini’s magic as Osimhen.
The Napoli loanee is well on his way to eclipsing the record of his mentor and with the way he is going it won’t take long before he assumes the throne as the best player to ever play for the country, especially in terms of the number of goals.
There have been Nwankwo Kanu, Victor Agali, Julius Aghahowa, Raphael Ndukwe, Ben Akwuegbu, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Ike Uche, Obafemi Martins and Odion Ighalo all came after Yekini but none has been as prolific as Osimhen.
It is instructive to say that Osimhen is building a strong case as the most complete Nigerian striker ever. Beyond his exceptional goal-scoring ability, Osimhen has proven to be an assist-generating machine, creating opportunities for his teammates in ways that set him apart from others. Despite playing fewer games, his assist record of 10 surpasses those of legendary midfielders and wingers like Austin Okocha (7), Alex Iwobi (8), Sunday Oliseh, and Finidi George (7). Among Nigerian players, only Mikel Obi (14) and Ahmed Musa (17) have registered more assists, but they achieved this in significantly more appearances.
When compared to other Nigerian strikers, the gap widens further. Ighalo and Martins both finished their international careers with just six assists each, despite playing far more matches than Osimhen.
The reigning African Footballer of the Year can potentially pull away from Odegbami when the Eagles host Rwanda in the last match of the 2925 AFCON qualifying series at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Monday.
He remains the country’s biggest goal outlet at the moment and if he sustains his remarkable growth, he would certainly eclipse Yekini as the highest scorer ever for Nigeria in no distance time.