In Nigerian football ecosystem, Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam, a presidential aspirant in the forthcoming Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) election is well-respected as the custodian of the rules and regulations guiding association football. Indeed, the former First Vice President of the NFF and erstwhile Vice President of Confederation of African Football (CAF) Board of Appeal, can be as hard as the nail on issues bothering on the law of the game; the long-serving Imo State Football Association Chairman pulled no punches as he spoke about his aspirations in the September 30th poll in Benin as well as some of the problems bedevilling Nigerian football in an interview with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN.
For the first time in the long history of Nigerian football, we have 11 aspirants who would be contesting for the office of the NFF President, what’s your take on this development?
It shows that more and more people are getting interested in football. Think it’s good for football as many are now very enthusiastic about administering Nigerian football …
But many believe it’s bad news to have so many people bidding for the position and it shows a lack of unity of purpose within the football family, what do you have to say?
I agree with you to an extent on this and I think we must restructure so many things about our football, especially the qualification for getting the top job of being the president of the NFF. I think the statues must define who qualifies for the top job. Because it’s virtually open now, every Dick and Harry can contest for the job. But if we have a situation whereby the statute says that before you can contest for the office of the president, you must have been vice-president which shows that you must have certain experience on the job. Now, it’s all-comers’ affairs and I think this is what we should certainly look into in the future. I know in some organisations, you must have attained a certain level before you can aspire to be president because you have cogent experience on the job and part of their regulations says that ‘if you’ve not been vice-president before, you can’t be president.’ Before you can be a member of the executive committee, you must have been chairman of a state football association. Generally, we need to set a standard for those contesting for positions in our football. For instance, in the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) , you can’t be a national president if you’d never presided over a chapter at the state level for some years and you must have also done well before you can be considered for the top job. If I win the election, I would love to restructure and set a standard for anybody contesting for elections into the NFF. It should not be a job for novices as such I would like the new executive committee to see to this when the statues are going to be reviewed. There must be qualifications for both the office of the president and vice presidents.
Will this not be against the norms of association football since this is not obtainable at FIFA or CAF for instance after all Dr. Patrice Motsepe came from nowhere to become CAF President?
That’s because there was no standard even at that level because if there’s a standard, you must tick the boxes before you can be president. Motsepe came through in CAF because he’s a club owner. But given our own peculiar circumstances, I think it’s about time that the NFF congress comes up with definitive criteria about who and who can be president of the NFF for instance.
On restructuring, there has been a growing concern about the number of those who made up the electoral college and there is a call now that it must be enlarged to accommodate more stakeholders and interest, do you share the same sentiments?
I don’t have anything against that. Yes, it can be enlarged. Before, it was 101 persons that made up the electoral college before the Sani Lulu-led board came in 2006 and I think I have the circular where FIFA advised that we should remove some organisations from the list. The structure FIFA gave us was that some of those interests such as SWAN should integrate themselves from the state levels and they can then give their state FA Chairmen the power to become the delegate that would vote in elections. But we can reorganise this since it is now so obvious that people can be Induced easily to vote for the wrong person in, we can do that by enlarging the congress and I have nothing against that.
Looking at all the 11 aspirants, who is fit for the job?
From my long years in football and how much I have served football in this country and if we respect seniority in football, I don’t think anybody should come out to challenge me to take that job. But we don’t. In 2006, I backed down for Lulu because he was my senior, having previously served as second vice to Kojo Williams and first Vice to late Brigadier Dominic Oneya. That was how I backed down for him and contested as his vice. Unfortunately, the whole football structure has been dismantled and we don’t respect seniority again. I had first been a FA chairman in 1994 and most of them only became state’s FA chairmen after almost 20 years. And it shows that there is no order if you have people with the least experience contesting against me. Can anyone quantify my experience after dutifully serving football in several committees and capacities including serving with the gurus like coach Adegboye Onigbinde in the NFF Technical Committee where we packaged the USA ’94, Atlanta’ 96 and France ’98 teams? I served the late Commodore Emeka Omeruah from 1994 to 1998; served Oneya, Galadima as well as Lulu before Aminu Maigari came. Can you quantify the experience of a man like me with some of these aspirants coming out to contest for the seat? If we are people that respect seniority and experience, I don’t think we should contest for this same position. I served in CAF and apart from Dr. Amos Adamu, I was the longest serving Nigerian in CAF for 12 good years and not just in any mushroom committee but as the vice president on the influential Board of Appeal where decisions are made. I’m not worried and that I have done is to present myself to serve my country but there is no problem if they don’t want me; what we have is NFF and not Uchegbulam Football Federation as such what I won’t do is to induce anybody with money in order to vote for me. If the delegates feel I’m good enough, they should vote for me. How would I be able to correct the corruption if I induced people to vote for me as NFF President? It is very insulting; and any FA Chairman that collects money to vote has gotten himself insulted.
How do you mean by insulting the congress?
Where is the honour when you are hiring somebody and you are induced to give out the job and it’s just like you want to employ a female staff and you’d have to go to bed with her before hiring her, how will such employees respect you? This problem started in Warri in 2014 and 2018 in Katsina; and that is why the executive committee no longer respects the congress. Nothing is being done again at congress meetings because the documents are presented to you on the floor of the congress. Is that the way this is being done in CAF and FIFA? I won’ t run the congress that way, but they are now bossing the congress because they induced them to secure their positions. It is a shame, and we can’t continue to run football in that manner.
You spoke glowingly about your experience but there is another school of thought that believes that you have stayed too long in the system and you should allow the younger generation to contest…
Which younger generation? What do you mean by younger generation and how have I stayed too long in the system? Have I stayed too long as FA Chairman or as an executive committee member? I only served four years in the executive committee …
What about being FA chairman?
It was democratic and I was first elected in 1994 as a FA chairman and was dissolved in 1999. In 2005, I left for the NFF as vice president and relinquished the position to Sir Sam Rose Anyanugo as FA chairman. I came back in 2011 after my tenure at the national level and contested an election and won. So how have I stayed too long? It is usually open for people to contest and so how is that my problem? They even took me to court and I won. I also contested unopposed in 2015 and 2019. It is open to people to come out and contest and how is that my problem when people come out to contest elections? To purchase a form of just N150,000 to become the FA chairman in a state where the government doesn’t give us a kobo was a big problem for some . Since I’ve been running the Imo State FA; the state government has not given me any subvention to run the FA. At some [point, I sponsored the Imo State Football League for four years through my company. How will anybody now say I’ve stayed too long when they are not even ready to come out for an election? By the grace of God, there’s going to be elections and I won’t be contesting, so let those who want to be chairman of Imo State FA come out.
There were rumours that you failed to endorse a candidate from Imo for the forthcoming election consequently his disqualification, is this true?
Nobody came to me for any endorsement. I didn’t even endorse myself because I’m also a contestant. I WAS endorsed by my vice president. Even Emmanuel Ochiagha from Imo State was also endorsed by my vice , I didn’t see anybody. So, why are they calling my name? Some didn’t know the FA office but they’ll come out and shout. The law is clear on the issue of endorsement any article 4:4 of the electoral guidelines stated that you can endorse as many people as possible provided they are not contesting the same position. So, two people from the same state cannot be endorsed to contest for instance, the office of the NFF president. The problem is that they don’t read, Imagine a state endorsing three persons to contest for the same position in the coming elections. It’s apparent that the electoral committee did not do a good job and it is apparent they themselves did not read the document they shared to aspirants. The first endorsement according to the date should have suffixed while they should have rejected the other two. But they have already violated their own rules and it shows that the electoral procedure is flawed already. I’ve also pointed out a few other cases to them and that is why I’ve always advocated that you bring knowledgeable football people for this kind of job but not just what FIFA had always advocated but they went to bring somebody because is a SAN. What do they know about football anyway?
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Who would be the ideal choice if you were not voted as the president of the NFF?
They can give it to anybody they like. But as a matter of fact, I don’t think anybody that served under Amaju Pinnick should be given the opportunity to rule Nigerian football again. All of them failed together with Pinnick. Pinnick did not fail alone as such none of them who served with him have no moral right to come back to rule Nigerian football. We removed Galadima and sacked the entire board in 2006 because Nigeria did not qualify for the World Cup, so there is a standard. So why should those who didn’t qualify us for Qatar 2020 be jostling to be NFF president and members of the executive committee? If you can’t make the Mundial after four years, it means you have failed; so, I don’t understand why all of them want to be part of the new board. They all failed as a board to qualify Nigeria for Qatar 2022 World Cup and all of them are rushing back to be part of the new board. They don’t have respect for Nigerians and it’s shameful. We lost a staggering $12m for not qualifying for the World Cup which if judiciously used would have turned around our football if we’d qualified for Qatar 2022. But they don’t care about the country other than their own selfish interests. The day we lost to Ghana and there was a riot at the stadium in Abuja and even somebody died, that same night, the NFF Presidents with his vice presidents were off to Qatar to attend the World Cup draws of which their own team did not qualify. Yet Nigerians were clapping for them, what kind of country is this? Sometimes, I feel I don’t belong here because I would have been so ashamed to go anywhere .
But the World Cup draw was a FIFA event(laughter)…
The draw was meant for coaches and teams that qualified .Attending such an event which your own team failed to qualify for was nothing but a big shame, a slap on our collective sensibilities. What FIFA event? It’s so sad that we have turned our football into a joke.
Another four-year World Cup cycle would soon come before us, what are your expectations and what are your expectations about the quality of people that will soon take over at the NFF ?
All depends on the calibre of people we are going to put to lead our football. But most of the people that just failed are the ones angling to lead us again. Check the list …from the first vice ; to the second vice ; to the chairman of chairmen …these are the same people that failed with Amaju Pinnick . Of course, Amaju would like any one of them to be there in order to protect his own place in CAF and FIFA. Same of the same. I wish them all the best.
Are you angry?
Angry over what? It is the Nigeria Football Federation and not Uchegbulam Football Federation. I just happened to be a Nigerian who has passionately been involved with the game all of my life as a young player and as an administrator. Football is just a game that I love so much . Even now, I play three times a week . I’ll probably be watching if I’m not playing. It’s my life. I’m not angry but I just want things to be done orderly. I can’t come and kill myself ; I have a lovely family and I have about five grandchildren now and I want to be alive to see them grow. All of us are stakeholders…
Really? You recalled I labelled some stakeholders as stake-breakers many years ago, do we still have genuine football stakeholders within the Nigerian football ecosystem?
Of course, some are stakeholders, and some are stake breakers. Frankly, we still have committed Nigerians who are stakeholders and they are genuinely committing their resources for the development of the game in Nigeria. Running good academies and committing themselves into the development of the game from the grassroots . And we also have some who are just feeding fat on the game, and these are the stake-breakers.
All said and done, where do you see Nigerian football at the end of September 30th elections in Benin?
It depends on those we put in there. We are surely going to reap in the future from whatever we sow in Benin. I warned them in Warri in 2014 and I also warned them in Katsina in 2018 and we have all seen where those elections have led Nigerian football. The NFF is not a difficult job having served with Lulu between 2006 and 2010, then we qualified for nine out of the 10 organised FIFA World Cups ; no board has ever achieved such a feat in Nigeria. If I’m given the opportunity, I’ll ensure we qualify for 10 World Cups to beat Lulu’s record. With me as NFF President, we would also take Futsal Football seriously because this is also important for the wellness of former players . Everything is dead in Nigerian football today; Futsal, Beach soccer, U-13,U-15,U-17,U-20, Super Falcons and Super Eagles are all virtually dead. How can our football grow when there are no developmental tournaments to unearth new talents? Today, it’s all about I’m in CAF and I’m in FIFA and they only watched the game we loved so much and died without any value to the system. Our football institution is dying but one person is everywhere. I would rather want the institutions to be strong rather than one individual.