Category: Ade Ojeikere

I sat through the opening ceremony of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations waiting for robust soccer displays with a bit of upsets characteristic of the beautiful game. I thought Burkina Faso had hit the right chord when they shot into the lead in the first half, dominating the midfield against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Yaoundé on Sunday. It didn’t happen as the Lions roared to victory courtesy of two penalty kicks which were scored by the vastly experienced, but aging Vincent Aboubakar, who was making a sixth consecutive appearance in Africa’s biggest soccer carnival.

For the period when the Burkinabes led in last Sunday’s game, my silent prayer, though I craved for such a result, was for the Indomitable Lions to roar back to victory to save the fans’ attendance which would have hit an unprecedented all-time low. So, when Cameroon won, it served the purpose of having the fans at the venues. Aboubakar scored another brace on Thursday against Ethiopia, yet the Indomitable Lions’ s enforcing approach after conceding a goal raised doubts about their defence with many pundits warning that they meet their waterloo against star-studded African teams. Cameroon beat Ethiopia 4-1.

Aboubakar is the highest goal scorer in the competition with four goals. Two of them from the penalty spot against Burkina Faso and good goals against Ethiopia on Thursday. Aboubakar has so far scored 29 goals for Cameroon from 78 matches –  Abobuakar is one of the strikers to watch for the competition’s highest goal scorer award in a field that has Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah playing for Senegal and Egypt.

I told those around me who were expecting a rout for the Indomitable Lions that the Burkinabe’s’ youth system was worthy of being emulated by African nations. The Lions didn’t look enterprising and could be beaten at home going by the way they played on Sunday. Other group games have taken the format of the first game with narrow 1-0 or 2-1 results as of Wednesday night.

Those who thought Mohammed Salah would run the rule over the Nigerians on Tuesday received the shock associated with the highly unpredictable but beautiful game – soccer or football whichever one you are used to. Nigeria beat Egypt 1-0.

The fans appear to be the only indices that make the game exciting which has lived up to expectations. The sounds and sights at match venues have witnessed a beautiful display of Africa’s rich culture and ways of life. The fan’s dresses and the manner in which they stormed the venues created the right ambience when shown on television. So far, there haven’t been sad tales to tell about the unscrupulous conduct of hooligans which goes to show that the Cameroonian government has a commendable security architecture that has kept the criminals out of the cities where games have been played. This is not to say that there haven’t been some ugly sides in the competition.

Visitors to the cities have been thrilled by the unique hospitality of the Cameroonians and their government, except that the prices of foodstuffs, hotels, eateries, high cost of transportation, and other immediate needs of people have shot up to unimaginable heights. Such things are normal during competitions. It is one of the ways in which the host government makes the people to reap some of the gains of hosting such global events.

Questionable penalty goals have been given but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has chalked off quite a few dubious tendencies from players and the laws of the game.

Indeed, referee Janny Sikazwe from Zambia has been one of the talking points of the tournament on the lips of observers, fans, chroniclers of history, and commentators since Wednesday after he stopped the game between Tunisia and Mali which ended in favour of the better playing West Africans 1-0. Sikazwe’s mistake drew a furious reaction from Tunisia’s bench, with boss Mondher Kebaier furiously grabbing the arm of the Zambian referee and pointing to his watch in the immediate aftermath of the full-time whistle.  Kebaier and his staff stormed onto the pitch holding their hands where they had wristwatches to show the linesman nearest to them the wrong timing of the referee. Hasn’t it been said that the referees are the sole custodians of time? Just the flip side to the shameful action of referee Sikazwe. The security operatives handled the ugly situation professionally by shielding referee Sikazwe, who officiated at the Russia 2018 World Cup, and his assistants out of the pitch to keep angry Tunisians from unleashing havoc.

Sikazwe blew off the game after 85 minutes but realised his error before restarting play, but then blew again with just 89 minutes and 43 seconds of the Group F clash instead of the stipulated regulation time of 90 minutes and a few added minutes where delays have been witnessed. It was as if Sikazwe was condemned to fail in anything that he did, as he rejected a VAR review of the red card for Mali substitute El Bilal Toure. Mention must be made about the decision taken by officials of CAF that the game between Mali and Tunisia be completed having noticed that the game ended the 89 minutes 44 seconds. Both countries returned to pitch to complete the game. Meaning that the game was ended for the third time. Is Sikazwe still in Cameroon as a referee?  I doubt it. He has been a terrible citation of how to handle games as a referee.

Sikzwe was suffering from heatstroke and severe dehydration and was taken to hospital after the match, according to the man in charge of officiating at AFCON Essam Abdel-Fatah.

”The referee suffered from heatstroke and very severe dehydration, which led to him losing focus and was taken to the hospital,’ Abdel-Fatah told MBC Egypt’s Al-Laib.

”It caused him to lose time in the 80th minute, and he ended the match in the 85th minute. He returned after directions from the assistant staff and then returned to finish the match in the 89th minute.

”When the crisis occurred and the objections and control were lost in the match, the fourth referee was the one who was going to complete the match [instead of Sikazwe], but one of the two teams refused.”

The world expects to read the doctor’s report which corroborates all that has been stated by CAF otherwise history would use it against the Africa soccer body as one which tolerates incompetence which brought the game to disrepute. As an adult, Sikzwe ought to have signalled to the reserve referee that he was feeling unwell. If indeed the referee had bouts of severe heat stroke leading to dehydration, followers of the game ought to have noticed it from the referee’s action before he blew off the game, in the first instance.

At what point did CAF notice that Sikzwe was sick? Was it after the Tunisians refused to come onto the field for the third start of the game that CAF knew of this ‘ailment’? Did Sikzwe show any sign of incoherent discussion when led back onto the field? CAF should stop defending the indefensible. What Sikzwe did was a disgrace to the whistling game and he deserved severe punishment, not given a soft landing as is being done by CAF.

ORGANISERS of the domestic game are jesters. Otherwise, how could they have assigned two sets of match officials for MFM FC’s home game held at the Agege Stadium in Lagos on Wednesday.  The referees were as confused as MFM officials. They decided, however, to allow Referee Charles Nkwokocha who got the appointment letter first to handle the game. Referee Okungbowa had to leave Lagos the next morning to Benin. MFM were magnanimous enough to pay for one room for the second set of referees. Of course Okungbowa would have lost N20,000 for the trip due to someone’s administrative ineptitude. Can these people change? You can’t give what you don’t have. No way. I digress!

I’m not an alarmist nor am I a harbinger of bad news. I’m also not a prophet of doom but one who likes to raise the alarm where it is necessary before the government starts to constitute a probe panel to unveil the remote and immediate causes of a disaster waiting to happen. Penultimate week, fans ran through tear gas fumes as they scrambled out of the Katsina City Stadium after Enugu Rangers beat Katsina FC 2-1 in an away game. No one knows what transpired in the game. The organisers have made the much publicised mayhem look like another journalists’ attempts to cry more than the bereaved.

Dear league organisers, no human being’s blood should be shed on the altar of going to watch a game to drive away boredom or to watch one’s favourite teams, for those who live far away from their villages and states of origin. Those who have chosen to cast an indulgent eye on the show of shame in Katsina should be wary of the kind of stories being told those supporters who were not in the stadium. I speak of the likely reprisal attacks on those home teams’ fans who take delight in causing chaos, knowing that the security architecture in matches venues can easily be breached.

Cynics have, however, argued that the reason the organisers are disinterested in having a television rights holder is to ensure that the flaws of the league are hidden. That way posterity cannot be unkind with them when judgment time beckons. If only these organisers know how much revenue they are missing out on.  European leagues and their clubs generate tremendous amount of money from television rights. The clubs and their Football Associations fill up the business windows offered from the television exposure. This is one of the ways countries where the game is played properly know how much each of such leagues in Europe is worth. Most times one is shocked how the organisers hope to pitch for sponsors when they have nothing to show the beauty of investing in the domestic game.

In the first week of the league, one match official was designated to preside over a league game in Gombe from Enugu. The official received his letter without getting his indemnities from which he could pay for his transportation from Enugu to Gombe and back. Not done, no money for his hotel accommodation, feeding for the period he will be out of Enugu, and no cash in the event of any unforeseen occurrence. To make matters worse, the official hadn’t been paid his monthly wages. A big dilemma no doubt but he must be in Gombe otherwise he won’t be considered for any assignment again.

Isn’t this the recipe for corruption for both the match officials and club owners desirous to winning matches at all cost? It is also laying the platform inducing the referees with enough cash to do their biddings. This Enugu man’s predicament is the story of officials since the season began. It underscores the level of wickedness inherent in these organisers, not minding the unsafe roads in the country. Would the organisers do such things to their kids or relations? No way.

A man who borrowed N200,000 from a money lender in Enugu expects to refund at least 20 per cent when refunding the loan. For an exercise that comes to him satisfying his passion, he goes borrowing to the tune of N240,000 after payment. You ask, who bears the cost? The clubs? Isn’t this the gateway to sharp practices in the league games? An official who is already indebted to a moneylender to the tune of N240,000 now has a price that starts from perhaps N500,000 since those who assigned him to the game didn’t consider it expedient to fund his movement from Enugu to Gombe.

What it simply means is that the four officials have debts on their necks which must be paid which could be close to one million naira or over depending on their locations of residence, making them vulnerable to inducements from both teams, for the very greedy ones. Put simply, we are running a domestic league in Nigeria where the highest bidder wins.

If this Enugu man was the greedy type, he would have called the away team’s administrators to explain his predicament. This away team with deep pockets, for instance, would purchase a return ticket for the official from Enugu to Abuja, Abuja to Gombe, and then take a cab to a hotel paid for by the rich away team. Did I hear say how can? Dominic Iorfa, ex-Green Eagles player as Chairman of Lobi Stars caught referees handling his team’s game against another visiting team, Sunshine FC of Akure inside the vehicle of the away team. Iorfa said then that he became curious seeing the Ondo plate number on the road and felt and told his cousin sitting next to him that he smelt something fishy. He couldn’t understand how the club’s car could be on the road without the team’s bus around.

Iorfa’s fears were confirmed when the security operatives stopped the car which had seven passengers. Iorfa said he quickly stole a glance into the car only to find a Sunshine FC chap with the match officials. He raised the alarm with the security men.  It was a big media issue.

This incident happened along Forest area on Jos Road since Lobi at that time was playing its matches in Bauchi. Iorfa is alive and could be reached for more details of what transpired on that shameful occasion. Gradually, we are back to the notorious past where rich teams and home teams get the results that they want by hook or crook. The organisers know that Katsina Township Stadium is one of the ‘black-spot’ pitches in the country and should have prepared for the fans.

Interestingly, the organisers who haven’t been able to tell us what happened in Week 1, suddenly directed that the Katsina FC game against Kano Pillars should be played without the fans. Could this be one of the many penalties to be handed Katsina FC for the show of shame against Enugu Rangers? The organisers mustn’t spare the Katsina FA’s officials, whose job it was in Week 1 to ensure that the game between Katsina and Rangers was held without rancour.  Good to know that the organisers are reading and taking the right steps to reduce violence at match venues. A word for the wise.

I don’t subscribe to the view that we should introduce soldiers at match venues. They are no battlefronts. Stewards and those associated with keeping the stadium peaceful should be made to do their jobs; negligent ones should be axed. Many jobless Nigerians will be happy to land this kind of job. It isn’t enough for the organisers to reel out sanctions against defaulting clubs. The body should involve the police in punishing offenders since their actions are capable of causing a breach of the public peace, which is an offence under the penal code.

State governments, through the FAs, are the owners of the stadium. It is, therefore, their responsibility to effectively police the stadium before, during, and after matches. The state FA officials should be in charge of taking the officials to and out of the stadium, with maximum protection by armed security personnel, given the spate of malicious attacks on innocent referees. It isn’t the job of fans to interpret the rules of the game; that is the referees’ duty, having been trained and retrained by  FIFA’s referees’ committee.

Happy New Year, dear reader.

A house built on quicksand needs no prophesy for it to crumble like a pack of cards. This analogy rings so true about the manner in which the domestic league was hurriedly started without recourse to the tents of the body’s statutes. Having not resolved the myriad of problems from previous seasons, it didn’t come as surprise when the game between Katsina United and Enugu Rangers was hijacked by beats who took the laws into their hands. It also didn’t shock anyone about the stalemated game in Akure between the home side, Sunshine Stars and Wikki Tourist.

The same set of match officials presided over the walkover in favour of the hosts, Sunshine FC in Akure on Sunday. Guess what, the next day, Monday in Akure, the same officials presided over another walkover. This time in favour of the visitors, Wikki, who needed to clear their status with FIFA over transfer infringements. Is anyone, therefore, shocked that CAF picked 63 officials for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations slated to begin on January 9 with only one Nigerian, Samuel Pwadutakam, and he will work as an assistant referee? What a shame! Thank you, CAF and FIFA for splashing mud on our faces. Isn’t the Wikki/Sunshine sham enough evidence to justify both bodies’ decisions? I digress!

The show of shame in Akure between Sunshine and Wikki is a reflection of how the game has been run year in the last six years – anything is possible just do it. Had the league organisers gotten a functional secretariat where members of staff knew their onions, relevant questions would have been raised and solutions sought over the status of Wikki and its players, after serving out punishment on transfer violations by FIFA. If the secretariat staff had sought clarifications on this matter, no letter would have been sent out scheduling match officials for the game. And both teams would have been adequately informed of the reasons for not playing the game. To leave the away team and the game’s officials to make a mockery of the rules with different laughable pronouncements left much to be desired.

The organisers made matters worse by postponing the game indefinitely but with a caveat to review what happened before taking a decision in a match played in the first week. This needless compilation of games is the bane of the league which in no distant future some teams would be having outstanding games. If the organisers had constituted their relevant sub-committees, meetings would have been held virtually and a decision taken immediately. This would give the loser of the decision 48 hours to appeal the decision taken if they feel so aggrieved. The way things are in this matter is that political solutions would be applied in which there won’t be losers or victors. Off the cuff, a replay would be ordered. If so, why the delay?

When you start having games postponed indefinitely from the first week, it shows how unserious the organisers can be. Otherwise, how else can anyone explain the fracas in Katsina after the home side lost 2-1 to Enugu Rangers? Of course, this isn’t the first time Katsina fans have run amok after watching their home team being beaten. In fact, Katsina is a seasonal black spot. Why then didn’t the organisers get the police to maintain adequate security before, during, and after the game? What does it take the organisers to write the Inspector General of Police seeking to have enough security operatives to maintain peace at match venues across the 36 States of the Federation and Abuja weekly during and after matches? Or are the organisers waiting until the venues become centres for carnage before doing the needful?

We are being told that Enugu Rangers FC’s players were advised to remain inside the stadium to allow security operatives to disperse the crowd. Where were Katsina FC’s players? Inside the stadium too? Wasn’t it an unruly crowd that was dispersed by security operatives to pave way for the visitors’ exit from the stadium? What happened to the security architecture which ushered in Rangers into the stadium before the game began?

No wonder it took the organisers under 60 hours to come up with the bizarre summation on what to expect from the Akure fiasco.  Yet, the mayhem in Katsina which should be the simplest to announce the banning of fans from the stadium, in the first instance, has attracted sealed lips and needless insinuations about what happened. The referees’ names ought to be made public for failing to send in their reports early, having known the circumstances under which they were rescued out of the stadium. If the league had television rights-holder(s), it would have been easier to catch the hooligans who took the laws into their hands. The rights holder would have gone for the master tape and submitted the tape to the security operatives to fish out the culprits.

Again, another set of hooligans has been let loose because of the absence of video evidence capturing how they ran amok, leaving in their wake injured fans, players, passersby, and destroyed facilities. What this also shows is the lack of leadership among the organisers. This shouldn’t be allowed to continue unabated. The organisers should report the matter to the necessary security bodies, especially those whose men were on the ground to produce a preliminary report of what happened on that day.

The Katsina show of shame shouldn’t be swept under the carpet. Katsina State Football Association (KSFA) officials should be invited by the investigating officers to state all they knew about the fracas since it primarily was their duty to ensure that the game was played under the stipulated guidelines. Pending the final report of what happened, Katsina United should be made to play behind closed doors to serve as a deterrent to their erratic supporters. What does it take for clubs to inform their owners (state government) that they need security operatives to man their gates? Just a phone call to the State’s commissioner of police.

It is disheartening that no stadium in the country has CCTV fitted in the premises. Otherwise, it would have helped to fish out those bastards who held Enugu Rangers players and officials hostage inside the Katsina Stadium. Whereas the CCTV footage in the stadium in London on Wednesday in the games between Tottenham and West Ham helped the police to arrest five suspects, those who caused trouble in Katsina are walking free on the streets.

The organisers should be ashamed of themselves for organising a league without television coverage for live games. Asides, from the fact that live games bring the league to the people in their living rooms, it also helps viewers to be educated on different talking points during matches and prevents urchins and beasts take the laws into their hands on the altar of

being club fans or supporters. Participating teams make a lot of money from television rights. The organisers also use the platform to showcase their co-sponsors to ensure that all the facets of the competition are brought to the fore.

The domestic league exists only in its name. Nothing to cheer for from the matches, except for the excruciating experience of the fans running through tear gas’ smoke to exit the stadium. Let’s not remind ourselves about the rickety ambulances in some centres with which have to be pushed to start. Or is it the painful scenario where uninformed urchins take the laws into their hands by beating referees to a stupor? Would the club officials say they don’t know those beasts who pummel the officials with cudgels and all manner of objects with the host club’s managers standing aloof?

Referees should be encouraged to sue clubs that send touts to beat them. They should get justice, no matter the cost. The referee’s body should secure lawyers for them and refuse to discontinue such cases, no matter whose ox is gored. This idea of only asking clubs to pay assaulted referees’ hospital bills is not enough to save referees from violence.

Dear reader, today is Christmas. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

I was going to dedicate this weekend’s column to Daniel ‘Da Bull’ Amokachi over the fantastic concept he originated to keep our ‘frustrated’ domestic players busy with the President Cup at a time the domestic league officials were snoring heavily. That wasn’t the biggest joker. One marvelled over Amokachi’s thought to use the President Cup to showcase the rejuvenated Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola Stadium in Abuja. This bit of it should be good news to the NFF who have to task their sponsors to the bone to pay the bills of inviting between 24 to 29 foreign-based players for games against soccer minnows in the continent. Thank God Gernot Rohr has left.  Of course, the President Cup was a wake-up call of sort of the new CEO of the league, Davidson Owumi. I hope the cabal allows Owumi to work. If, they don’t, fight them to the finish.

Owumi, if it is just six teams that have complied with the FIFA rule on club licensing, so be it. Amokachi’s contraption called the President Cup has come to stay. Those who watched the first edition of the President Cup would, henceforth, drag others to the stadium. I won’t also be shocked if sponsors scramble for a piece of the cake in order to identify their goods and services with the noble competition. It was quite an irony of fate watching some of them who have run the affairs of the game aground attend the President Cup with their family members. It again showed that stadia could be safe for as long as the officiating is top-notch and the spectators have full value for their money.

It goes without saying that the home teams are the ones instigating their supporters to cause carnage anytime they don’t win games at home. The fans enjoyed what they were seeing leaving the security architecture with little to worry about.

I could have walked away from the MKO Abiola Stadium fulfilled but for the show of shame where a player held his former club’s manager and boss hostage over debts owed him when he played for them. I liked the matured way in which Emmanuel Babayaro (I have tremendous respect for him) took charge by making good sense prevail, even if the matter remains unresolved. That self-help by the player for his money has become the way to collect their money, It shouldn’t be encouraged as I may dovetail into kidnapping – that would be the day.

How Amokachi arrived at the choice of the four teams showed that he hasn’t departed from the nursery where he was discovered as a ‘big’ in Kaduna, but who dazzled in matches around the country. It shows that the league isn’t comatose because of the absence of good players but due to the ineptitude of the organisers. What further amazed me was the befitting crowd at the stadium during the game and it underscored the need for the league under Davidson Owumi to ensure that the club licensing rule is effected before the league on December 17. Clubs should start gradual devastation of their operations if they are serious about running club soccer as a business. What Nigerian clubs are being compelled to do today is a mockery of how professional football is played in saner climes.

A league where no Nigerian referee is good enough for CAF and FIFA matches should go off the calendar for evaluation. A league where the chairman of the Referees Committee isn’t a former top-level referee should never be allowed to run the game.

According to FIFA’s new document, the referees’ committee shall be composed only of former match officials (preferably having operated at the top level of their respective domestic competition). They should not be affiliated with any club, any other football organisation, or another referee organisation (union, membership group, etc). Active match officials shall not be eligible to become members of any Referees Committee.

The FIFA communiqué stated further that: ”The Chairman of the Referees Committee may be a Member of the Executive Committee (provided that the regulation of the relevant association allows it) but must be a former top-level match official. The Deputy Chairman and the other members of the Referees Committee shall be appointed by the President of the Member Association on the proposal of the Chairman of the Referees Committee.”

It is quite astonishing to think that in the 21st Century, a country that has made six appearances at the senior World Cup wants to begin its new season without television rights-holder(s). Television coverage around the 774 Local Government Areas in the country on terrestrial platforms is what we need. Not television rights where I would have to listen to commentaries on hilltops in my area (Okpokhumi-Emai in Owan East of Edo State. No football fan would opt for tardy television coverage that would require him or her to waste data for such a misadventure. What manner of television rights coverage when viewers can have the luxury of watching playbacks of contentious instances in the cause of games almost immediately? In whose interest would rights be covered when the platform cannot fit into several ill-equipped match venues with Nigerians sitting at home to watch matches?

The biggest money-spinner for most leagues in the world that are worth their welcome is the quality of their television coverage. If the league organisers don’t understand my point, they need to Google the details on how much the big five leagues in the world earn from television rights for enlightenment. We are tired of watching league matches that never end on the pitch but contraptions done after the competition has gone a long haul. A league without credible medical care or should I say a reliable health insurance policy for the coaches, players, officials, and now for the fans are known to everyone should not be allowed to begin. If the competition begins without providing for these basic, then such match venues would be veritable death stable. The welfare of participants at league venues is paramount.

The Nigeria league should never be allowed to begin with the myriad of problems starting with the payment of players’ coaches’ and officials’ wages and other entitlements. It is very easy to achieve if the organisers are sincere about it. As a member of the Interim League Management Board (ILMB), I served as the chairman, the committee wrote to state commissioners to appear at our meetings to tell the body the true story.

It never happened before. But I ensured the state commissioners came to the meetings. Coaches, players, and officials were paid. The commissioners also exposed some of the tales of the coaches and players. Committee members were shocked to witness the fact that these players and coaches don’t have any written document as a contract – absolutely.

The Interim League Management Board under the leadership of the late Chief Oyuki Jackson Obaseki (a.k.a moving train) ensured that debtor clubs were not registered and referees were not scheduled for their games. The ILMB went further by making public in the media how much was being owed by clubs whose real owners are the state governors not those masquerading as one.

This isn’t the first time players being owed huge owed large sums of money resorted to self-help to force out the payment from their shameless creditors. The league should never begin when the board hasn’t paid each of the 20 clubs in the league their statutory N10 m largesse each (N200,000million) running into billions if one is to tabulate also the debts owed to match referees, match commissioners, etc.

Under the late Obaseki, clubs only get their entitlement from the competition from the board at the beginning of a new season. Clubs that don’t pay salaries or are indebted to players lose the N10 million which would be used to settle debts.

I’M excited. My excitement stems from the fact a new dawn beckons for the domestic league in Nigeria. I’ve been pinching myself to find out if the pronouncement of former Nigeria international and highest goal-scorer of the beautiful game here, Davidson Owumi as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the league is true. It has taken one year to do the needful on spurious grounds that the body was cash-strapped. Is the body now buoyant? Certainly not.

Owumi, the last occupant of your office was not only brilliant, but he was also a team player. He would always call to clear grey areas concerning the league and he threw open his lines to critics like us to fire our observations at for clarity sake. The last CEO was exemplary in  the way he took decisions where there was any to be taken. He was quick to say ”Nobi so, Ade! You fire salvo at us o! To a large extent, you were okay, but how about this scenario?” He never bullied me. He was down to earth. I will miss him. He is a gem. Sir, you made your mark. Thank you for all you did to make the ugly game here beautiful.

Owumi, your predecessor opened his doors to constructive criticisms. He was calm with everyone and adept in the rules of the game which transcends our shore. I don’t expect anything less from Owumi. What league followers of the domestic league are demanding from you, sir is an immediate recomposition of the referees’ appointment committee members to be in sync with what operates in other climes. FIFA are the owners of the game. They are the custodians of the rules. Their pronouncements are unchallenged having passed through rigorous debates. So, let nobody tell us that any country’s statues supersede FIFA’s laws.

According to FIFA’s new document the referees’ committee shall be composed only of former match officials (preferably having operated at the top level of their respective domestic competition). They should not be affiliated with any club, any other football organisation, or another referee organisation (union, membership group, etc). Active match officials shall not be eligible to become members of any Referees Committee.

Owumi sir, you will agree that the current chairman of the Nigeria referees Committee isn’t a retired referee. So, he could never have operated at the top level of the game. Of course, CEO, it’s common knowledge that the current chairman is the chairman of a state football association. By these submissions, the current chairman is ineligible to head the committee and all his actions are at variance with FIFA’s pronouncements, thus making his seat vacant.

The FIFA communiqué stated further that: ”The Chairman of the Referees Committee may be a Member of the Executive Committee (provided that the regulation of the relevant association allows it) but must be a former top-level match official. The Deputy Chairman and the other members of the Referees Committee shall be appointed by the President of the Member Association on the proposal of the Chairman of the Referees Committee.”

Owumi, you should be bold enough to effect the required changes no matter whose ox is gored. The referees are the hub of the game and they must be seen to be transparent in the conduct of their duties. Therefore, unqualified people shouldn’t be found in such vital areas of the game’s growth. Indeed, the new CEO should ensure that by the end of the first round, all debts owed referees are paid. A deliberate attempt should be made to reduce the contact hours between referees and hosting clubs, including referees of the local chapters. Clubs shouldn’t be allowed or asked to pay for referees’ match indemnities. This is the root cause of violence and shady deals in the league.

It should worry the new CEO that only Enyimba FC of Aba is left in the two cadres of the CAF inter-club competitions. True winners of the league must emerge at the end of this season, not thieving clubs whose path to glory was littered with the sharp practices of cheats in black and the intimidating presence of beasts as home supporters. Akwa United and Rivers United didn’t crash out of the continental tournament due to poor funding. Rather, the ineptitude of the league organisers to set a kickoff date for the competition ruined the chances of two of the most funded clubs in the country to win the competition.

The new CEO should take charge of the body’s operations by insisting on correcting the anomalies of the past. The CEO should use the next eight weeks in meeting with their sponsors to align their sponsorship with the kickoff date with the European calendar. It is laughable that Nigeria’s league has been slated to begin on December 17, without telling us when the domestic league would end. What it simply means is that a jejune fixture was drawn not based on known indices for such an exercise. Nigerians and indeed the corporate world need to have the fixtures which would guide them to make their market plans for next year. Need I say that this flaw is the beginning of sharp practices even before season takes off?

Owumi, your appointment has come with applause from Nigerians based on your pedigree. You need to tell Nigerians next year how much the league is worth beginning from what the body earns from inter-and-intra-club transfers. This is a major revenue platform for both the clubs and the organisers asides from the massive cash accruing to them from genuine terrestrial television rights sponsorship. The kamikaze ones where Nigerians whose income per capita per head isn’t one to celebrate, are being made to purchase data for their phones before they can watch the domestic league matches. Who does that?

It is shameful that smaller African nations (it would be disrespectful to name them) have their domestic league games shown live on DSTV. We need to return to the discussion table to seal a deal to show our matches live for everyone to watch in the comfort of their homes, viewing centres for those who may be reluctant to watch because of the nefarious activities of hooligans in most league venues.

This writer wonders what the league organisers would be telling would-be sponsors when they cannot show clips of past matches on reliable television networks such as DSTV. Aside from showcasing our talents to the world, live matches would also help to expose those hoodlums who take the laws into their hands, especially those who brutalise referees. It would then be easier to identify them to face the wrath of the law. How such criminals escape arrests at match venues lays credence to the fact they were doing the biddings of the homes teams. Indeed, these oafs are not spirits. The clubs and their proprietors know them. These imbeciles are known faces in such cities where referees are beaten groggy with blood flowing from all parts of their bodies.

Isn’t it a shame Owumi, that the sham associated with the last season has been swept under the carpet repeatedly, especially the cases of debts owed players, coaches, officials, and ancillary workers by clubs? Is Owumi expecting the aggrieved players to resort to self-help by holding some of the debtor clubs’ officials at different cities when they come to prosecute matches involving their former players in their new abodes? Isn’t that a subtle way of legalising kidnapping? Is it too much of an effort, Owumi for the league board to write the state governors of those clubs stating the level of indebtedness to the real proprietors, not those masquerading as club owners whereas they are salary earners?

Thirty-one years after the formation of professional football in Nigeria, nothing significant has happened. Rather, the ills of the past have become worse with the league plagued with all manner of theories in deciding which teams would win the season’s competitions outside of what happens on the pitch as in other climes?

The domestic game is comatose. Until we run the game in Nigeria as a business, it would remain prostrate.

MOST times I’m taken aback over people’s high expectations from the Super Eagles during matches. They blindly or should I say they patriotically expect our foreign legion to recreate some of the scintillating skills which they exhibit playing for the European clubs when they star for Nigeria in international matches. How they have forgotten Gernot Rohr’s coaching pedigree before getting Nigeria’s job beats me hollow. Indeed, a man who coached Gabon, Niger, and Burkina Faso would be awed by the talents abound in the Super Eagles. Therefore, anyone looking up to anything spectacular from the Eagles should either stop watching Nigeria’s matches or lest he/she develops symptoms that could lead to a heart attack (God forbid).

Nigeria has been to six World Cup tournaments, finishing in all six as Group stage qualifiers. Not good enough considering the fact that the Teranga Lions of Senegal made it to the quarter-finals in 2002. The Senegalese national team, in her debut appearance with the late Bruno Metsu as their tactician, achieved that sporting feat. The Lions of Teranga were beaten by the Crescent Stars of Turkey 1-0 in a nail-biting loss – considering how well they played. The target for African teams at the Mundial is to surpass the quarter-finals stage with Cameroon as the other country from the continent to have played at the quarter-finals in 1990. The Indomitable Lions lost to England 3-2, with ageless Roger Mila, the poster man of the competition.

We don’t need another pilgrimage to Qatar to repeat what we first achieved in 1994, 27 years ago. A serious country desirous of achieving anything at the 2022 World Cup ought to have dispensed with Rohr’s contract after the Eagles’ 4-4 draw against Sierra-Leone inside the Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City. Again, a country with markers of how their World Cup teams should play would have sacked Rohr at the late Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos after Central Africa Republic (CAR) beat Nigeria 1-0. Our administrators looked the other way preferring to offer laughable reasons based on the terms of his contract. On Tuesday, these administrators watched in awe as Nigeria struggled to record a 1-1 draw against Cape Verde.

Rohr is clueless about the qualities of his players even when they play weekly in Europe. Only a tactless coach would invite Samuel Chukwueze for an African qualifier against Cape Verde and bench him for 90 minutes. An adventurous coach would task his brain to find out how best to play Onuachu with Osimhen in the attack other than resort to begging Odion Ighalo to return from retirement. How do you engage the car in reverse gear and expect it to move forward? This is what Ighalo’s return to the Eagles portends. No malice.

The argument that Nigeria is stuck with Rohr based on his contractual terms is unacceptable. Nigeria under Rohr invites averagely between 24 to 28 European-based players leaving the NFF with the shortest part of the stick in terms of cutting costs. Little wonder the stories have been one of the debts since most of what comes to the federation goes out to catering for the players. If and when Rohr goes, Nigeria must not repeat the mistake of recruiting journeymen coaches such as Rohr. Nigeria is big enough to headhunt a very good coach whose impact on the team would be immediate since our stars ply their trade in Europe.

Aside from playing bad football and meeting the targets set for Rohr, the Eagles are the most undisciplined side anyone can watch. The way our reserve players behave during matches is a reflection of how the team plays. Eagles’ benchwarmers are busy joking, and not following the game. Need I list many substitutes who have changed the game when they are introduced during matches? Morocco won all her matches in the qualifiers. I’m not sure if 90 per cent of their players ply their trade in Europe. We need to set a ceiling that subsequent Super Eagles managers must stick to when picking players from Europe. At the most 16 players, barring injuries. It leaves us with the option of disbanding the NPFL and constituting a body that meets the stipulations in the rulebook to run the domestic league.

These are some of the yardsticks that should be used in employing a manager for the Super Eagles of Nigeria. The continuous woeful performance – you’d agree with me if you know of the Super Eagles’ past achievements in football tournaments – has clearly shown every football lover in Nigeria that we are back to the days of permutations.

So sad is it that after the shameful defeat to the Les Fauves of Central Africa Republic at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, we have resumed the permutation exercise – seriously hoping for a win against the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde at their home and a possible draw on our home ground.

There was a time in the history of Nigerian football where it was more than a taboo to play on the home turf and lose. Now, in the days of Rohr, it has become an expectation from the patriotic and true-loving Nigerian football fans, especially those who want to keep their mind sane and hearts devoid of high blood pressure.

The game against Cape Verde on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, clearly shows that even if we manage to qualify for the World Cup, we would only be attending to mark register and not pass beyond the group stages.

Yes, Osimhen registered his presence on the home turf barely a minute into the game but the equaliser by Stopira in the sixth minute is an indication that we are not ready to play ball. The poor defence, which was consistently threatened by the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde’s average attack throughout the poorly played 90-minutes is another proof that Rohr either has no idea of how to manage this set of Super Eagles or is purely not competent for the job.

Nigeria’s determinant factor for the 2022 World Cup attendance will be for the Super Eagles not to be drawn in the playoffs with Senegal’s Lions of Teranga or the Pharaohs of Egypt. I am worried for what would be the fate of the Nigerian fans when the Super Eagles would have to play against the two countries, who have destructive players like Liverpool’s deadly duo Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny, tactical defenders, Ahmed Hegazi, Kalidou Koulibaly, and astounding goaltender like Edouard Mendy of Chelsea FC.

Is it not sad that Wilfred Ndidi, who is regarded as a world-class defensive midfielder looks ordinary by the Coach’s formation? The playoffs draw will be held in December and already our hearts are in turmoil as to which country we would be paired with. Recent performances have not inspired confidence but like always, our best tactics against top football countries are prayers as if others don’t know how to pray. Here we go!

Barrister Godwin Dudu Orumen captured Rohr’s tenure thus: ”We have seen qualifiers under the watch of other coaches before Rohr and never seen anything as shambolic as this. Westerhoff came to these shores in 1989; by 1992/93 season, nine out of 11 players will show on 100 fans’ sheets as starting X1. And only three players broke into the Super Eagles from 1992-94, Sunday Oliseh, Austin JayJay Okocha and Efan Ekoku two years preceding the World Cup. All of this in five years. Rohr has been here six years…new faces every match and you can neither describe Super Eagles as a defensive nor attacking side.”

The Eagles have played 54 matches under the German, making the invitation of players one in which the next manager’s job has been cut out for him. Those not playing regularly should be dropped. Playing for Nigeria is the birthright of regulars. We must pick our players from the big leagues in Europe and those in the elite cadre. The domestic league must begin in earnest. That way, the players here would be invited to fight for regular shirts with the big boys.