The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • Change this captain

    Change this captain

    John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses are easily Nigeria’s biggest players in terms of their potential, yet they have not expressed their skills in a manner that would leave the fans in awe. A few times Mikel and Moses shone in matches, but they have not been consistent. And that is the missing link between great stars and the others. It is this second order role that has swept Moses and Mikel out of Chelsea, not their skills.

    Weekly, we read about their being placed on Chelsea’s sack list, not because they are not talented but they cannot compete with the best. How I wish these Europeans knew how talented these guys are. But would you blame Chelsea’s management for their decision where, for instance, those who play in their positions do the needful, scoring goals. The essence of the game is scoring goals, which decides matches.

    Indeed, not a few would remember that in 2005 Mikel was rated second best player to Barcelona star Lionel Messi. Need I compare the transformation between Mikel and Moses? Or have we forgotten the efforts made by England to snatch Moses, until he opted to play for Nigeria? You can only become a big player if you take your country’s matches seriously, since European clubs rely on national team performance to evaluate their targets for each season.

    Messi, Ibrahimovic, Aguero, Ronaldo, Zidane, Henry, Kompany, Casillas (when he was younger), Veiria, Beckham, Robben, Dunga, Ronaldo de Lima et al sacrificed everything to play for their countries, in spite of their commitments and tight club schedules. A player joins the exclusive group of “greats” when he has contributed greatly to his national team, although there are exceptions such as George Opong Weah, and the world knows why.

    Interestingly, Weah’s performance in all his European teams drew the world’s attention to his war-torn country, Liberia. Little wonder he is still dreaming of being Liberia’s president, after a failed attempt. Can any Nigerian player seek to be president? That will be the day because many would be asking what informed such a decision. Not so for Weah, who bankrolled all Liberia’s games in his quest to play at the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa.

    What would this writer gain to highlight Samuel Eto O Fils’ contributions to Cameroon’s soccer and how his people perceive him? Will it not be repetition to disclose Didier Drogba’s contributions to Ivory Coast’s soccer and service to his fatherland? Eto’O and Drogba are celebrated in world soccer today and rightly so.

    Only Nwankwo Kanu and possibly Austin Okocha, Victor Ikpeba, Emmanuel Amuneke and the late Rashidi Yekini can match these stars’ all-round contributions with their feats. No prize for guessing right these players won the African Footballer of the Year diadem, except Okocha. My heart still aches that CAF robbed Okocha of that honour with its mindless decisions. Kanu, Okocha, Amuneke, the late Yekini and Ikepba played their hearts out for Nigeria, hence they benched their European counterparts during matches. But Kanu et al are not the reason for this discussion.

    Mikel is easily Nigeria’s biggest export to European soccer. But his off field behaviour has been awful, leading many to tag the Chelsea star as arrogant. I share a different view. I feel strongly that Mikel needs help before he presses the self-destruct button. I would rather suggest that Mikel employs a public relations manager to burnish his image, or he would lose the goodwill he has acquired from playing the beautiful game.

    Mikel’s interpersonal relationship with his Nigerian mates has been nothing to write home about. Stories have been bandied in the media of how difficult it is for anyone to contact Mikel outside the country. Many coaches have experienced difficult times reaching Mikel. Frustrated Eagles managers have written him off. They speak of leaving on Mikel’s answering machine messages which he never returns. No courtesy. Mikel only gets to acknowledge these messages when the media is agog with bad stories. His manager reaches out to explain what may have kept Mikel incommunicado.

    Not many players have his telephone numbers. No problem with that because he has the right to pick his friends. But as the new Eagles captain, he must every player’s contacts like Stephen Keshi did with many Nigerians when he was the doyen of the game in Europe. Yet, Samson Siasia, in his wisdom chose Mikel as captain. I don’t fault this decision entirely, given Mikel’s pedigree in the game. But, Mikel’s conduct and his attitude towards people are unimpressive and he needs a rebirth, no matter who he thinks he is.

    Ordinarily, as the incumbent captain of the Super Eagles, he ought to be the chief host of the Joseph Yobo testimonial, especially as most of the players slated for the game were coming from Europe. As the Eagles captain, he should have arrived one week before the game to ensure that the logistics towards a flawless entry into Nigeria and exit from Port Harcourt from the world stars invited was guaranteed. What affects one, affects all, the old dictum goes, dear Mikel.

    I’m shocked to read that Mikel stayed out of the Yobo Testimonial on alleged spurious grounds of his name not being listed among the stars advertised for the event. I don’t want to believe that Mikel missed the game because of flight tickets and accommodation. These are ridiculous tales. Mikel, you can do better than this.

    My understanding of how testimonials are organised is that those to be listed on the billboards are ex-internationals known to the people. The essence is for the fans to throng the stadium to watch live some of the stars that they have been seeing on television. Since testimonials are novelty games, retired stars are more on the two sides since those on either side may have played with the retiree – in this case Yobo or his friends.

    I also don’t want to think that Mikel was suffering from inferiority complex because he has won everything that most of the players who came for the game have. Perhaps, those who are bigger than Mikel are Eto’O and Nwankwo Kanu, former African Footballers of the Year. But is that enough reason for Mikel to stay out of the game? I’m sure that if Mikel was on ground in Port Harcourt and could be easily assessed, Eto’ O wouldn’t have had difficulty in securing a landing permit for his private jet at the airport in the Garden City.

    Such details would have been highlighted by his meeting with the host of the event, Barrister Nyesom Wike, and he would have known what to do if Eto’O’s private jet’s details and arrival time were provided. Mikel must feel guilty in his quiet moments that a former teammate, Eto’O, had such a difficulty in his country. Mikel, it won’t happen to you, if Eto’O organises a testimonial when he quits the game. This is another point, dear Mikel.

    Let somebody please tell me that Mikel wasn’t in Nigeria when the game was played. If he was, it is rather unfortunate. It means that the theory that he was angry with the organisers for not giving him flight tickets to attend the game was not true. Really! How much is a return ticket from London to Port Harcourt? Even if Mikel was in the country 24 hours to the game, if he chartered a jet from Lagos to Port Harcourt, it won’t be anything near his weekly pay at Chelsea. Dear Mikel, you must apologise to Yobo and others.

    What Yobo did with the testimonial was to introduce a new dimension on how our stars should be celebrated. Yobo’s testimonial challenged the NFF chieftains to do a rethink on how to honour former players after Emmanuel Emenike’s brickbat over the clash in dates of the event with Nigeria’s game against Mali in France, little wonder they freed Eagles’ captain and vice-captain, Ahmed Musa for the game. But, Emenike must be told that FIFA’s free windows have been fixed long before Yobo thought of organising the game. Next time, the organisers should check FIFA’s calendar to fix the dates to avoid such clashes in fixtures.

    Dear Mikel, you can see why you should have been in Port Harcourt to honour Yobo. I wonder who Mikel thinks would participate in his testimonial when he quits. Mikel can as well say “who cares”.  Testimonials tell the story about stars which would help shape the future stars’ perception about playing soccer as a career.

    Dear Mikel, Eto O didn’t sleep in Port Harcourt, which makes a mockery of your alleged request for accommodation as a condition to play in the testimonial. Eto O arrived on match day and departed before midnight. How about that? I’m sure Mikel didn’t make these demands. Tell me, dear Mikel the true story surrounding your absence from Yobo’s testimonial.

    I wonder how Mikel hopes to rally the younger players in the Eagles to do his bidding when he loathes others and refuses to attend functions that affect players. Respect begets respect, dear Mikel.

  • The Spanish example

    Tonight in Milan, Italy marks another watershed for the beautiful game when either Real Madrid or Atletico lifts the UEFA Champions League diadem inside the San Siro Stadium. This is the second time San Siro Stadium will be hosting the UEFA Champions League final. The first time was in 2001 when FC Bayern beat Valencia 5-4 on penalties after a pulsating 1-1 draw in a game that went into an extra time.

    This all-Spanish final underlines where the best of soccer artistry resides today, because Sevilla FC of Spain annexed the Europa Cup silverware, for the third consecutive time, penultimate Wednesday and for the fifth time in the competition. In fact, pundits have cynically tagged the competition as Europa ‘Sevilla’ Cup and you won’t blame them, given the uncanny manner in which the Spanish side drops from the prestigious UEFA Champions League competition every season only to lift the trophy with aplomb. The pundits can stew in their childishness while the Spaniards celebrate another historical feat, despite their country’s troubled economy.

    The two European trophies for clubs have been in Spain since the 2013/2014 soccer season. This has been the trend in the last three years. This is the ripple effect of Spain winning the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa. The Spaniards came to Africa in 2010 as the European Nations Cup winners and annexed both world titles for national teams. Spain retained their European Cup title in 2012 but lost the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 – no thanks to the scandalous 5-1 loss to Netherlands in the opening game. With these national team feats, it should not come as a surprise the dominance of the European game at club level.

    Not a few remember Spain as a buoyant country than from the prism of soccer, arising from the incredible exploits that Real Madrid and Barcelona have recorded in global soccer tournaments. The impact of these two teams in European football has given rise to two new entities ready to upset the applecart every season. The new boys in the chain for glory from Spain are Sunday’s UEFA Champions League opponents Atletico Madrid and the 2016 Europa Cup champions, Sevilla. No doubt football is the best commodity in Spain; forget about the media blitz associated with the Barclays English Premier League thanks to the robust packaging by the English press.

    The rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona is so fierce that the Galaticos’ fans protested against the Spain FA’s initial decision to play the finals of the Copa De Rey at the Bernabeu Stadium. The fans couldn’t stand watching Barcelona players winning a trophy inside their stadium.

    The Spanish example underscores the fact that Nigeria could record, if not surpass the feats of the Spaniards, who have ruled Europe. We have the talents. But our problem has been the insistence of the government at all levels not to hands of supporting football and encourage knowledgeable people to run the game. If the government stops funding football, for instance, the game won’t die. What will happen is that big players across the globe will key into a bilateral relationships with our domestic clubs. These clubs’ personnel would come with their templates and identify, train and retrain those that they want to man the chain in the clubs’ organograms. It is the absence of an organogram in our clubs that has made the administration of the game incapable of generating cash like we see in other climes. European clubs’ organograms are such that eliminate overlaps. These overlaps are what corrupt officials exploit to enrich themselves, pauperise players and discourage businessmen from investing in soccer.

    No entrepreneur would read about Arsenal FC of England’s £100, 952,257 earning from only television rights and won’t talk with their management, if it knocks on his doors. The corporate world would be encouraged to do football business in England, given the television outlay prize of £1.636 billion shared by the 20 clubs which participated in the 2015/2016 Barclays English Premier League. The outlay made public by the organisers of the competition showed that Arsenal earned more from television rights than the eventual winners Leicester. Leicester’s management won’t bat any eyelid because the details are self explanatory.

    Leicester topped Arsenal on that table in the section on merit money as winners, with £1,242,405 difference. This level of transparency is what the big business players need to lure them to commit their goods and services to the English game. Winners of the European leagues don’t visit governors or heads of their country’s governments for winning international honours. There are existing templates for such rewards in those leagues which predates this time. The figures are only increased to be in sync with what operates globally. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla are not owned by the Spanish government but private people. For Barca, they are the Catalans.  Besides, those who run these clubs emerge from elections. During their campaigns, they make promises which they keep. It is the reason these clubs have big stars who generate cash for themselves and the clubs. This novelty has been extended to the coaches. Mourinho is today locked in an image rights wahala with Chelsea. Manchester United has accepted to buy the Special One’s image rights with Chelsea, knowing that they would recoup what they spent on merchandising, using the Special One’s image. I digress!

    Followers of the game in England are wondering why Manchester United have signed Jose Mourinho, given the fact that Louis Van Gaal won for the Red Devils its 12th  English FA Cup, the most prestigious trophy in England, in terms of tradition. But for the managers of Manchester United, the fans are sacrosanct. They are the ones who oil the club’s business with their patronage. It follows therefore that when they are dissatisfied, the managers of the business must respond otherwise; it would amount to a failure of leadership if their rivals beat them to the biggest European title – the UEFA Champions League – next season.

    Van Gaal lost his job because Manchester United’s management knows that Pep Guardiola is a performer, if given the materials to excel. And with the owners of Manchester City feeling strongly that the Citizens could conquer Europe next season. Guardiola just fits the bill to actualise that corporate dream, having lost out in the semi-finals this season to Real Madrid. I cannot wait to witness the two matches of the Manchester derby next season because the crowd turnout would be captivating. No matter what Manchester United’s management would spend on Mourinho and his armada of stars, the figures from the turnstiles during United’s games and volume of sales from merchandising of the products associated with the Special One and his stars would be awesome.

    Recall that Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich was impressed with the fact that Claudio Raineri guided the Blues to a second position in 2004. But he wanted Chelsea to join the big league teams that have lifted the UEFA Champions League diadem, hence he laid off Raineri for Jose Mourinho. This Chelsea analogy is necessary for us to know that Van Gaal’s sack was informed by the need to get Manchester United to be on the same page with their “noisy neighbours” in terms of the clout of their managers and their pedigree in European competitions. Mourinho’s feats and Guardiola’s in European competitions are the same, I dare say. So, beginning from the bench, Manchester United’s owners want to match their rivals in personnel.

    Indeed, when Abramovich grabbed Mourinho, the tilt of power among London clubs went in Chelsea’s favour, with Mourinho winning more of the games against Arsenal than Arsene Wenger. Wenger, in my view, is the most successful manager. He hasn’t guided Arsenal to win the UEFA Champions League diadem, but the Gunners are easily the most exciting team to watch when in their element. Perhaps, if Wenger can shop big for the 2016/2017 season, Arsenal will fit the next UEFA Champions League title. Arsenal’s defence is horrible. Wenger hasn’t been able to replace Patrick Vieira in the midfield. The closest to replacing Vieria has been Caziola. Unfortunately, Caziola was injured at the time when he was needed most this last season. Caziola’s injury is the reason why Gunners are not the Barclays English Premier League champions this season. I don’t intend to undermine what Raineri has done with Leicester City – the Foxes too are another fairytale story in the English game. Leicester won the title with 10 points difference, not a small feat, given the competitive nature of the league in England.

    I was glad that Raineri was given the honour denied him by Chelsea in 2004, when the Blues mounted a guard of honour for the Italian as champions of the Barclays English Premier League. Take a bow Abramovich for being present to give a plaque to a manager he seemingly humiliated in 2004. It takes men of honour to perform such an act. All hail Abramovich!

  • Needless summons

    Members of the House of Representatives have suddenly woken up to see that there is trouble in the house of football. Now that they have intervened in the crises orchestrated by those who want the organisation of the game to be under government lackeys, has anything changed? I laughed my heart out over the summons handed to Sports Minister Solomon Dalung and the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Melvin Pinnick, to appear before the House’s sports committee in the House of Representatives over the leadership tussle at the Glasshouse when those recognised by the world soccer body’s last Annual Congress in Mexico.

    Ironically, the likely political resolution of the impasse will be a nullity for the simple reason that it amounts to interference by third parties, which is one of the things that FIFA frowns at. Besides, decisions from the meeting won’t be binding on those who may lose, if are they are the ones who emerged from a democratic process.

    I found the decision to put Chris Giwa on the list quite preposterous since Pinnick and his deputies were rubbing minds with FIFA and CAF chieftains, who run the game for the world body in their 210 affiliates. Giwa opted to seek redress in the courts and it is only proper to allow him get to the end of the matter than to cajole anyone to accept a political resolution to an exercise that had been decided through the ballot box.

    I’m miffed at the sudden realisation by the House that the fuss in the Glasshouse was remotely responsible for our ouster from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. Was this failed expedition happening for the first time? Wasn’t this intrigue responsible for Nigeria’s was elimination from the 2015 edition?

    Where were these emergency peacemakers when Giwa was stopped from seeing the Super Eagles on the pitch before a game inside the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar? Don’t the committee members know those they have been relating with since their inauguration? Don’t these members, some of whom have travelled with the country’s soccer teams, know that Giwa has no role to perform at the NFF?

    It appears that some people are benefitting from the meddlesomeness of busy bodies, such as the House, in an issue that has been decided. The legislators have a right to intervene in matters of national interest. But, shouldn’t they allow sleeping dogs lie after seeing Pinnick et al interface with their counterparts in the 210 countries under FIFA’s umbrella? If they were not the legitimate body, according to FIFA’s rules, they would have been excused out of the Congress and sanctions meted out to Nigeria, like it has been done to Republic of Benin, for a matter similar to ours. Benin is a soccer pariah today, because their football matter was taken to the court. Is this not what Giwa has done? Do we need a summons to know what is right? Must we always fail to learn from others’ mistakes, considering the Benin situation? The House must be told that the Giwa group wants Vice President and four other “juicy” posts as part of the political arrangement for peace. Foul – it won’t happen because FIFA rules are sacrosanct. Nobody forced Nigeria to belong to the body. We may as well renounce our membership of FIFA and see if anyone would invite us for a game. Nigeria is bigger than anyone. We have a right to use soccer to engage our youths, create employment for people and use the game to enable the citizens recreate to stay healthy. Soccer is played across a wider range of people than any other sport, hence its leadership status in terms of followership.

    Rather than repeat this fruitless exercise of having the minister and Pinnick face them like we have seen in the past, the House members ought to have waited for the opportunity of FIFA President’s proposed visit to Nigeria to ask the critical questions about the workings of the international body, in a bid to truly stop this laughable rituals which happen every four years, after elections.

    I’m excited that the FIFA president will meet President Muhammadu Buhari. I know that he will tell the President the dos and don’ts of the federation in unambiguous terms. The FIFA president will tell Buhari, who between Pinnick and Giwa, his body recognises. So, the House of Representatives’ men shouldn’t have beaten the gun with this needless summons.

    The truth must be told – the electoral rules allow dissatisfied people to seek justice. But, here we have a man occupying a seat through legitimate means and another struggling to unseat him through means forbidden by the custodians of the game’s rules. At the risk of repeating myself, if Nigeria doesn’t want to belong to FIFA, we should say so and join the league of banned countries, such as Benin (God forbid).

    Asking the minister and Pinnick to appear before them with Giwa attending was an insult to both institutions that they represent. Would it be fair for those who emerged through an election to lose their positions thorough political resolutions? Would you accept that, honourable members, if you are in these members’ position? What happens to those whose offices would be given to those who didn’t partake in the elections? Will they keep quiet?

    Nigerians would be excited to see Giwa’s members in a flawed election organised by FIFA, which is the body recognised to supervise its elections. Indeed, all Congresses, including the ones for elections, are recorded. Can Giwa show us the video of the election he wants us to believe he won? The Warri election was recorded and observed by FIFA chieftains, unlike the Abuja one which went ahead despite FIFA’s warning against it.

    If the House members want to be busy, they can organise a forum where stakeholders can rub minds to make the sports sector solvent through working relationships with the private sector. Nigeria’s preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is in quandary. We don’t have good structures where our athletes can train for major competitions. This problem predates what is happening now.

    I won’t be surprised if this committee initiates another summons to the minister after the Olympics, seeking to know why Nigeria returned from another Olympics without a medal. Just watch out.

     

    Why not Guus Hindink?

     

    Surprise, surprise, surprise! I heard that John Mikel Obi accepted to play in the central defence position for Chelsea without qualms. Mikel has played in that position thrice and did very well. Could that be Mikel’s best position in the twilight of his meteoric career? Have we forgotten the jabs thrown at former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho by most pundits that he destroyed Mikel’s attacking instincts by restricting the Nigerian’s playing area with the Blues?

    What has Guus Hindink seen in Mikel to necessitate this novel change in position for the Nigerian? Is Hindink’s decision not a justification of what Mourinho started? Should we not go for Hindink as the Eagles’ next manager, especially as the glory days of our football at that level has been with Dutch coaches? Our football needs this drastic change in personnel and positions in the Eagles’ formation, if we hope to excel at the 2018 World Cup slated to hold in Russia? We shouldn’t be scared of Hindink’s wages. We can employ him for one year and see how well the Eagles transform to become giant killers, not their present Super Chicken sobriquet. If Nigeria qualifies for the semi-finals at the Russia 2018 World Cup with Hindink, a lot will happen to the game to make the NFF self-financing, with the new dispensation at the Glasshouse.

    Hindink isn’t new to handling national teams. He knows how to breathe life into sinking teams by injecting younger players to rev up the team’s attacking forays. He will gladly accept the Nigerian job at the right price, knowing that success with the Eagles will reopen a new vista for Dutch coaches in the developing countries. We truly need a foreign coach in Hindink’s class to rejuvenate the Super Eagles.

    No Nigerian coach dares play Mikel in the central defence position. He will lose his job that day. Drafting Mikel to the defence, clears the way for younger boys like Oghenekaro Etebo, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Ihenacho et al to blossom in the midfield. Mikel slows the pace of the game in counter attacking situations, largely because he is ageing. His experience will help block the Eagles’ leaky defence, as the other defenders would easily listen to his instructions in the course of the game. As a central defender, Mikel can be the coach on the field since he sees everything happening from the vintage position. No player dares misbehave, if he beckons on them to mark the opponents in the course of the game. These younger boys can cope with the rigours of the game over 120 minutes.

    I’m a big fan of technically competent foreign coaches for the Super Eagles – Nigeria’s biggest brand waiting to blossom. I also feel strongly that with a coach who knows his onions handling the Eagles, the pool of talents that we will throw into the international market will be awesome. Only foreign coaches can make the fight for spaces fierce, such that established stars will sit on the bench for the new kids. This idea of fielding the same players and expecting different results still beats my imagination.

    We need new kids in the Eagles who will be hungry for glory, not what we have where nothing challenges our experienced stars, because they have seen it all. This is why the Eagles wobble and fumble (apologies to Coach Fanny Amun).

  • The bigger picture

    Sitting before my computer on Thursday afternoon, a lot of headlines ran through my head, with every topic looking like a weekly column idea. In fact, I started writing many in my mind’s eye but shelved them, especially those that I wrote on sheets of paper while in Benin City.

    Indeed, in one’s quiet moments, the head is free of life’s baggage. Rather than sleep away the time, one tries to scribble down interesting trends of the beautiful game. I plead guilty of being a football writer, even though I played cricket in my younger days.

    Truth is, if the business of soccer thrives, those firms which cannot find the space to identify their goods and/or services with the beautiful game would shift their attention to other sports with the right followership and men who can convince the corporate world not to sulk over its inability to identify with soccer.

    Sports, such as cricket, boxing, basketball, golf and table tennis, have robust marketing initiatives which have been used to activate some of the programmes executed today. It is true that they need more, except that soccer, which ought to be the elixir for other sports, is burdened by the intrigues of failed NFF people.

    Let me not bore you with these intrigues but look at the bigger future for soccer as it is being showcased by other nations. I hope this bigger picture can be appreciated by the coaches of our national teams, if they truly want the game to move up.

    I cringe when I hear ex-internationals distort facts in pushing their case for them to run the game, as if that is the norm in other climes. The last time I checked, the three FAs in which ex-footballers are in charge as Federation presidents are Chile (Arturo Salah), Portugal (Fernando Gomes) and Spain (Ángel María). Their countries are listed among the top 10 in FIFA rankings.

    In descending order in FIFA’s rankings, England FA has Gregory “Greg” Dyke (born 20 May 1947), a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster, as chairman of The Football Association (FA). He was Director-General of the BBC from January 2000 to 29 January 2004.

    In Uruguay, the FA President is Wilmar Valdez (born 10 July 1965), a Uruguayan football executive. At 21, Valdez started working for his hometown’s club Rentistas. Valdez also worked as a sports journalist for a while. At Rentistas, he served in various positions, including Secretary General and President, for four years.

    Portugal’s FA president is Fernando Mendes Soares Gomes (born 22 November 1956), a retired Portuguese professional footballer, who played as a striker for FC Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Sporting Gijon. Brazilian FA President is Marco Polo Del Nero (born 22 February 1941); he is a lawyer and sports administrator.

    One of the three FA presidents, who is a former footballer, is Spain’s Ángel María (born 21 February 1950). He played as a midfielder. He is the acting President of UEFA. He wasn’t an ex-international.

    Germany’s FA president isn’t a footballer, yet his country is the defending World Cup champions. Reinhard Dieter Grindel (born 19 September 1961 in Hamburg) is a German journalist, politician (CDU) and football administrator. From 2002 to 2016, Grindel was a member of the Bundestag (Lower Chamber of the German Parliament). On 15 April 2016, he was elected president of the German Football Association (DFB) and resigned as a member of parliament.

    Colombia’s FA president is Ramon Franco, a businessman. Chile’s president Arturo Salah is a former Chilean footballer and manager. Belgium’s federation president is Francois De Keersmaecker and he is a lawyer. Argentina’s Luis Segura is a business entrepreneur.

    England, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, France, Spain, Belgium and Uruguay are not being run by their ex-internationals. Note that these countries are in the top 10 in FIFA’s current rankings, with not a few being former World Cup champions like the reigning kings- Germany.

    The trend shows that lawyers, business men, journalists and politicians make good soccer federation chairmen. It is very revealing that a journalist presides over Germany’s FA. Need I restate that the Germans are the World Cup kings?

    What most ex-internationals in Nigeria, who disturb the media with the infantile wish, fail to understand is that the essence of any enterprise is profits and losses. And it isn’t a venture for half-baked and unprepared people not versed in the rudiments of business. Our players still see soccer administration like an inheritance, forgetting that there are many people who are eminently qualified.

    Besides, our ex-internationals must know that they won’t be interfacing with Lilliputians from other climes, hence they must equip themselves properly before seeking positions of importance, such as NFF’s headship.

    Most times when I hear or read about these advocates for ex-internationals running our football, my mind goes to reconciling all that they achieved as players – tears run down my cheeks. Perhaps, if they equipped themselves, they would be talking about owning clubs in their states that would serve as models on how the game should be run.

    Again, I laugh at these ex-internationals because only a few of them have contributed to the local clubs which made them. These gestures come when they are in the twilight of their careers – more or less like forward purchase stuffs or as public relations stunts initiated by their friends and lackeys.

    Clubs, such as Rangers, 3SC, Bendel Insurance, Heartland, Kano Pillars, Enyimba etc shouldn’t be run by any state government, given the exodus of players from these clubs to Europe. Our players must learn to put their money where their mouth is. Is it out of place if five top former players of 3SC in Europe decide to pay the players’ annual salaries as their contributions to the club’s existence?

    Is 3SC’s yearly budget up to N700 million? I doubt it. That is the equivalent of $2 million which is what the club’s ex-internationals and those still playing can cough pay. Not so here. They would tell you that the money would be misappropriated. But if they pay it into a bank and get the bank to do their biddings in terms of payment, the players would get their dues. If our players are serious about their cry to run our football, they must go back to their local governments and states to contribute to the grassroots development of the game.

    If those players who left Enugu Rangers FC for Europe contribute 10 per cent of what they earn playing European football to the club’s management, they won’t need government funding. What have those players who left Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan to play in Europe done for the club’s management now that the Oyo State government is indebted to the players and coaching staff for five months? Ten per cent from their one month salaries would make 3SC the richest in Nigeria. Only a few of our ex-internationals and those still playing have bought jerseys, boots etc for their former clubs.

    What they do when they visit the country is to drive around the cities in posh cars, with musical sets at the loudest volume to increase the nuisance value that we already have on the streets. Back in their European bases, they dare not do so. They know the penalties involved if caught by the authorities. Not so here, where those who should reprimand them join in the boogie sessions – awaiting when the big star leaves the place like a rocket, leaving in his wake wads of naira flung into the air with multitudes falling over themselves to pick up the crumbs.

    Those who excel in those places would definitely get the votes to qualify them to run for their state FA elections. Once in that setting, it would be easier for them to contest the NFF elections and run the office, if the Congress deems them worthy of such an exercise. Nothing qualifies an ex-international without requisite educational qualifications to run the NFF than the educated mind, who chose the academics. A literarily empty head cannot lead people. Indeed, most of the educated footballers have moved on to other ventures and won’t want to touch the NFF with this kind of rancorous setting.  State FAs run by ex-internationals have been riddled with tales of impeachments and accusations of their leaders running a one-man show.

    One will stand at the roof top to campaign for Adokie Amiesimaka, if he decides to run for the NFF president. I will have advertorials in many media houses explaining why we need Felix Owolabi (Phd) as NFF president, if he takes the plunge.

    I will proceed on vacation to support Edema Fuludu, if he shows interest in NFF president’s job. These (Amiesimaka, Owolabi and Fuludu) are ex-internationals and Africa Cup of Nations winners. The list of educated players is endless. They combined sports at the highest level with quality education, which is the distinguishing line between them and the rest of the pack.

    We want people who are cerebral to articulate the federation’s road map to the corporate world. We need men with pedigree, such as Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who distinguished himself at the state level. The current NFF board has the right mix of technocrats to lift the game, if given an opportunity to deliver on their campaign promises.

    Football management at the NFF isn’t a job for charlatans or political jobbers. It is a job for those who have given life to moribund institutions, not those who want to use the platform to improve their CVs, enrich their international passports, lobby for positions at FIFA and CAF and travel with every team in a bid to collect estacodes in foreign currencies.

     

  • Olympic gold is possible

    Olympic gold is possible

    Samson Siasia is a lucky boy. He is always available to handle Nigeria’s new generation of stars and he has acquitted himself with glory, most times. Siasia’s preference for attacking football is commendable – no surprise because he was a striker and a scorer of goals for his clubs and Nigeria, not forgetting his goal against Argentina at the USA 94 World Cup. He is a good tactician only if he can turn deaf ears to promptings from European managers, scouts and influence-peddlers who always want to hijack his team’s selection. Indeed, if Siasia fails to win the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, it will be because he didn’t pick our best players not because we don’t have them aplenty. Siasia, you can guide Nigeria to win the Olympic gold medal again. Please Siasia, jettison your personal interests.

    I have been monitoring the names being bandied in the media as prospects for the country’s Dream Team VI to the Olympics and I have asked myself if Siasia knows what he is doing. It is instructive to remind Siasia that he is going to the Olympics with a group of boys who won the trophy at the Africa U-23 tournament held in Senegal. What this feat presupposes is that we have a winning squad for the Olympics. All that Siasia needs to do is to fortify the squad with our immensely talented players in Europe, who are performing, such as Kelechi Iheanacho, Alex Iwobi and perhaps those junior internationals who may have missed the squad to Senegal.

    Besides, Siasia is free to also pick our best overage players like John Mikel Obi, Odion Ighalo and Ahmed Musa as he has proposed. These experienced players should be used to strengthen the squad, having seen the quality of players that our group opponents Sweden, Japan and Colombia have listed as theirs. It follows therefore that a wholesale change or the invitation of those who haven’t played a game for the team and are not in the class of players mentioned above is a bloody waste of time and a major distraction.

    I’m not picking his squad. I’m only asking him to emulate those major football nations, who are strengthening their squads that qualified with known names and not causing disaffection with the invitation of boys who are not as talented as those we used to earn the qualification ticket. It amounts to a waste of the tax payers’ money to invite players for trials at this stage, given the abundance of talents available to Siasia. It must be stressed here that most of the matches would be played in the wee hours in Nigeria  and there cannot be a worse nightmare to put Nigerians through than having them to stay up so late only to watch shambolic display by our team in Rio de Janerio. Nigerians deserve the best. They want to stay up late and be thrilled with our boys’ performance just as it happened when the Golden Eaglets retained the U-17 World Cup. The Eaglets were a delight to watch.

    I’m not a coach but as a journalist, I have the right to raise the alarm about sporting matters, especially those with devastating effects on the

    psyche of the fans. Many want Siasia to handle our national teams but two incidents ought to have changed his perception of how his team plays. I hope that Siasia knows that he seems incapable of telling his players what to do when defending, especially against set-pieces – I won’t blame him since he looks like Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger. No prize if you say that they learned their trade in France. In 2011, the Siasia-led Super Eagles didn’t know what to do to a 2-1 lead against Guinea inside the National Stadium, Abuja. Rather than devise means to frustrate the visitors, our boys opted to attack a team with renowned qualities of playing the counter-attack formation. And we paid dearly for it with a last-minute goal to deny Nigeria a chance to participate at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

    It is said that thunder doesn’t strike twice in one spot. But with sports, if you repeat a mistake against a good opponent, you will suffer the same fate. This rings so true with Siasia and the Eagles, if one critically evaluates what happened inside the Ahmadu Bello Stadium on March 25 against the Pharaohs of Egypt. Many a Nigerian still rues the last-minute goal which the Egyptians scored.

    What beats me hollow is the fact that Siasia seems unperturbed about getting big, strong and reliable defenders who can effectively use either foot when under pressure. It is one thing for a team to have great potential of scoring goals. However, what distinguishes the average team from the excellent one is how they defend goals that they have scored.

    Besides, I think he needs a defensive minded assistant, who can talk to the players or possibly take them through the rudiments of marking the opponents whenever they lose possession of the ball.

    Good defending starts with having an articulate goalkeeper whose attention span must be unwavering and the back four men, who must listen to the goalkeeper’s instruction since he is the last man in the defence. Siasia needs at least two defenders in each of the four defensive positions. Since defenders do most of the marking, it is important that we have a couple of them per wing in the event of card offences or injuries sustained from the matches.

    It won’t cost Siasia anything to call veteran coach Adegboye Onigbinde on tips for defending. Onigbinde is renowned for setting up rugged but skilful defenders during his era in the Green Eagles and the Super Eagles. If Siasia thinks that Onigbinde’s methods won’t suit him, he can invite a knowledgeable defensive tactician to strengthen his technical crew like he did in previous competitions.

    If Nigeria wins the gold medal in the football event in Rio, it means that we have the squad to rule the world at the Russia 2018 World Cup. Beating Brazil in an exhibition match without Siasia underscores the depth of talents available to the coaches, only if they go for glory that would make Nigeria the poster team of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

    The Atlanta’96 Olympic Games’ gold medal feat for Nigeria was a watershed, coming on the heels of our senior team Super Eagles’ superlative performance, where we were ranked fifth in the world, in spite of the fact that we were eliminated in the second round.

    Nigeria became the haven for European scouts to get relatively exposed boys at the grassroots to European teams. These new boys returned to make the Eagles, drawing a large followership at the turnstiles during the country’s matches.

    With capacity filled stadia on days when the Eagles had a game, it was easy for the corporate world to key into this large audience to market their goods and services. Firms which couldn’t compete for space in the Super Eagles or indeed other national teams across gender turned to the next popular sports – athletics, basketball, table tennis and boxing.

    The sports terrain never lacked sponsor until some administrators became unaccountable, organised low quality competitions or failing to pay athletes who participated in sporting tournaments. Of course, no firm will pitch its services or goods on corrupt platforms. The exit of these traditional sponsors led to an era of problems for sports.

    Table tennis, athletics and boxing tottered in the past. New dawns beckon for boxing and table tennis, only if the authorities ensure that only credible people and competent personnel are employed to fast-track the changes.

  • Dalung, FIFA mustn’t ban Nigeria

    Dalung, FIFA mustn’t ban Nigeria

    These are interesting times for sports, with Minister Solomon Dalung ready to accept blames, where it concerns his ministry. Dalung is also prepared to mediate in controversies, except that he prefers political resolutions instead of outright decisions, even where the extant rules provide for them. Dalung’s mien could be deceitful, but he showed that he knew his onions as a lawyer, preferring to see NFF’s decision to inform FIFA chiefs about the crisis as an affront to constituted authority, since the Constitution is incontrovertible. For Dalung, it is the law or nothing.

    Not so, sports minister sir, especially with FIFA’s rules which state the process to follow for aggrieved people. Thankfully, the Giwa group has taken their case to the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS). In the eyes of FIFA, Giwa’s case is dead and should remain so, if we don’t want to get banned and become a pariah nation.

    It is easy for people to say to ‘hell with FIFA.’ But those in this school must understand that the cheapest sport to run in the country is football. Indeed, the first thing that most kids learn to do is to kick around objects in the house. Therefore, if FIFA bans Nigeria (God forbid), all forms of soccer competitions would be null and void; no referee would be allowed to handle those matches, the results will not be recognised and no country would invite us for games. We would be out of all competitions. Did I hear you say, so what? Interesting! Our players and indeed those who want to make a career out of the game would be forced to change their nationalities. They may not want to return to play for us again, knowing that our administrators don’t care about their future and have refused to respect rules which over 209 countries have accepted as the norm.

    I pity boys such as Alex Iwobi, Victor Moses and Carl Ikeme, who shunned playing for England to wear our prestigious green-white-green jersey. They won’t have anywhere to go because England would dump them. Besides, only the exceptional ones, such as Kelechi Iheanacho, would get good football nations to adopt them. Others would be marooned, yet soccer is the biggest mobiliser of our youth at the grassroots. It also has given many boys a means of livelihood. Many of players, such as Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, George Finidi et al, have changed the fortunes of their families from near squalor to opulence and fame. Why do we want to lose all these simply because one man feels aggrieved, having flunked the chance to win the Warri Congress, after his major rival, Aminu Maigari, was cajoled by the government not to contest the elections?

    Minister, sir, ask Giwa if FIFA did not annul his election. Didn’t the world body ask the NFF to set a new road map out of the impasse then? Is it not because of this road map that the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, prevailed on Maigari not to contest the Warri elections? Isn’t it because of this new road map that FIFA threw out the group’s protest? Can

    the Giwa group give the minister CAS’ ruling on their case? Shouldn’t the minister be interested in reading CAS’s ruling? How many times would we opt for political resolutions to this impasse, with Giwa being the biggest beneficiary? Why didn’t Giwa et al go to Warri for the elections like some others?

    Amaju Pinnick wasn’t in the race for the elections. He ought to have been the chairman of the electoral body, but many people kicked against his nomination for the job. Amaju only benefited from the lacuna created by Giwa’s refusal to be in Warri for the elections, after the former Secretary to the Government brokered a political solution to the impasse. With due respect, the Ibrahim Galadima-led reconciliatory committee should disband itself since what the Giwa group is asking for isn’t tenable in a democracy. They want to be given four offices by government fiat, rather than to contest for those positions in an election. Are we not in a democracy?  Shouldn’t the Congress be allowed to choose those they want? I digress.

    Dalung met with sports editors last week Friday in Lagos. He spent close to two hours stating his side to all the issues placed on his table. One wasn’t shocked at his oration. As a lawyer, it was expected. He laced his facts with idioms and laughed off the talk of him being a guerilla. As a Comrade, he likes to fight. He gives people the long end of the rope to pull. He told us he knew when to cut the rope. We hope so, going by the dead end we have found the NFF crises.

    Dalung blamed Chris Giwa and Amaju Pinnick for not listening to his counsel on the matter. He posited that Giwa faulted Pinnick’s emergence in the Warri Congress, with a police report ordering that Shehu Dikko should be arrested during the Congress.

    It is true sir that Aminu Maigari was arrested during the Abuja Congress, leading to the Congress members walking out of the voting centre in a solidarity protest. Dikko, didn’t show up in Warri; nor was he held in any police station like Maigari. Herein lies the difference, sir, in the two scenarios that appear the same for Giwa. They aren’t. In the case of the Abuja Congress, nothing happened again after Maigari’s arrest. Majority of the voters left the hall.

    So, the first question that Dalung must ask Giwa is, who voted for him? The other one would be for the minister to ask Giwa, if it was fair to arrest one of the contestants to the NFF president’s position, who at that time was the incumbent? Would Giwa accept such a result, if he was in Maigari’s shoes? What happened at the Abuja Congress was a clear case of the government’s interference.

    Can Giwa explain why three members of his group (Felix Anyansi-Agwu, Sharif Inuwa and Otunba Sunday Dele-Ajayi) which he wants to enthrone are in the current NFF board? Did these three men not swear to an affidavit that they didn’t contest the Abuja elections? Did they not send this document to FIFA? Can Giwa say that Farouk Yarma, Felix Obuah and Obinna Ogba are with him? Is it not also true that one member of his group also contested the Warri elections and lost? Is Giwa saying that the current Senate chairman of the chamber’s Sports Committee, Obinna Ogba, still attends meetings of his group? Does Ogba’s presence at all the meetings with the current NFF board, including the body’s last Congress, not suggest otherwise?

    Dalung, sir, Nigerians would be excited to see Giwa’s members in a flawed election by FIFA, which is the body recognised to supervise its elections. Indeed, all Congresses, including the ones for elections, are recorded. Can Giwa show us the video evidence of the elections he wants us to believe he won? The Warri election was recorded and observed by FIFA chieftains, unlike the Abuja one which went ahead despite FIFA’s warning against it.

    Honourable minister, sir, the Nigerian Constitution, which is binding on everyone, frowns against illegitimate acts. What happened in Abuja was laughable. Dalung needs to ask for the voters’ register to understand how grave some of the atrocities that he would find inside are. It would, therefore, be unfair for a body unrecognised by FIFA to negotiate any arrangement to accommodate new members into a body which emerged from elections. It’s unbelievable that the group wants the position of the vice chairman without going for an election. What happens to the incumbent Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, who earned the spot through an election? Does the minister think Akinwunmi would accept to relinquish his position for a man who didn’t contest the election in the first instance? Do FIFA rules allow for such paddy paddy arrangement? Won’t the world laugh at us?

    Dalung, sir, your argument that our Constitution is supreme isn’t in doubt. No one wants to challenge it. But with an organisation like FIFA, we reserve the right to respect its rules or quit. FIFA frowns at taking its matters to court. The reason is to forestall such occurrence like ours, where a man can seek a court’s intervention over trivial matters. This no-court rule seeks to protect football administrators from being removed from office at the whims and caprices of government officials. Perhaps if FIFA didn’t include this rule, Nigeria would have had over 40 NFF chairmen in four years – one NFF chairman after every defeat. Interestingly, on Thursday, Vanguard ran a story in which the Registrar of the Federal High Court, Jos, Chika Udenkwo, denied the claim by the Giwa group that the court sacked the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF board.

    The newspaper quoted from a video message in which Udenkwo explained that the court order brought by the Giwa group said it was in respect of a motion on notice dated January 29, 2016 and filed on February 3, 2016. Udenkwo said that the motion prayed for three orders – extension of time to re-list, order to re-list and lastly restoration of all orders made.

    According to the Vanguard report, Udenkwo said: “The court ruled for the extension of time within which to apply to re-list for hearing and determination of the suit together with all the motions pending, which were discontinued and struck out by the court on October 30, 2014.”

    “He said the court also restored all orders made by it in 2014 in the suit brought by the Giwa group, stressing that there is no place in the order where the court removed Amaju Pinnick as the President of the Nigeria Football Federation,” Vanguard newspaper wrote, quoting Udenkwo.

    “He added that the only controversy was an interim order in respect of a Motion Exparte brought by Obinna Ogba and Yahaya Adama for the Giwa group, restraining the third defendants who were Aminu Maigari, Musa Amadu as well as the executive committee of the then board and all the 36 state FAs, pending the determination of the motion on Notice,” according to the report.

    “You can see from the ruling, there is no place in the ruling where the court mentioned Amaju Pinnick,” Udenkwo said.

    So, who is fooling whom, honourable minister? We don’t need such people running our football. Controversies demean the federation and inhibit sponsorships from the private sector. We don’t need them; do we?

  • Moving with the times

    Growing up as a child, I was taught to make friends with those who excelled in subjects that I was weak in so that I could compete well during examinations. This advice rings so true with the new trends in coaching across the world. Pundits wonder why we are averse to getting a top European manager to handle our better exposed players, instead of Nigerian coaches, who struggle to achieve anything meaningful in CAF’s inter-club competitions.

    Sitting down in my office trying to see what would make for interesting reading in this column, an intriguing thought flashed through my mind as I flipped through the semi-finals pairing for the 2015/2016 UEFA Champions League. I saw that French Zinedine Zidane is the coach of Spain’s Real Madrid. I noticed that a Chilean, Manuel Pellegrini, tinkers with Manchester City. I was shocked when it dawned on me that an Argentine, Diego Simeone, handles Atletico FC of Spain. A Spaniard, Pep Guardiola, runs German club Bayern Munich. All the managers above had a spell in the Spanish La Liga. So, what is all the fuzz about hiring a foreign coach for the Super Eagles?

    Please, perish the thought that these are club managers because none of them would want to coach their country’s soccer teams, even though they are highly qualified to do so. They enjoy the heat of weekly club matches which are more challenging with better remuneration. It simply means that the managements of these clubs are looking at the business aspect of the game, which starts with employing managers who can improve the teams’ fortunes by winning games and increasing their revenues at the turnstiles as well as expanding their scope of merchandising. This is the reason I want a foreign coach for the Super Eagles. We need a renowned manager who will change the fortunes of the team, especially with the big competitions. Our presence in big tournaments will make it imperative on the business community to identify with such a winning brand.

    The images of these achieving managers rub off on the clubs. The business arms of these clubs blossom, largely because their feats speak for them. No brand would shy away from credible platforms to showcase their goods and services, knowing the multiplying effect this would bring to its merchandising.

    Let’s stretch the argument for the foreign manger to countries with stiff policies of propagating their own, like in England. It must be noted that the first eight teams in the current Barclays English Premier League are handled by foreigners.

    League leaders Leicester’s Claudio Ranieri is Italian, Tottenham’s manager Mauricio Pochettino is Argentine. Manchester City’s Pellegrini is a Chilean, and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger is French. Dutchman Louis Van Gaal handles Manchester United. West Ham is coached by Croatian Slaven Bilic. Ronaldo Koeman is Dutch and manages Southampton. German tactician Jurgen Klopp is in charge of Liverpool. These are coaches from serious football playing countries. Yet, they have chosen the foreign market to showcase their worth and are driven by perks of the business, which is anchored on profit and loss.

    The talk that no foreign manager has won the senior World Cup is cheap. Countries that have won the trophy have a long history of playing the game, developing it at the grassroots and exposing stars that have dazzled the world with their sublime skills. Need I name those stars?

    Why are we scared of getting atop class managers? After all, Amokachi isn’t Finnish, yet he is doing well in their league and producing stars. “It is my first experience as an African manager coaching in Europe and there are not many Africans who are head coaches in Europe,” said the former Club Brugge, Everton and Besiktas star.

    “They are giving me a platform as an African to showcase what I can do and if I do well, it’s an open door for other African coaches,” Amokachi told FIFA.

    Soccer is a money spinner. The English have shunned the primordial sentiments of having their own to dominate the soccer sphere. Indeed, the ownership structures of the leading teams are foreign. Of importance is the fact that the influx of foreigners to the English game has increased its GDP and has lured foreign investment to take advantage of their thriving windows in soccer to market their products and create employment for British citizens.

    We need to move with the times if we must compete with the best. Our players leave our shores with rough edges to their game. Within weeks, their skills are horned to such levels where they bench hitherto highly rated players, including Europeans.

    The government must hands of the funding of sports. Funding of football should be left to the private sector, which will do it as a business either through sponsorship or partnership. This is what operates in climes where the game is an industry, not a hobby, like most administrators think, with the lukewarm attitude towards corporate sponsorship or even partnership in sports. The origin of most soccer teams is community based, hence the mammoth fans at the stadia to root for players who live within the neighbourhood. For this reason, local derbies can be like a battle field with serious security implications.

    Companies would easily do business with such clubs because of the target audience, who could identify with their products or services. So, any Nigerian driven by the benefits of profits and losses should emulate Daniel Amokachi, who is in Finland doing what he knows best. If Amokachi makes his mark there, we could scout him at his terms, not on bent knees like most Nigerians coaches do to get the job.

    I was amazed at Amokachi’s submission last week. He blamed our players for the country’s poor outing at the Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifiers, insisting that they refused to switch from the perfect settings in their European clubs for ours, including our climatic conditions. On reflection, Amokachi’s new stance isn’t surprising. He is now exposed to the two sides of the coin – knowing that no utopian setting exists, except in heaven.

    I’m sure if Amkoachi had this orientation as one of the Eagles’ coaches, he would have advised against the team’s refusal to board the aircraft from Nambia to South Africa, where FIFA had sent a plane to pick up the Nigerian contingent to the 2013 Confederations Cup held in Brazil. As part of the Eagles technical crew to the Brazil 2014 World Cup, the players threatened to boycott the second round game against France on grounds of getting their entitlements. They lost days to prepare for the game and spent the night before the game sharing $3.8 million sent to them by the government. No prize for telling you that France beat Nigeria 2-0. Amokachi’s new posture is a product of appreciating the essence of man-management in coaching, which is lacking among our coaches, largely because they refuse to transmute from being players to managers.

    My preference for a foreign manager isn’t because of their skin. Our coaches don’t have the mentality that their foreign counterparts have in dealing with issues surrounding the team. How could any coach have succumbed to making John Mikel Obi captain of the Eagles, as a condition for him to play the two ties against Egypt? Till date, the coach hasn’t denied this rumour. The foreigner would have politely told Mikel that he would get back to him. And that would be his last communication with Mikel. Instead, the Nigerian coach cajoled Ahmed Musa to surrender his captain’s band. Musa played along because he didn’t want to rock the boat. But his display in the two matches in Kaduna and Alexandria wasn’t vintage Musa. And I won’t blame him. He didn’t beg to be named the captain during Sunday Oliseh’s tenure.

    I don’t have anything against Mikel as the captain, but such a transition ought not to have happened before two crucial matches. But I know that if Mikel were in Musa’s shoes, the coach wouldn’t dare to do what he did. This isn’t the reason we didn’t win any of the games, please.

    A mature coach would have handled the matter differently by ensuring that both men play at the same time for three sessions. But with the last two sessions, he would make Musa play for the B team. Of course, he would shine. He would then bring him to the first team in the second half. At the pre-match discussion, he would tell Musa why he wants him to play in the second half as a matter of tactics. Mikel effectively becomes the match captain. Of course, if the team wins, he could retain the winning side and hide under the dictum that no coach changes a winning team, except where there are injuries.

    What our football needs for a rebirth isn’t the recycling of failed coaches but the employment of a world class manager, whose duties, should among others, be to identify and retrain our best six coaches drawn from the domestic leagues, not necessarily former internationals, who come to the job as first-timers in coaching. We also should stop elevating our coaches who excelled in age-grade competitions. Such coaches should be allowed to remain with their teams and become specialists in scouting for talents for the senior team. If we continue to recycle coaches, we will not develop the grassroots. We need to get coaches who can comb the hinterlands for rookies, who will graduate to the senior level. That way, our soccer will grow. That is the truth.

  • The minister is busy

    The minister is busy

    Sports Minister Solomon Dalung is very busy. He is so occupied with the youth affairs arm of his job that he forgot that it wasn’t his duty to apologise for Nigeria’s ouster from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. Not different from others before him, he summoned the NFF to explain why the Super Eagles failed after his apology. He should have done this first, then ask the NFF men to apologise to Nigerians. NFF must convince Dalung on everything that they do.

    Dalung  is too busy to take firm decisions that affect sports. The result is what we have in our hands today, with the fresh crisis at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). We are courting FIFA ban, except the minister calls the party in court to order. The minister can now see why he shouldn’t have resurrected a case that had been thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), delisted in the law court and some of those in the trouble-making NFF board are in the board that some want sacked? So, who are the members of this trouble-making group?

    We had a Nigerian contingent to the last All African Games whose athletes were tainted with drugs, who are roaming free on the street, despite the shame they brought to the country. These drug cheats’ crimes are not bigger than our ouster from the Africa Cup of Nations. Not a word from the minister nor has any panel been constituted to probe how the athletes spiked their systems with drug. Nor is the minister worried about a repeat of the show-of-shame, if the culprits are not punished. It doesn’t matter, after all their medals have been allotted to the rightful winners. Is this the first time it has happened to a Nigerian contingent? What a shame, if this is the perception of those whose duty it is to chart a way forward for the country in sports.

    We are going to the Olympics in August; who are the coaches? What are we telling the athletes who want to win medals at the Games about ingesting banned drugs? Do we have a history of our athletes’ feeding habits and medicals? When last were our athletes to the Olympics tested for drugs? Or do we want to drag our image in the mud like some countries are doing because they failed to abide by the doping rules?  Well, is anyone shocked at the inertia shown to the drug cheats? Not with the dismissive manner in which Dalung supported the reasons why the National Sports Commission (NSC) was scrapped when he spoke at the National Assembly.

    Said the minister: “I asked the National Assembly members, when they accused me of scrapping NSC, if they were aware that sport is not legislated in Nigeria. They were looking at me and wanted to know if the billions they were appropriating to NSC and NFF were illegal. I was assertive and said that is left for them to determine.

    “I am an executive. I don’t make law; I implement law. NFF is one of the decisions I inherited.”

    He went on: “In law, any legislation that never receives the attention of government is dead. There is no law backing NSC and I did not see it when I arrived as the minister as the product of the merger of two ministries.”

    Whose job is it, honourable minister, to start the process of getting the NFF and the NSC to be backed by the laws of the land beyond the scrapping of the latter? Perhaps, but for the fear of FIFA, NFF too could have been scrapped, following the minister’s submission. Now that the NSC has been scrapped, does it make the NFF known to the law, given your reasons for scrapping the NSC?

    Even with his busy schedule, Dalung was the first to inform everyone that NFF wanted to appoint a foreign manager, insisting that he needed to be convinced about this adventure, even when he told SuperSports channel that the quest for a European manager in the Eagles won’t happen under his reign. True, NFF has had issues with coaches, players and officials. But, is the federation adequately funded? How can a body which funds 11 national teams be solvent, where most of its expenditure is done in foreign currencies? How much is the naira to any of these – pound, dollar, Euro?

    But would the NFF be the first sports federation to recruit a foreign manager to turn their teams’ fortunes for the better? When Basketball Federation recruited a foreigner (William Bryant Voigt), the dunking game witnessed a new dawn. We overcame our nemesis Angola in the male category. The girls are on the verge of qualifying for the Olympics like their male counterparts. Our boys are at the Olympic Games for the second consecutive time. Under Voigt, Nigeria won the Afrobasket (the equivalent of the Africa Cup of Nations) for the first time. It has taken the presence of a foreigner to restore confidence in our basketballers, even when many of them play in the home of the dunking game – United States of America (USA).

    Our table tennis players did well with their European clubs, yet they couldn’t conquer the Egyptians. The Table Tennis Federation boss, Enitan Oshodi, in his wisdom, recruited a foreign coach. Today, Nigeria has toppled Egypt as African kings. Aruna Quadri is the best African table tennis player for men. Our boys and girls in the junior categories are creating upsets against big names in ping pong, a rarity when we were stuck with our domestic coaches.

    One lesson from these two examples is that the game is dynamic. Indeed, coaching has left the realm of appointing ex-internationals as coaches. It is now a function of man-management, teaching the players the latest tricks of the sport and ensuring that they are properly psyched up before competitions. Expatriate coaches don’t call for prayers before a competition. Their templates for success are flexible, depending on the trends of the game. Their training methods are scientific, not the rustic type our local coaches adopt which border on exploiting our players’ physical features and power. Sport now is more of how athletes use their intelligence to outwit their opponents than brute force. Sport is anchored on systems meant to exploit the opponent’s lapses to win matches. It isn’t guess work like our coaches seem to think. It isn’t a function of luck like our coaches assume.

    Dalung has celebrated our wrestlers’ feats, even when they left the country without proper funding. It has taken Daniel Igali’s expertise and pedigree in the game, which he acquired wrestling for Canada where he won an Olympic gold medal for our wards to grab the Rio 2016 Olympic Games’ tickets. Igali joins the wrestlers to train. Surprised? Don’t be because Igali is a former Olympic Games gold medalist. Wait for it – fighting for Canada. We can invariably call Igali a foreign coach, having harnessed his skills as a Canadian wrestler back in the days.

    As the dictum goes, you cannot give what you don’t have. Igali and the two foreign coaches mentioned impacted knowledge to their wards because they went through the grill that made them what they are today.

    Honourable sports minister, sir, football is just one medal at the Olympics. Athletics is one of the multi-medals events, yet no one knows if Blessing Okagbare’s preparations have been paid for. I’m sure the minister cannot tell us how many medals we are expecting at the Olympics, now that the former supervisor of the country’s Olympic Games’ athletes has been demoted and sent to the ministry of Niger Delta.

    Interestingly, the crossfire between Dalung and the former NSC Director-General, Alhassan Yakmut, won’t augur well for the industry, especially as it concerns getting the business community to identify with sports. If there were issues, they ought to have been settled in-house, not in the media.  I don’t like putting the minister on the spot but it appears he sees sports from the prism of football, which isn’t good for the growth of the industry.

    Some volleyball players were hauled out of a hotel outside the country. Their belongings littered the streets. No word was heard from the sport’s chiefs. Nor did anyone bother to authenticate the story at the Sport Ministry with a view to averting a repeat of the shameful act. If it was in football, heaven would have come down.

     

    Not again, Wenger

     

    It is true that the Olympic Games isn’t one of the competitions where European clubs are compelled to release foreign nationals to play for their countries. Most European managers have used this alibi to destroy developing countries’ plans, such as ours -to rule the Olympic Games’ soccer event.

    Interestingly, Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger feels strongly that any young boy who has broken into his country’s senior side shouldn’t be asked to participate in age-grade tournaments such as the Olympics. This is why he stopped Nwankwo Kanu from an encore Games appearance at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Wenger’s decision contributed largely to Nigeria’s absence from the final game in 2000. Had Kanu made the Nigerian side, given the fact that he was still very hot, we would have played in the finals. At that stage, anything is possible.

    Wenger is up with his antics again. He wants to stop Alex Iwobi from playing for Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Olympics because it would stop the Nigerian kid from participating in Gunners’ opening matches next year. It also means that Iwobi won’t be part of Arsenal’s pre-season preparations, which most European managers don’t toy with – it serves as the only opportunity to get the players fit for the new season.

    We are stuck with one of Wenger’s philosophies like we were in 2000. One only hopes that Iwobi would be able to persuade Wenger to free him for the Olympics the way Lionel Messi did with Barcelona at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Iwobi would be a wonderful addition to the Dream Team VI. I also hope that Iwobi can include in his new deal a clause that would make it mandatory on Arsenal to free him to play for Nigeria whenever there is a clash in fixture or interest like we have now.

    This is the time for the NFF to establish a relationship with Arsenal and Wenger. It is the only way to resolve this matter. We can assure Wenger that Iwobi won’t be injured during the Olympics. But can we really guarantee that?

    “We have to respect his choice. He had the choice between England and Nigeria and in the end he chose Nigeria,” Wenger told reporters at Thursday’s press conference, according to arsenal.com.

    “We respect that, and also the possibility that he will go to the Olympic Games, that he will also go to the Africa Cup of Nations and travel a bit more than he would have done here. We have to respect that.”

    Can we believe Wenger? Let’s wait and see.

  • Okada rider shot dead at filling station

    Okada rider shot dead at filling station

    COMMERCIAL motorcyclist aka Okada rider was killed yesterday and three others injured when Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officials allegedly shot at customers at a Forte Oil Filling Station in Festac, Lagos.

    Ossy Emeka died on the spot; the injured – Smart, Kabiru Yusuf (KB) and Diran – were whisked away by the NSCDC officials.

    According to his colleagues, the late Emeka, who recently started an auto spare-parts business, after his mother gave him N600,000, was about quitting commercial motorcycling.

    The NSCDC officials, who came in a patrol van, reportedly attempted to seize jerry cans of petrol from some black marketers.

    The officers, it was learnt, were led by some motorcyclists who were beneficiaries of the seized product.

    The motorcyclists were said to have led the officers from Second Rainbow into Festac Town because the petrol is given to them. They reportedly pointed out some of the black marketers and where their kegs were hidden.

    In anger, some youths and others, who queued up for fuel with their generators and motorcycle fuel tanks took on the beneficiaries of the seized fuel. The NSCDC men were said to have stopped a commercial bus and asked a passenger identified as Smart, who just bought petrol in a keg, to surrender it.

    Smart was said to have refused and the NSCDC men allegedly started beating him. Smart was said to have doused himself with the petrol.

    An eyewitness said: “Immediately he poured the fuel on his body, a female officer cocked her gun; shot Smart on his buttocks and kept shooting in the air. Then, she went and asked for permission from another man who was inside their vehicle and when she returned, she shot Diran alias Kowope and KB (Kabiru Yusuf) on their legs.

    “They shot sporadically for about 20 minutes here. Meanwhile, at G-Close, opposite the Festac Town Muslim Community (FTMC) Mosque, the NSCDC woman shot Ossy three times on his neck and chest.

    “As they were shooting, people were running in the confusion. Ossy was carrying his motorcycle’s fuel tank and heading towards the filling station to buy fuel. He was not a black marketer and he stays on Sixth Avenue.

    “They shot him three times and ensured he was dead.”

    The eyewitness, who gave his name as Emmanuel said the NSCDC officials abandoned his Eze’s body and took about five people hostage including the three with gunshot injuries.

    Another eyewitness, who gave her name as Ada, said all was calm until the arrival of the NSCDC officials.

    She claimed the army, navy personnel and policemen from the Area E Command were inside the filling station maintaining order, adding that the NSCDC men arrived after they left.

    “The army, navy and police were here. They were flogging people who were not maintaining peace and also chasing black marketers away from the filling station. Everywhere was peaceful and calm.

    “But when they moved upward few minutes later, the NSCDC people came with some Okada riders. Those NSCDC people are not even from Festac division, they came all the way from First Rainbow where they have been seizing fuel and giving it out.

    “Before they shot Ossy three times, they cut him with knife first. It was the NSCDC people that cut him. After cutting him around his upper arm, they shot him three times.

    “I really do not know why they killed him because he was not selling fuel. He’s a very quiet Okada man. They left his body there, it was police that came and carried him away. The woman who started the shooting is fair in complexion,” she said.

    There were blood stains on the ground of the filling station when The Nation got there yesterday.

    The Area E Commander, Chris Owolabi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), and the Festac Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Monday Agbonika, led their men to pacify the angry youth.

    Soldiers attached to the Operation Mesa have taken over the area; the sale of fuel has been suspended at the station.

    A woman, who described herself as Kabiru Yusuf’s mother was seen begging policemen to rescue her son from the NSCDC men.

    According to her, the officials took her son to Alausa, alongside two others.

    “I really do not know what happened. But I got a call that my son was taken to Alausa that’s why I came here. My son does not sell fuel. I heard he was not shot, others said he was shot, so, I do not know which one to believe,” she said.

    At the time of this report, the police were still gathering information on the NSCDC men and their unit.

    Police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said investigation was on to identify the civil defence operatives.

    “Some yet to be identified civil defence men in a patrol vehicle had scuffle with some men at AP filling station which led to indiscriminate firing from the civil defence personnel.

    “One motorcycle (Okada) rider Emeka other name yet unknown was shot dead while three others severely injured. The men of Area E Command were called upon, the Area Commander ACP Chris Tokunbo Owolabi is currently on ground restoring normalcy in the area; the command has commenced investigation to identify the civil defence operatives that were involved,” she said.

  • Man bites off friend’s lip

    A 26-year-old man, Anthony Nwokpoku, has been arrested by the police for allegedly biting off part of the lower lip of his estranged friend, Jonah Ogbonna, during a fight.

    The Nation learnt that Nwokpoku and Ogbonna, both from Anambra State, were friends until last month when they quarrelled and stopped talking to each other.

    Last March 28, they met again at a shop and a fight broke out.

    The incident happened around 7pm at a shop in the Langbasa area of Ajah in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.

    Ogbonna had gone to the shop to buy provisions when he met Nwokpoku buying soap.

    The men abused themselves and began trading punches. Ogbonna said he felt Nwokpoku’s teeth chomping into his lower lip.

    The incident was reported at the Langbasa Police Station, Ajah, and Nwokpoku was arrested.

    It was learnt that Nwokpoku told the police that he bit Ogbonna in self defence after Ogbonna smashed a bottle on his head.

    On March 31, prosecuting Police Inspector Philip Osijale brought Nwokpoku before a Tinubu Magistrates’ Court on one-count of assault occasioning harm.

    He pleaded guilty.

    Magistrate L. O. Owolabi, who stood in for Miss M. B. Folami, granted Nwokpoku N20,000 bail and adjourned till today for facts and sentencing.