The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • Who let the dogs out?

    Who let the dogs out?

    The stories emanating from the Dankaro House in Abuja that some of the boys who secured Nigeria the qualification ticket to the U20 Africa Youth Championships slated to be held in Ivory Coast have disappeared to Europe is laughable. It leaves me cold with only one thought in mind -that song titled, ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’ Perhaps, the NFF has forgotten that it is the only body authorised to sign ITC to departing players to Europe for legitimate greener pastures as they say. So, how convenient was it for the issuing officer and indeed the big man at the Dankaro House to have signed the ITC documents of these fleeing players as they claim, who in the coming months ought to be representing the country in a continental soccer competition?

    What was the hurry in letting such talented players sneak out of the country when indeed, their horizon would be better if they remained with the team, got the ticket to the U-20 World Cup and were rated better than how they have been sold in a hurry to Europe or wherever they have gone to? This is the price you pay when people in high places at the Dankaro House engage in the transfer of players to Europe, the Americas and the Diaspora.

    What it simply means is that Nigeria would just participate in the continental championships and exit in the first round of three matches.

    Interestingly, the edge of taking a team that grabbed the ticket to the continental, playing together for cohesion, is lost to shylock agents. It is the reason one questions the veracity of young boys and girls who are invited for an exercise knowing that we have no database to track how they emerged at such a stage and their growth in the future. It is also the reason that the NFF has paid lip service to the idea of standardising and registering all academies such that it would be easier to track such an unprofessional movement after the country has exposed such players to the world. It must be stated here that these boys are found and made to complete their assignment of representing Nigeria creditably at the continental championships in Ivory Coast. The NFF President must intervene quickly to stop this rude joke.

    It is true that Nigeria has a large pool of players to replace them at the grassroots. Yet, those toiled to make us qualify for the continental stage should be allowed to reap from what they have sown. Nobody should be allowed to hoodwink them into thinking that petty foreign currencies being used to lure them would define their career. But the truth is that they would be better rated if they play at the World Cup, unlike the pittance that they would get at the behest of agents who crave more cash going into their pockets. One is excited that these young boys would need the federation’s ITC to play in Europe or wherever. I only hope the NFF doesn’t play the ostrich by granting their requests. Pray that if these kids didn’t make the Nigerian side to the WAFU tournament, they would somewhere languishing and praying for the new dawn in their careers.

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    In other climes where developmental programmes are implemented to the letter, the U-20 squad is the nursery of their senior national soccer teams. What it simply means is that when an opening beckons in their senior teams, they don’t go fishing for Nigeria-born young boys to plug the hole. This reliance on Nigerian-born boys and girls explains the star-trek by ours of today across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

    They are no longer scared of being lured out of the country with peanuts, knowing that it is about the easiest way to play for Nigeria if they start scoring goals with aplomb in these obscure leagues. Of course, this illegal star-trek is a cabal oiled by a gullible media whose practitioners no longer ask probing questions which could help stem its growth. Those who can’t return to play for Nigeria easily drift with those who bear Nigerian names but play for countries where soccer is still at its novelty stage.

    In the last two decades, Nigeria has been prosecuting football matches with mostly the ”foreign legion”, I wonder if our soccer administrators appreciate the damage they do to the ”beautiful” game. Our administrators see soccer development from the prism of participating in competitions outside the country. No programmes to catch the talents young, train and retrain the coaches for a workable template. For them, success is winning trophies, even if the players come from the moon. No surprise the dearth of competition here.

    We have relied so much on the ”foreign legion” that it doesn’t matter if kids from Europe populate our age-grade teams. We must not win age-grade competitions. We should de-emphasise winning, even though it is the ultimate. We should insist on getting kids who can return to the grassroots to serve as icons for others to emulate. Otherwise, we may get the ”foreign legion” as sports administrators to drive home the point.

    There is a need to ask these administrators where those countries get the talents we scramble for to change their nationality. We are experts in spotting Nigeria-born kids, forgetting that they evolved from a planned system, which isn’t alien to us. In those countries, there are established academies at the grassroots where these young boys and girls are introduced to the game usually under neighbourhood schemes. Hence, when such talents blossom, the neighbourhood is proud of them as they return to be celebrated.

    Civilised countries develop their sports through the neighbourhood system where facilities are built to engage the youth and push them away from social vices. Nurseries serve as the bases for storing the data of those discovered. Such information helps to nurture and monitor the good ones to stardom. Besides, nurseries lay the foundation where the athletes are taught the rudiments of the game. It is at such factories that playing styles and patterns unique to such countries are evolving.

    The Senegalese have established qualitative nurseries using their allocations from FIFA through grants. Today, the Senegalese are kings and queens of different age-grade tournaments in Africa. What this also means is the discovery chain of new talents is seamless, not needing any form of corruption in the models being used. What nurseries do for such shining stars is that the operator would monitor their career paths and ensure that they play for decent clubs here or in Europe than allow them to fall easy prey to shylock club scouts and agents.

    A blueprint is sacrosanct for sports to thrive and it must be anchored on the dire need to resuscitate moribund grassroots competitions that engage the youths and take them away from the vices of society.

    The emergence of a sports policy, endorsed by the government, will create jobs such that this industry could in the next 10 years become the highest employer of labour.

    Don’t you think so? You tell me.

  • Belittling domestic coaches

    Belittling domestic coaches

    Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle is back in Abuja after junketing Europe to visit our foreign legion. He would have told them his goals and objectives as the coach of the Super Eagles. Of course, their common goal would be to grab Group C’s sole qualification ticket to participate in the 2026 World Cup. Already the NFF hierarchy is combing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for a befitting house for Chelle.

    Perhaps, Chelle is also part of the search team looking for a world-class house where he would reside after the day’s work. What it shows clearly is that the former coaches lived in hotels whose cumulative costs could buy a bungalow. Chelle’s house would have a retinue of staff who must be alert as the clock ticks. It would have been nice to see what Chelle’s houses in Mali and France look like, especially their ambience, otherwise, it would be a waste of time and resources except Chelle wants to live in the house, oh sorry palace for the duration of his contract. That would be nice, especially if he attends the domestic league matches around the country unheralded.

    The domestic league this year has been organised with most of the past vestiges thrown into the ocean. What the home-groomed players need include a good training regime, and moral and financial assistance to elevate their self-esteem. There should always be a synergy between the foreign legions that populate the Super Eagles and the domestic leagues to fish out the raw talents at the grassroots who just need to be taught the rudiments of the game to attain stardom when the opportunities fall on their laps. We had foreign coaches (not forgetting Clemens Westerhoff) who used the pedigree in the game to send our good players to teams whose coaches know their onions. There was harmony within the camp until things fell apart in America in 2004, costing Nigeria the busiest platform to recalibrate the boys to conform to the rules of the game.

    My heart sank last Saturday when pictures of Chelle’s visits to key Super Eagles players were released on social media by some of those who visited. Conspicuously missing from the pictures was Austin Eguavoen, the immediate past coach of the team. NFF administrators may argue and rightly so that other domestic coaches would take time to secure entry visas into the countries Chelle and his assistant toured. That reason won’t hold for Eguavoen who has a Belgium citizenship with his daughters living and working in Europe. How much would it cost NFF to ask Eguavoen to accompany Chelle on the trips? What manner of saving costs is this? Eguavoen has been the man who rescues them when things go awry with our senior national soccer teams. Sad.

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    Had Eguavoen been part of the team, he would have sat down with Chelle and his assistance, to engage in discussions and to compare their notes. Chelle would have asked Eguavoen why he dropped some of the names being bandied about in the print and electronic media from the previous squads, especially those who were also dropped during Jose Peseiro’s reign. Is it when the list of players has been made public that such a meeting would be held?

    Media reports suggested the return of Ahmed Musa, Paul Onuachu and Aribo with the NFF stating clearly that decisions about what would happen against Rwanda beginning with the team’s selection boils down to Chelle’s choices, not theirs. The optics are good in terms of choices. But we only hope that Chelle’s choices are not rubber-stamped by the technical department. The technical committee members must interrogate the list to make sure that only those players who are physically fit and play in their teams’ matches weekly are paraded by Chelle, not benchwarmers and recuperating players.

    March 17 is a watershed date that could redefine the country’s football if things go awry (God forbid). The Eagles are expected to beat Rwanda and it hasn’t happened. Most of the encounters have been drawn games which isn’t good for our permutations. We also have forgotten that Rwandans are the group leaders with seven points. And they know what it means to their points haul if they beat Nigeria. Rwandans would surely fight to the finish even if that resolve would break their bones. Wait for it – Rwanda beat Nigeria 3-1 in Uyo in the first leg.

    Chippa United FC of South Africa’s manager, Thabo September has raised a worrisome aspect to Nwabali’s game stressing that he hasn’t overcome the trauma of losing both parents pointing out that: “He’s going through a lot. Him being the number one goalkeeper, I pushed him and said he must play. Sometimes you must listen. For me as a coach, just growing into that.

    “Where we lost it, maybe it’s from the bench. From me, from the coaching side, because my goalkeeper (Nwabali) did plead with me that he was not okay and he wanted to rest,” Thabo September told farpost.

    Lessons learned by Chippa United FC’s manager. One only hopes that Chelle and the technical committee members take this aspect of players’ emotional state of mind into consideration before fielding them in the Rwanda tie that has been tagged ”kill and go,” meaning only victory over the host can put Nigeria in good stead to grab Group C’s sole qualification to the 2026 World Cup. A player’s mental state is critical to how he deploys himself on the pitch all through a game. It is important to remind Chelle that the Rwandans have energy which lasts over the 90-minute duration. So, our boys must gird their loins, otherwise, the two late goals akin to what happened inside the Stadium of Champions in Uyo in the first leg game could recur.

    If the Super Eagles fail to fly in Rwanda, let it be noted here that a brigade of supporters, stakeholders etc contributed largely to it by their needless presence. Rwanda didn’t charter two aircraft of such busybodies to beat Nigeria 3-1 in Uyo. My head on the guillotine, these busybodies would storm the team’s dressing room before the game and at half-time heightening the pressure among the players just they would shorten the time which he ought to have with his boys half-time telling them what to do.

    NFF, how much of Rwanda does Chelle know? Does he have their tapes to study? Hiring two charter jets to convey people for just 90 minutes plus the referee’s added time match explains why the NFF is always cash-strapped. This is a federation that hasn’t been bold enough to tell us if it has paid the players, coaches and backroom staff their outstanding allowances and bonuses. Which should come first, dear reader? You tell me.

  • Where is Chelle?

    Where is Chelle?

    Suddenly, those who run our football have realised that Nigeria’s flag won’t be hoisted among the comity of soccer-playing nations at the 2026 World Cup. They have pressed the panic button as if the World Cup qualification fixtures were drawn yesterday. They are experts in creating needless tension among the players, coaches and the over 200 million Nigeria. It is no rocket science that Nigeria may not qualify for the Mundial. Some of the new decisions being adopted now ought to have been done before the qualifiers began last year. If Nigeria fails to qualify for the Mundial (God forbid), will our soccer chieftains apologise to Nigeria and quit the soccer scene here for the good of the game?

    Coach Eric Chelle, whenever you have discussed with all the players in Europe, you could arrive in Abuja one week before the contingent’s departure to Rwanda in our characteristic style of arriving aboard a charter jet. That is the way our people run her football-fire brigade system.  We have just woken up and we expect the world to wait for us.

    You would have come to formally assume the most unreliable job in the universe as the Super Eagles coach where every game must be won with goals aplenty. It is the job in which those watching the team play at the stands during matches feel they can do better than the coach – in this case Eric Chelle. Yet, they don’t submit their applications for the job, whenever there is a vacancy. This writer belongs to this group without apologises since for us in Nigeria, football is like a religion. Football unites Nigerians. It is a game where the father and wife belong to different clubs as supporters. It is a game here in Nigeria where children mock their daddy to the bones whenever his European club loses a game. Daddy takes the harassment on the chin, waiting patiently for his turn in the weeks ahead.

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    Interestingly, daddy, mummy and the loving kids come under a family umbrella to support the Super Eagles. Such is the allure the Super Eagles enjoy here. Chelle, the passion and incredible followership of the Eagles when they are playing anywhere in the world is such that the streets around the country are desolate with the young, the old, boys and girls moving around before the the game to look for here to watch their idols on match days.

    With exactly 40 days to the battle against Rwanda inside the Amahoro Stadium, it is to interrogate Chelle’s thoughts to find out if he will continue fielding the slow-moving Eagles or replace them with a squad of energetic and skillful players running down the Rwandans on the pitch, covering the blades of grass and spending less than 60 seconds to retrieve the ball when they lose its possession. Again, would we be watching a selfless bunch of players playing the game as if their lives depended on it? Would the players aim at scoring 80 per cent of the goal-scoring opportunities that they would create against Rwanda and Zimbabwe?

    Showboating during games doesn’t translate to victories at dusk because it is the side that slams the ball into the net as many times as the openings are created that win. Therefore, Chelle shouldn’t hesitate to replace unserious players since he has a must-win mandate for the remaining six matches in her quest to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

    The 46-year-old admitted that the road to glory would be tough but insisted that both he and the team are determined to claim African football’s biggest prize. We pray O’ Lord! “Yes, it’s going to be difficult to win because there are 24 very good teams and some very good coaches,” Eric Chelle told CAFonline.

    “I know I’ve got a team that’s out for revenge, and I’m out for revenge too, so we’re going to have a lot of fun.

    “We are out for revenge. We know what this team is capable of, and our goal is clear—to lift the trophy in Morocco.” I digress!

    Yes, Chelle was at the 2025 AFCON draws as other nations’ coaches in Morocco in December. Need I remind Chelle that he won’t be in Morocco if Nigeria are not the winner of the sole qualification in Group C for the 2026 World Cup?

    It would interest you to know that whilst you were junketing in Europe to rub minds with our foreign legion, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana’s coach, Hugo Broos provided the arithmetic and geometrical perspectives to the ticket race stressing that South Africa need 16 or 17 more points to add to their seven points to edge out Nigeria.

    According to Hugo Broos: “We now have seven points, and then I count six (in March), it’s 13. And then we have four games, which tally up to 12 points. I think if you have 16-17 points, you have qualified,” Broos told journalists as per Africa Football.

    “All the teams are still in the running. Therefore, March can be a key month, and things will be a little bit clearer. And then after that, we can say, for example, Rwanda is out. Again, that’s why it’s very important to win the two games (against Lesotho and Benin).”

    “You know we have to be realistic. If tomorrow South Africa qualifies for the World Cup, we don’t have to talk about quarter-finals and semi-finals,” Broos added.

    What Broos’ permutations show is that he expects South Africa to grab the ticket with 23 points, including that of Nigeria’s six games which would be played in  South Africa. Perhaps, it is the Nigeria game that the Bafana Bafana coach thinks that his boys can draw hence the 16 out of 18 points he has settled for. Fair enough.

    So, what are Nigeria’s permutations? Are we just massaging our egos with the thought of being able to win the remaining six games? A big possibility, but are our players ready to fight to the finish lines in the six matches left? Perhaps, we may need to ask the NFF if truly the players, coaches and backroom staff have been paid their outstanding bonuses and entitlements. This is the crux on which Nigeria’s chances of another Mundial appearance lie.

    It would be a big shame if Nigeria fails to qualify for the next World Cup in 2026 despite the increase in the participating countries. The football federation would have no reason to give if Nigerians are made to support other nations, not theirs. Besides, another generation of young boys who have evolved from the FIFA grade competition such as Victor Osimhen would have been wasted due to the administrative incompetence of people who specialise in planning for events whose dates had been made public at least two years earlier.

    Perhaps, such a failure is what the game needs for the government to interfere in how the federation’s elections are conducted. This idea that only a selected group of people are eligible to participate in the body’s election is unacceptable. Nigeria is a football nation given the exploits of our players in European football. We need not be seers to know where the problems of our football lie.

    We are tired of all these needless permutations for Nigeria to participate in global competitions other sports-loving countries use to change the worldview of their countries. It hurts talking about a likely failure because people who ought to plan early for assignments such as this wait until the roof falls on their heads before doing what ought to have been done years ago. Would there be any reason for the present board of the federation to remain in office if they fail to qualify the Super Eagles for the next World Cup? You tell me.

  • Before Nigeria’s VAR complaints

    Before Nigeria’s VAR complaints

    Countries which prioritise credible appearances at the senior World Cup always ensure that they upgrade their facilities to be in sync with what is germane anywhere else. Besides, they create the right ambience around and inside the stadiums where they play their matches. They do this because they don’t want their players to feel inferior against better-exposed opponents before, during and after games.

    One wasn’t, therefore surprised, when I read that Rwanda had installed the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) equipment inside the Amahoro Stadium where their March 17 crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier against the Super Eagles would be played. The VAR machine was installed penultimate Sunday. What Rwanda has simply done is to make their players learn how to handle VAR’s decisions without infringing on them. So, expect the traditionally ill-prepared Nigerian side to complain about such minute details after the March 17 tie, especially if there are post-match talking points around the activities of VAR.

    What is clear is that Rwanda is taking the March 17 game seriously. It further explains how they developed the tenacity to handle Nigeria’s ceaseless attacking forays in Uyo, before scoring two late goals to beat the Super Eagles 2-1. Rwanda recognises what beating Nigeria inside the Amahoro Stadium would do to their ambition to play at the Mundial. If the Super Eagles roll up their sleeves, Rwanda will be a piece of cake to munch and later wash down with choice drinks.

    Indeed, the most significant lesson from what Rwanda has done with groundbreaking feats is to ask those who administer football and sports generally in Nigeria, when one of our Federal Government owned stadia would be fitted with the VAR machine without all the noise associated with such noble feats in Nigeria? The Rwanda government wasn’t made to break the banks to fund the VAR machine nor are the Rwandans making an issue out of it as we do here.

    One only hopes that the procurement of the VAR machines by the Rwandans would be the fillip for victory for Nigeria, especially in deciding properly scenes that the human eyes of the referees can’t capture during the March 17 game. It is my fervent wish that the NFF President Ibrahim Gusau and the NSC Chairman Shehu Dikko find out from their Rwandan counterparts the spec of the VAR machine which they installed inside the Amahoro Stadium. Nigerians are tired of the excuse that VAR machines and their components are too expensive. How much is it?

    “Yes, it’s going to be difficult to win because there are 24 very good teams and some very good coaches,” Eric Chelle told CAFonline.

    “I know I’ve got a team that’s out for revenge, and I’m out for revenge too, so we’re going to have a lot of fun.

    “We are out for revenge. We know what this team is capable of, and our goal is clear—to lift the trophy in Morocco.

    “We must focus on following the players. It’s very good now, and a lot of Nigerian players are very good.

    “So we need to be focused and be ready,” he said.

    One has appreciated Eric Chelle’s comments about the Nigerian team without mentioning names which goes to show that he has an open mind towards selecting his players.

    But he needs to be reminded that the Eagles’ midfield and defence need new players who are currently first-team stars in their different European clubs.

    For instance, it would be unfair for Chelle to invite Wilfred Ndidi who hasn’t been playing regularly for Leicester in the Premier League for the two matches in March against Rwanda and at Uyo against Zimbabwe, given the deluge of Nigerians doing well in Europe. Ndidi isn’t fit and should be allowed to recuperate in his club.

    A young brilliant midfielder like Raphael Onyedika, who scored his first-ever UEFA Champions League goal for Club Brugge against Manchester City is a perfect replacement for Ndidi in the heart of our midfield. The 23-year-old is highly rated by top managers in Europe including Pep Guardiola, who highlighted parts of his game before their Champions League meeting on Wednesday night. It is no surprise that top clubs like Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund are after his services and he commands a fee of €30m (N46 billion) in the transfer market. Onyedika’s starts in the UEFA Champions League is super impressive, clocking 10.5km per match this season with a passing accuracy of 90.34 per cent in the competition. He is a player that can gradually replace Ndidi who is gradually going out of the national team. Using Onyedika  will help the team grow to its fullest potential. Nathan Tella should anchor the Eagles midfield in the two fixtures in March given his performance for Bayern Leverkusen both in the German Bundesliga and in the European Champions League.

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    It would be a great disservice for Chelle to invite embattled Kelechi Ihenacho for the two fixtures in March. Iheanacho has problems with his weight. His reflexes are no longer sharp. He runs, dragging one of his legs. He, perhaps, may not have fully recovered from his previous injuries which have made his laps or muscles bigger than in the past which now inhibits his swiftness on the field. No hyperbole. Sevilla are desperate to offload Iheanacho before the January transfer deadline on Monday and they’ve made this clear by signing a replacement already. Interestingly, the replacement is another Nigerian from Benue State, Akor Adams, who was signed from Ligue 1 side Montpellier HSC. The 24-year-old striker penned a five-year contract, keeping him at the club until 2029. Adams may not start ahead of Victor Osimhen but would provide more competition in the Super Eagles attack than Iheanacho.

    The Nigerian side has lost the fear factor which our opponents have when pitched against them. This is due largely to the fixation our coaches have imbibed when picking each team. The Eagles look the same in spite of the fact that many of the regulars have lost their shirts in the foreign clubs. The rustiness arising from our boys being on the bench rubs off how poorly the Eagles have played in recent times.

    Benin Republic’s German coach Gernot Rohr literally exposed the Eagles’ underbelly when he said that those playing in the Eagles’ defence are slow runners insisting that they lack speed. Isn’t this true about our defenders even when Rohr was the Super Eagles coach? Ola Aina is our best playing defender in Europe while Calvin Bassey’s tackles are vicious and attract the referee’s yellow or / and red cards. Semi Ajayi is one other defender playing regularly in Europe although in the second division for West Bromwich Albion. One isn’t too sure if Troost Ekong’s determination is enough to earn a first-team shirt in the Eagles, having moved to novelty leagues such as Saudi Arabia.

    Chelle has his job cut out for beginning with discovering a very good goalkeeper. Nwabali didn’t sharp in the last game, which incidentally was against Rwanda. This is a tough call, especially when there isn’t a FIFA window before the March 17 game to play friendly games.

    Chelle, I don’t envy you.

  • Big for nothing Eagles

    Big for nothing Eagles

    Listening to NFF President Ibrahim Gusau pledge the federation’s commitments to ensure Eric Chelle succeeds as the Super Eagles, I thought I was dreaming. As a person, Gusau keeps to the few words he mutters. But when he speaks on NFF matters, he reads a script. I’m reluctant to hold him to what he read at the ceremony because it was the board’s decision. Make no mistake, Gusua is knowledgeable. He can discuss off the cuff.

    When Gusau spoke penultimate Monday in Abuja at Chelle’s unveiling, he showed that he was a good student of history. He gave nothing away. His utterances were guided. Native intelligence.

    According to Gusau: “I see in the new Head Coach the right spirit and the right attitude, and I have faith that he will take the Super Eagles to the next level. He sees the job of leading the Super Eagles as his dream job, and that is a huge motivation in itself.

    “Coach Chelle recognises and appreciates what is ahead of him, and he says he loves the challenge. We will be there giving him the necessary support all the way,” Gusau said.

    Indeed, I won’t delve into Chelle’s promises to change the Eagles’ 2026 World Cup fortunes. I didn’t expect anything less. Rather, I would wince to ask if Chelle would have the balls to plead with his employers and those agbada wearing government officials who crowd the team’s dressing room at half time, to remain seated at the State Box area. Give the coach space to discuss with his boys, and the time to identify their flaws and get to hear on the way forward.

    In the past, these government functionaries led by the NFF people, crowded the dressing room at the interval, giving the coach no time to discuss his countertactics based on what he had seen in the first half. The 15 minutes allocated for pep talks isn’t always enough because these people take turns talking to the players and even the coaches. Can you beat that? The coach needs to have all of the stipulated 15 minutes set aside for half-time talks to his players to himself. Indeed, messages from well-meaning Nigerians such as telephone conversations with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can be delivered to the boys via Zoom before the match, preferably in the hotel.

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    These are the biggest opponents that Chelle would have on match days not their opponents, especially if the Super Eagles have not scored a goal or are trailing with a goal or two (God forbid).

    Chelle’s second obstacle would be the criteria for inviting players to prosecute the last six matches. Looking at the semblance of names on the players’ list when they are released gives this writer the impression that their invitations to the games are done by outsiders, not the team’s coaches. My fears become stronger when injured players are invited. It gets worse when benchwarmers populate the list as if we don’t watch European football matches in the 774 LGAs in Nigeria weekly. Even if we don’t watch European games weekly, they are available on YouTube to be downloaded if you choose that option.

    Chelle’s third obstacle would start with the amount of control he would allow the NFF technical committee members to have in his team’s selection processes. Besides, would Chelle take instructions passed to him by his employers or government functionaries urging him to substitute a particular player or players not playing well in their naive opinion in a game?

    Would Chelle allow his selection of players to be hijacked by agents or influencing peddling people? Chelle should make sure that agents are kept at bay and not allowed to mingle with the players in the hotel. These agents shouldn’t be given unfettered access to the team’s buses, especially, their itinerary. The team’s Chief Security Officer must be one who thinks on his feet. Movement in and around anywhere the Super Eagles delegation are spending time should be watertight in surveillance. Chelle should, in his interactions with the players in their different abodes in Europe, urge them to plead with their relations to stay away from the camp for maximum concentration considering the precarious placing of the country in her 2026 World Cup group.

    Nigeria’s previous World Cup outings have been dogged by allegations of the easy access of all manner of visitors, with many of them eating and relaxing with them at the poolside.

    Would Chelle introduce a Code of Conduct in his camp for his players as way of instilling discipline? Or would he cast an indulgent eye and say that they are adults who know what to do? Would he have the guts to be unsparing and fair in meting out justice?

    Would there be a deadline to report to the camp? Would Chelle allow those extraneous issues such as delayed departure, bad weather, or the airline ‘untrue’ technical hitches influence his decisions? Who buys the players the flight tickets? NFF or the players? Answers to the question of who purchases the flight tickets would determine who decides when players should report to the camp. A situation where players buy their flight tickets with promises from the federation to refund creates the setting for them to report to camp as they wish without apologies for being late. Need I say that it is the major reason the team plays disjointedly during matches? The team only gets to train with its regulars 24 hours before the game.

    Do we start to define to the NFF the reasons for paying players monies in which all the parties in the discussion agreed should be paid? So, how has it been possible for the critical partner in such discussions to renege on their role over 29 times? It is ridiculous to note that our players have on record outstanding bonuses and allowances of 29 matches, yet, they keep honouring the country’s invitations. How did we get to this disgraceful stage and no heads have rolled?

    Why do we thrive in leaving things very late before they are done properly? It seems to me that this fire brigade approach to resolving sporting deficiencies benefits some people. We are always in one form of controversy or the other at the NFF, yet we expect corporate sponsorship. No chance. This cap in hand leaves sponsorship for sports at the doorsteps of the government. What a shame!

    The biggest sporting brand in Nigeria should never be presented to the world with a beggarly status. Are Super Eagles being tagged big for nothing? It really hurts.

    Those who have described the NFF as being toxic have their reasons. But are they? You tell me.

  • What did Chelle say?

    What did Chelle say?

    Chairman of the National Sports Commission Shehu Dikko likes exhibiting his neatly knitted national dresses with matching fez caps, shoes, and/or slippers at public sporting ceremonies. I couldn’t, however, understand his presence at the unveiling of the new Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle in Abuja on Monday. I thought Dikko could have waited for the NFF team to bring Coach Chelle to his office instead of crowding the media event on Monday.

    Why the hurry, my dear Dikko, in attending the unveiling event? Perhaps, it has become necessary to remind you that you are no longer a member of the NFF. You have been elevated to be the face of sports in Nigeria, not football in your capacity as the NSC Chairman. Your ubiquitous presence at photo ops sessions gave the wrong impression that you are not busy which isn’t true. You are full of ideas to lift Nigeria’s sports into its Eldorado. Please sit in your office and work the talk.

     Indeed, when England unveiled Thomas Tuchel as the Three Lions manager, the photo session didn’t have suit-wearing administrators like we do here. Tuchel and his assistants had the day. The pictures were about them, not the crowd that almost choked Chelle at his unveiling. Not so for NFF. Everyone in NFF who was in Abuja on Monday imposed himself on the coach. The picture of the day when Austin Eguavoen was being introduced to Chelle was done behind the federation’s President and the commission’s Chairman, success has many fathers. We wait.

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    Back to Chelle’s unveiling. NFF President Ibrahim Gusau disclosed that the tactician had signed a two-year contract, with the option of another year, if he qualifies the Super Eagles to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals. Chelle has also come into the job with three assistants and will work with the crew on the ground to enhance the Super Eagles’ brand. He will be with the Super Eagles B – which is preparing for the upcoming 8th African Nations Championship – only in a supervisory role.  

    Those who thought that the NFF bigwigs were infallible with their sacrosanct pronouncements should cover their faces in shame. Gusau has reversed himself by saying that Chelle will work with the Nigerian coaches in the Super Eagles. Gusau also stated that Chelle would work with the CHAN team in an advisory role. These two policy reversals have restored the dignity of the Nigerian coaches and recognition of their tactical savvy. After all, they would be paid with taxpayers’ money. How would Gusau have felt if he stuck to his earlier decision that Chelle should handle the CHAN assignment now that CAF has postponed the tournament from February 1 to August this year? Eggs on his face definitely.

    Our dear NFF President, is it true that Chelle would be paid $55,000 monthly while his assistants would receive $5000? Will the federation still pay Eguavoen N10 million monthly? Yet, he is the federation’s Technical Director, a position that makes him the boss to the assistants, even if being boss to Chelle would cause chaos. A topic for another day.

    Gusau’s statements on Monday truly addressed the issues of the day, except that he didn’t tell his listeners if he had paid the players, team officials, and coaches their outstanding entitlements as he promised in December. Chelle’s problems would start with the players playing the game against Rwanda in Kigali on March 17 with caution knowing that their European club matches tower above playing for the country in terms of handling matters concerning their welfare.

    A team that will qualify for the 2026 World Cup needs at least four years to establish its spine through competitions. We can safely call Victor Osimhen in the attack but Wilfred Ndidi is almost gone in the midfield. The Eagles’ defenders have aged and are easily outrun by the opposition’s attackers. Need I highlight the hopelessness in the quality of our goalkeepers? They aren’t world-class and leak goals while manning the goalposts for their European clubs. Ademola Lookman is a different kind of striker from Osimhen, he comes as an addition to Nigeria’s total and has a complete playing spine.

    Chelle has only Osimhen in the Eagles’ spine except he wants to draft Ola Aina to the central defence with the believe that Ndidi would find his range and energy to marshal the midfield like he did in the past. I have my doubts since Ndidi is no longer the pivot of Leicester FC’s midfield. Playing regularly for the Foxes helped polish his game in the past. One could easily have drafted Alex Iwobi as the Eagles’ spine even if Ndidi is playing. But it appears that our coaches don’t know how to deploy Iwobi like his Fulham FC England’s manager. One hopes Chelle changes the Iwobi narrative during his reign.

    Chelle, Nigeria doesn’t have a reliable goalkeeper. Nwabali isn’t in his best form. He panicked in Nigeria’s last game. And with Francis Uzoho out injured, it is almost certain Nwabali would be Chelle’s choice with Okoye being the reserve goalkeeper. Yes, Chelle must insist on picking those playing regularly for their European clubs to prosecute Nigeria’s remaining six matches, no matter their pedigree in the Super Eagles.

    Interestingly, giving the players their dues should be spontaneous not kept in abeyance on the altar of the NFF being broke. How do you plead with players to pay for their flight tickets with a promise to refund monies spent. Then you renege on such payments not for one game but for several matches. The question would be why did the NFF men allow the coaches to invite 24 foreign-based players when only 16 can prosecute each game? I can list at least seven players who have been repeatedly invited to the camp and ended up not playing the matches. The federation looks the other way to such wastage because they want to give the coaches freehand to invite whosoever they like.

    “I see in the new Head Coach the right spirit and the right attitude, and I have faith that he will take the Super Eagles to the next level. He sees the job of leading the Super Eagles as his dream job, and that is a huge motivation in itself.

    “Coach Chelle recognises and appreciates what is ahead of him, and he says he loves the challenge. We will be there giving him the necessary support all the way,” Gusau said.

    Gusau, Chelle is a professional who by the NFF’s reckoning knows his onions. What this writer found interesting was his insistence that he could be unsparing with lazy players and very strict in metting out disciplinary measures. He said he would be fair to all, but we know that the big boys would get a slap on the wrist. It didn’t start today.

  • Chelle, e don shelle!

    Chelle, e don shelle!

    I’m not joking. Nigeria sincerely needs foreigners to run our football house since it appears that is the only way the game can improve on the pitch. In fact, in the last two decades, every succeeding NFF board has been worse than its predecessors. If anybody or a group of people can toy with the recruitment of a former Mali manager for the Super Eagles, it is only fair for them to tender their resignation letters when it becomes obvious that Nigeria’s flag won’t be hoisted among the comity of nations at the 2026 World Cup.

    NFF chieftains need to be told that the game of football is part of our national assets. They are simply the vehicle used to celebrate it, not to debase it. Any bad policy introduced by the NFF to serve as the cog in the game’s progress shouldn’t be allowed to give over 170 million Nigerians heartaches. Everything comes to a halt whenever our soccer is in the doldrums. Step out from wherever you are deep into any Super Eagles game; you would be confronted with desolate streets and several sections where Nigerians, especially kids, scramble to watch the game through the windows while some others mount tree tops and high platforms to watch the matches.

    When Nigeria wins, the streets erupt into frenzy with the youth blaring the horns of their vehicles, motorcycles, and all manner of noise crackers in celebration. Need I describe how these groups walk away in pain and agony if things go awry? Hence when the NFF insults our sensibilities with tunnel vision decisions such as the Eric Chelle appointment, not a few people would ask how they arrived at the decision.

    The NFF can’t spend the last 11 months or more teasing us with the thoughts of recruiting a world-class coach only to throw up Chelle as the choice. The immediate question to ask NFF is if Chelle will be able to lead us to compete for the World Cup with the best nations at the Mundial if Nigeria qualifies. Did I hear you say, Chelle, e don shelle? How would passionate football lovers be told not to express their disappointment at the choice of Chelle simply because NFF eggheads picked him? Pray, in the event of Nigeria drawing the bigger boys at the Mundial in 2026, these jesters running the game in Abuja would throw a debate to consume Chelle, allowing the NFF to conduct another search for a world-class coach, not what they have served for us now.

    One had thought that the federation would have allowed Chelle work with qualified Nigerian coaches in the other national teams, not what they have done by shutting out our domestic league coaches from the national teams. Nigeria is the only country where her national teams’ pattern of play isn’t identical. Sit down to watch serious football countries play the game and you will see a semblance of play directly impacted by the different soccer federations’ officials. Not so with Nigeria. Our officials, sadly, only think after they have taken decisions.

    What is this diabolic justification for Eric Chelle’s appointment by reminding us that he took a huge pay cut to accept the Nigeria job, as if he didn’t apply for the job? If he did, who cares if he earned more cash coaching the Algeria club? If the NFF people knew their onions, they would spare us this club versus country payment structure? Only an insane person would see the Super Eagles and not jump at it.

    Truth be told, what did this coach achieve when he handled Mali at the last edition of AFCON? Is it because he is French? Would it shock anyone if this manager comes with another Frenchman who speaks passable English as if we don’t have Nigerians who speak eloquent French? The argument that Chelle is Malian is bunkum since his father is French while his mother is Malian.

    Indeed, likening Eric Chelle’s Nigeria appointment to what Mali offered the late Stephen Okechukwu Keshi to handle the Malians from 2008 to 2010 is treachery. Keshi’s profile reached its zenith after he qualified Togo for the 2006 World Cup which could have earned him the same job in most European countries if he wanted to enlarge his scope. Keshi was an international icon both as a player and coach.

    What Eric Chelle’s employment portends is that the NFF doesn’t regard Nigerian coaches. Otherwise, how could Nigerian coaches have laboured through the CHAN qualifiers to get the qualification ticket only for Eric Chelle and his three assistant to arrive the country tomorrow to sweep them aside? Is that how the Ibrahim Gusua-led NFF wants to develop the domestic games and its coaches? Who does that? What would be the justification for removing the two coaches Fidelis Ilechukwu and Daniel Ogunmodede outside the fact that they are Nigerians? Isn’t it time the government also recruits European technocrats to run the NFF as a business concern, and not as a platform to humiliate Nigerians craving for excellence using our national teams as a point of greatness in the world? What a pity!

    “We have come out with the policy that whoever we employ as the Super Eagles coach will also be the one to manage the affairs of the CHAN Eagles,” Gusau said in an interview.

    Who does Gusau think he is impressing with this impolite statement if home grown coaches can’t aspire to greater heights? What is the essence of developing the game at the grassroots if its products can’t find employment at higher grounds? Where is it written, my dear Gusau, that Nigeria must win the competitions that she participates in? If there was such a mandate, the NFF would have long been replaced with European technocrats.

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    Who has told Gusua and his members that drafting Chelle and his three assistant coaches to CHAN squad would guarantee Nigeria the trophy?  What would be consequences of this dastardly decision if Chelle fails?

    Would the federation not have done a great disservice to Ilechukwu and Ogunmodede? If Gusua is in a hurry to test Chelle’s tactical savvy, the NFF should arrange a number of friendly matches instead of robbing Ilechukwu and Ogunmodede to pay Chelle.

    Indeed, the National Sports Commission (NSC’s) hierarchy should appeal to Gusau to allow the two home-based coaches lead the CHAN squad through its campaign next month. Chelle can wait until after this edition to start superintending over the CHAN team. Let’s give unto Ceasar what is his. Shouldn’t it occur to the NFF to use Chelle’s employment as a basis for training and retraining of our younger coaches across the country?

    Nigeria’s first of six games left in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers is against Rwanda in Kigali on March 17. If the NFF had recruited a top-notch coach, he could easily get one or two closed door games against teams whose managers he knows. This poser raises the question of how influential Chelle is as a coach in France.  If we are not careful, the Super Eagles won’t play any friendly game before the March 17 game in Kigali against Rwanda.

    But that is if the NFF has offset the debts owed the players since 2020, we have been told. Yes, this raises the poser of how Chelle is rated as a coach in France?

  • The more you look…

    The more you look…

    I pity Austin Eguavoen. He is always the fall guy when things go awry with the senior national team. Yet, he is always available to do the dirty job of stabilising the Super Eagles whenever a lacuna exists in the headship of the team’s technical crew. When the team plays well under Eguavoen’s tutelage, the deafening noise would be Eureka. If the team totters, the vexatious song from Nigerians would be to crucify Cerezo, as the former Super Eagles captain’s alias goes. With this scenario in mind, Eguavoen is always a pitiable sight to watch during matches. A patriot, no doubt Eguavoen is. And of course, a thankless job.

    Unfortunately for Eguavoen, he is in a hospital in Belgium recuperating after a successful hip surgery. Otherwise, he would have sat on the Eagles bench against the Ghanaians, only to be insulted with reports about a pending announcement of a new foreign technical adviser, leaving him in the lurch about his role in the new dispensation when the new man assumes office. It is looking like Nigeria is wooing a former Mali manager for the Super Eagles, meaning we have opted for deep knowledge of the game for one of those journeymen in Africa. Yet, we are beating our chests of winning the remaining six qualifiers, with a former Mali manager who isn’t top notch. It won’t happen.

    What Nigeria needs is a complete break from the rustic past, knowing that our players have experienced a geometric progression in their games playing in Europe, by competing and training under the tutelage of some of the best coaches in the world, unlike our coaches and administrators who are crawling in their arithmetic progression. This is the void that has been hunting Nigeria’s growth in the beautiful game. Finidi George partook in a domestic league in one week, only to be seen the next week playing for Ajax Amsterdam in the Dutch league.

    Our sports administrators are bad students of history; otherwise, we may need to ask them the sense in recruiting a foreign manager behind closed doors. Yet they are assuring Nigerians of grabbing the group’s sole qualification ticket to the 2026 World Cup to be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico.

    When England signed German tactician Thomas Tuchel to take the Three Lions to the 2026 World Cup, it wasn’t done as guesswork. The English FA introduced Tuchel as their coach. They also told us that he would assume duty on January 1, 2025. Deal struck and Tuchel assumed work because his template of how the Three Lions should henceforth play their matches is stuck in his head.

    Isn’t it unethical for anyone to recruit a short term coach to qualify a country for the Mundial, using players who are being owed bonuses and allowances running into millions of the US dollars? What is the wisdom in cutting the players’ entitlements and expecting them to play their hearts out for the ticket? Our players sacrifice a lot coming to play for the country, given the poor quality of pitches in Nigeria. Many of them return to their European clubs injured and lose their shirts. The bonuses and allowances are what they give to their relations and friends for upkeep.

    Imagine what the players went through during the ill-fated game against Libya and the attendant risks involved in the late decision by the Libyans to divert the aircraft to land in a disused airstrip without landing instruments. The pilot of the aircraft, a Tunisian, used his experience when he worked there, to land the big bird safely. Is it not cruel for the players not to be paid a dime, months after this show of shame in Libya?

    The lure of playing at the senior World Cup is the craving for big players, yet they don’t do it playing for their different countries on empty stomachs. Our football chieftains make the tasks of playing for Nigeria very unattractive by delaying the payment of players’ entitlements. Will anyone be surprised that the accompanying officials get paid before they even board the plane? Another Animal Farm setting.

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    In March, the Super Eagles fly out to confront the group leaders, Rwanda, before they welcome bottom placed Zimbabwe. South Africa, Benin and Lesotho are the other teams in this group with only the overall group winners guaranteed automatic passage to the 2026 World Cup. My head on the guillotine, our federation chiefs will wait until when the players assemble in Rwanda before the non-payment wahala is addressed. Possibly, another round of promises.

    It is pertinent to ask our soccer chiefs what the plans for the team’s campaign are? Do these plans include friendly games? Where would the players be meeting with the purported foreign coach? In a special camp setting? Or would the foreign coach be timidly escorted by our sports administrators around Europe? Or would the soccer federation be wise enough to use the period before March to allow the coach watch our players live during matches. Thereafter, he can meet with such players.

    The story from the Dankaro House in Abuja suggested that the NFF technical committee would meet Thursday to decide who the next foreign manager for the Super Eagles would be. Would this body’s member rubber stamp the report sent to them or would they have the audacity to interrogate the shortlist sent to them by the federation? Or would the body immediately announce the foreign manager at 3am as it happened when German coach Bruno Labbadia turned down the opportunity to become the new head coach of Nigeria’s national team, the Super Eagles after NFF’s circular?

    Can we still trust NFF bigwigs and the technical committee members to do a better job with this exercise? Or is this a subtle way of enthroning Bruno Labbadia as the new coach to cover up their reproach? Labbadia walked out on an agreement to be the new coach of the Super Eagles. A team that has very good players like ours need an equally efficient coach to compliment what they do on the field. Who are the members of the technical committee and what are their antecedents in the act of interviewing coaches for such high profile job as ours?

    If the NFF board knew that they were stuck on having a foreign coach for the Super Eagles, they shouldn’t have bungled the recruitment of Labbadia. What magic are the board members expecting from a new coach whose philosophy and tactics of the game are alien to our boys? What Nigeria has going for her in spite of the federation’s shortcomings, is that we have established players in Europe whose video tapes are available to the coach to watch and adjust his game plans to suit their styles.

    Until our NFF buffs see the World Cup as the platform to exhibit the level of the game in Nigeria, going to the Mundial for the Super Eagles will continue to be a jamboree.  Let us hope that the government has approved N3 billion to the body which hasn’t been inaugurated to ensure that Nigeria’s flag is hoisted among the comity of nations during the 2026 World Cup.

  • Don’t wake me from this sleep

    Don’t wake me from this sleep

    It is always a spectacle watching a dog bark at the elephant while running rings around the massive animal without striking it. And so, when I read the story that NFF had secured two sponsors to pay the wages of invariably two foreign coaches for the Super Eagles and perhaps the Super Falcons, I chuckled, knowing that the federation is another circus not patronised yet by the world.

    I subconsciously muttered, ” We have been through this path before.” Another platform unleashed on lovers of the game to bombard the internet by name-dropping of renowned coaches. I won’t be surprised to read stories of Pep Guardiola being eager (in their minds) to handle the Super Eagles.

    The fake news breakers would be hinging their hallucination on the bad patch the Spaniard is going through at the Etihad Stadium with Manchester City. Indeed, Guardiola’s expected stoic silence would raise the ante of the discussants until the topic melts away like ice cream forgotten on a slab in the scorching sun.

    Don’t be surprised if in the coming weeks you read of a Presidential secret dialogue with Mikel Arteta during the search for a new foreign coach for Nigeria. Of course, news would also break telling us that FIFA would soon ‘help’ facilitate the employment of a world class coach, such as Fabio Capello, with pictures to authenticate this falsehood. Journeymen coaches would also join the idiocy through faceless jobbers masquerading as their managers. The social media won’t be left out in the fuss, with comments targeted at helping decisions on who should coach the Super Eagles. May God help us.

    In all of this foolery, the federation’s chieftains who should tell Nigerians the truth would be basking in the euphoria of the speculations, with many saying that the media can enjoy their acts. What would be spewing out of the mouths of members of the federation in hush tones would be the need for the new foreign coach to have a deep knowledge of African football, forgetting that 90 per cent of Super Eagles play under the supervision of European coaches who haven’t stepped onto Africa.

    Our players discovered from the dusty roads and rickety foundation of quasi games masters in the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria have easily adapted to the new tricks of the game introduced to them. The resultant effect is that end of displacing the Europeans they met in such teams.

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    Frankly speaking, the search for foreign coach shouldn’t be a bazaar but one in which the new man to emerge would be heralded as the best, based on his coaching credentials and achievements over the last five years.

    Soon all-knowing sports commentators will tell us how the World Cup, which started in 1930, has not been won by a foreigner, rather than break this jinx. These confusionists fail to understand that England, the home of Football, currently have a foreigner as the Three Lions’ coach based on his antecedents in several leagues in the world.

    Tuchel is German no doubt. Fabio Capello is Italian and the late Sven Goran Erikson was Swedish. Wait for it, England’s Golden generation was assembled and coached by the late Erikson.

    It shows that the English have swallowed their pride and accepted that they do not have home grown coaches to do an international job. Will you blame the English? Take a look at the English Premier League and see if you will find an Englishman coaching the first five teams. That trend has been on for the last five years, and the English have taken their destiny in their hands and not indulge in sentimental talks that will lead them nowhere. Who cares if no foreigner has even won the World Cup like the English! This is Nigeria’s best chance to get a good coach, only if those who head the panel to recruit the coach open their eyes and block their ears to emotional talks.

    Each time we talk of a foreign coach, naysayers of Nigerian football will bring out their calculators, forgetting that global recession is the reason for the huge difference of the naira to any of the three big currencies in the world. But if we pick the right foreign coach and results start to come in, we will then realise that the Super Eagles is one of the biggest marketing brands in the world.

    One only hopes that this government sincerely pursues the task of getting a good coach for the Super Eagles, because the Eagles are the biggest public relations team that the government can use to change the narrative about the country to the world. The military, during the jackboot era, used sports to launder their image.

    Suddenly those who resisted the pressure to constitute the task force are the ones rooting for it and angling to put themselves and their friends on the board.

    I hope when the coach comes, these people will allow him work or else there will be fiascos from the first game.

    I am not a prophet of doom but let us get it clearly here; Nigerians who watch the Super Eagles play always feel that they are better coaches than the man saddled to coach the team. May we not see another era where we announce a foreign coach; he arrives in the country, accompanies the team to a tournament in the USA and refused to take the job, having seen the Super Eagles play as an observer? What don’t we condone from foreign coaches? A man sits on the bench throughout the duration of two matches and dumps us with bruised faces and hands akimbo.

    Another lesson the panel in search of a coach should guide against are agents or middlemen masquerading as managers. We must headhunt the coach we need based on the strength of our players. There was little to cheer in the Eagles under Jose Peserio because his methodology was defensive. Peserio’s pattern shut the door against the attack-minded players in the squad. This explains the low goals margin the Eagles scored. Nigeria is in a precarious position for the 2026 World Cup because we failed to score goals which win games.

    Let’s face the brass task. It would be easier for the proverbial Carmel to pass through the eye of the needle than for Nigeria to qualify for the 2026 World Cup competition. Reason – South Africa has more ‘home’ games than others in the group with the Zimbabweans opting to play their home fixtures where they can garner points in South Africa. No chance. Not when Bafana Bafana players are smelling blood with Nigeria’s wobbling performance in the first four qualification games. Super Eagles haven’t won a match which includes drawing Lesotho in Nigeria and holding the Zimbabweans to another nerve-wrenching draw. Need I remind ourselves about the Eagles’ shambolic 2-1 loss to the Republic of Benin on a neutral ground in Cote d’ Ivoire? Note: this game will be a piece of cake under the same setting for South Africa when the fixtures are played on this neutral ground. I love Nigeria but truth must be told if we hope to correct our flaws.

  • Slapping club officials

    Slapping club officials

    The domestic league is gradually becoming a jungle where anything is possible. New methods of brigandage are introduced across the country with the criminals choosing where to strike – this new system ensures that the target suffers the punishments, leaving the clubs safe from heavy sanctions.

    On Sunday in Lagos, a disgruntled fan took the laws into his hands by creating an unpleasant setting which led to the physical assault on Remo Stars Coach Sulaimon Kamil. As the coach walked away from the pitch, his unknown assailant spotting a black shirt walked up to the unexpecting Kamil and slapped him from behind.

    The blinding backhand slap jolted Kamil, who struck back at the beast on impulse. Kamil’s punch made his attacker groggy, as he staggered to the turf. He got up quickly, groping, while his crowd of supporters who had come with him watched what had befallen their leader in awe. Mission unaccomplished. I wished Kamil had waited to finish off his attacker by ensuring his arrest by security operatives.

    The sanctions against bestial tendencies by these unscrupulous fans on their clubs would only make a lot of sense when the attackers are nabbed and made to face the wrath of the law. No person’s blood is worth being spilled at match venues before relevant changes can be reflected in the domestic league. Weekly matches are marred by violence, with the culprits (hoodlums, urchins, etc) made to look like spirits due to inadequate security.

    The irony in the statement credited to the NPFL rests with the demand on Ikorodu United FC of Lagos’ management to produce and prosecute the culprit who slapped the Remo Stars assistant coach. The NPFL is simply asking Ikorodu United’s officials to clap with one hand. Of course, the idiot has a right to support the Lagos side; just as the club may not have sent him on that shameful assignment. What stands out clearly is that this man isn’t a stranger to the Lagos side. I don’t expect the unknown fan to watch matches inside the Onikan Stadium, Lagos’ premises again this season. If he does, he would be on his own.

    Ikorodu City was charged for breach of Rules B13.52, B13.18 and C9.

    In a summary jurisdiction notice, the NPFL charged Ikorodu City for failure to provide adequate security, which resulted in unauthorised persons gaining access to restricted areas and assaulting Remo Stars Coach Kamil in breach of Rule B13.52 of the Frameworks and Rules.

    Ikorodu City was also charged for failure to ensure proper conduct of their team and supporters in breach of Rule C9.

    The club was fined a total of N3,000,000, ordered to identify and prosecute the fan who assaulted Coach Kamil and play the next two consecutive home games without admitting fans to the stands.

    The sanction read: “an order to identify and prosecute the individual(s) involved in the assault on Remo Stars Coach, Mr. Sulaimon Kamil. A report detailing the progress of this action must be submitted to the NPFL within seven (7) working days of the date of this notice”.

    “In accordance with Rule C26, you are required, within 48 hours of the date of this notice, to either submit to the summary jurisdiction and the sanctions contained herein; or elect to be dealt with by a disciplinary panel”, the NPFL ruled.

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    Much as this writer appreciates the swiftness in which the NPFL’s hammer falls on defaulters, it is also pertinent to plead with the organisers to avail us with copies of the body’s rulebook. It isn’t enough to list the section in which clubs defaulted, it helps readers and followers of the game understand the dictates of the offences committed.

    This incident is not an isolated one, as the NPFL board imposed sanctions on Plateau United and Bendel Insurance in November for security lapses and violent incidents during recent home games on Matchday 11.

    Plateau United faced penalties for failing to ensure adequate security, which led to attacks on visiting team members and match officials. The club was fined N4 million and faced deduction of three points and three goals. They were also ordered to pay compensation to the injured match official and Rangers player Daniel Onyia.

    Indeed, Bendel Insurance was charged with rule breaches following their Matchday 11 game against Kano Pillars. The club faced a 3-point and 3-goal deduction and a total fine of N3.75 million for security failures and misconduct.

    The last of the three home games at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, which the NPFL directed should be played behind closed doors by Bendel Insurance, holds this weekend against Lobi Stars of Makurdi. If Bendel Insurance beats Lobi this weekend, for instance, it would be said the sanction helped them steady their game. After all, how much do they rake into their coffers from the gates when the fans watched their games before the NPFL’s hammer struck?

    I have always advocated here that the best form of security starts by ensuring that competent referees are assigned, such red-lettered matches are handled by the best set of referees and match commissioners alongside several independent assessors. And it is good to celebrate here the massive improvement in officiating by Nigerian referees

    Why haven’t the league body contacted the Commissioners of Police in the States where the games are played for them to watch over the different stadia to maintain public peace. Of course, where the police or/and security operatives are present in the stadium, beasts who have flouted the law are immediately arrested and handed over to them for prosecution. It isn’t enough for the body to make pronouncements or ask the criminals or offending clubs to pay fines and treat injured referees.

    These injured referees and fans should be made to be part of the criminals’ prosecution in court, where they can narrate their close shaves with death, and the pains and mental torture they went through. Their accounts may further embolden the judges to strike out any pleas from the criminals’ lawyers of them being first offenders. The court proceedings should be covered massively by the media. The news stories from the courts should be published in all the newspapers and in the electronic media. Shouldn’t the IMC members insist that venues hosting the domestic league games should have closed-circuit devices to fish out such miscreants?

    For any venture to attract good funding, it should be packaged to look attractive. But with the spate of violence at venues, nobody will do sports business with the league until hoodlums are chased away from the stadia. The carnage at the stadium may dissuade spectators from watching games. Nobody will bring his family to the stadium only to scamper out of the place as violence breaks out.

    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.