The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Whip unruly stars out

    Super Eagles is Nigeria’s brand equity in global soccer competitions. It is our identity as a football-loving nation that should showcase our best talents. The Eagles isn’t a platform to celebrate mediocrity. It isn’t a father and son business nor does it belong to anyone. Any player willing to play for the team must be prepared to submit himself to the rules. And such rules aren’t alien in the clubs where they play as professionals.

    The Eagles, like all our other national teams across genders, can serve as Nigeria’s biggest public relations tool used to reshape people’s perception about what happens here. Each time our national team players represent us in their clubs, they serve as our worthy ambassadors. The country comes to halt temporarily, anytime Nigeria has a crucial game. The celebrations, following successful matches, are better imagined than described. Nigerians sit late to watch any game slated for ungodly hours based on time difference. Others set their alarms to wake them. Nigerians become one irrespective of religion, creed or ethnic divides, when our soccer players and indeed sportsmen and women vie for honours.

    Successful national teams are those populated by disciplined players eager to win laurels for their countries. The spiral effect of such players’ attitude to their country’s matches rests with the high market value the team attracts in terms of granting requests to play them.

    The other benefit from being disciplined and achieving teams is the high demand for their players by European clubs. Players are submissive to their managers and the football federation chiefs. The synergy between these two bodies and the players help the game to thrive at the domestic level. Talents in the hinterlands look forward to the time when they would attain the height of playing for their senior national teams, for instance. Besides, those there ensure that they don’t demean the senior team with unruly conduct. Rather than drag the team into the gutter with unsportsmanlike attitudes, they announce their exit from the team with pomp and ceremony.

    The federations of such retiring players organise credible testimonials that others look forward to when they retire too. The transition is seamless with everyone (players, coaches and FA people) knowing where his powers start and end.

    Nigerian players can do no wrong. They must be worshipped. We must do their biddings. It doesn’t matter if they bring odium to the country by their conduct. Such sentimental approach to handling our players is chiefly responsible for the seeming stunted growth the game has suffered in the past.

    Most of our age-grade teams don’t trouble us like the Eagles. Are the Super Eagles a poisoned chalice? – They aren’t – They have taken advantage of our love for them to misbehave. We are so scared to lay down the rules. These rules are in their European clubs and they abide by them.

    Sunday Oliseh may not be right person to effect change in the Eagles, many have argued because of his antecedents. But, if Oliseh’s actions can right the wrong in the Eagles, so be it. If any player is dissatisfied with Oliseh regime, he should quit. Coaches are as good as their last matches. If it takes changing a whole crop of players to achieve success, Oliseh shouldn’t flinch to do so. We have changed all other aspects of our football, still things have not changed. It means the players need to be changed. We have had several NFF boards ditto coaches, the Eagles still Coaches are as good as their last matches. If it takes changing a whole crop of players to achieve success, Oliseh shouldn’t flinch to do so. We have changed all other aspects of our football, still things have not changed. It means the players need to be changed. We have had several NFF boards ditto coaches, the Eagles still wobble. Let’s drop some heady players, it could just be what we need to make the Eagles, a team others would see and buckle.

    This writer agrees with Barrister Godwin Dudu Orumen’s perspective that: “In this part of the world, we are overly sentimental, especially about football. The life-span of a player in the national team is eight to 10 years. You have to be exceptional to stay in the national team beyond 10 years. If Enyeama feels that it is time for him to retire, he is free. Emenike, on the other hand, has not scored for Nigeria since 2013. There are younger players who can take up the challenge, why are we making all these non-issues national issues?”

    “Why should Oliseh have consulted him? What nonsense is that? Segun Odegbami was captain of the Super Eagles from 1980- to 1982, but he was stripped of his captaincy aboard the flight to Libya and it was given to Mudashiru Lawal. Odegbami did not scream blue murder; he took it in his stride, knowing he was not the only one called to serve the nation.

    “How can you have discipline when everything which happens in the team goes first on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? Hell, no; the NFF has to put a stop to all that,” Orumen said.

    The Eagles is the biggest business in the country when the team is on a winning run. The many businesses around the game thrive when the Eagles excel. European scouts and agent storm the domestic league venues and playing grounds to recruit our young talents to join foreign teams across the globe. The domestic clubs and academies where such talents are recruited from, for instance, smile to the banks.

    Those lucky ones return to the country later and become icons for others to emulate. These players use the monetary rewards from their new lease of lives to change the fortunes of their families and friends for good.

    Indiscipline ruined all the gains we had from our debut at the 1994 World Cup in the United States of America. Stories have been told how our players’ wishes prevailed over Clemens Westerhof’s technical advice that the Eagles be relocated to a more serene place, ahead of our Round of 16 game against Italy. Girls had invaded the Eagles camp. Westerhof didn’t like it but our players’ wishes prevail. They wanted to have a ball and got the result with an exit despite our fancied style of play that left the world in awe. Westerhof didn’t return with the team. The players held court. It has been a free fall for the Eagles. Forget about the pyrrhic feat on February 10 in South Africa.

    With the way the Eagles dazzled in America, Westerhof deserved a second term. But our players would have none of that.

    1998 World Cup was worse. The Eagles camp was populated by injury-ridden players and holiday makers scouted by journeyman Bora Mulitinovic. The 1998 World Cup in France was Nigeria’s worst. It marked the beginning of long meetings for improved match bonuses simply because our players thought they could walk through Denmark. Had Nigeria beaten Denmark in the dream of the 1998 Eagles squad, we would have been pitched against Brazil, for a rematch of the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games feat. Our players insisted that they be paid $15,000 upfront before the game against Denmark. They had their way and Nigeria had the shorter end of the stick – shameful 4-1 loss to Denmark. These set of Eagles were the craziest with many of them either owning jets which they later sold or were flown around the country in jets by acolytes of the goggled one, the late Sani Abacha.

    Adegboye Onigbinde, the disciplinarian did well in sidelining the irritants in the Eagles, ahead of the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup. Onigbinde’s World Cup squad was the most disciplined even though they didn’t achieve the desired result. We had an orderly camp. No nocturnal meetings to fix allowances and demand for upfront payments.

    Why Onigbinde was eased off rest with the players’ power in the Eagles. One of those heady Eagles that Onigbinde reluctantly took to Korea/Japan invaded the media with his infamous rant of describing most of the players that the Modakeke chief took to the Mundial as junk.

    Onigbinde is renowned for whipping unruly players out of the Eagles. And Dudu Orumen revealed further that: “Let me take you back to 1983, when Adegboye Onigbinde took over the national team. He retired eight out-field players; goalie Best Ogendegbe, right-back David Adiele, left-back Kadiri Ikhana, left-back Okey Isima, centre-back Tunde Bamidele, centre-back Alloysius Atuegbu, striker Ifeanyi Onyedika and Felix Owolabi, yet the heavens did not fall.

    “We need to stop trying to make our players feel more important than they are. Why should we encourage them to do what they do not do in their clubs by bringing indiscipline and total insubordination into the team?

    “Honestly, Emenike is not the man of the moment and, rightfully, Oliseh told him to go play in a more competitive league, if he wants to get a proper look-in or risk being left out of his plan.

    “We do not give a coach responsibility without authority to act. It is his [Oliseh’s] prerogative; let him make his decision and, if at the end of the day we fail to qualify, we fire him. We are at liberty to put opinions across, but we need to stop making laughable issues out of them,” Orumen said.

    So, what is the noise about Enyeama, Emenike et al? Eagles will be a better side without reluctant players and agitators. It’s about time our football is measured by the number of domestic league players in the Eagles and not otherwise. We shouldn’t always search for players in Europe, Americas, and Asia.

    If Oliseh wants us to take him seriously, he needs to make the CHAN Eagles squad the pivot of those who would prosecute the November 15 World Cup qualifiers against Swaziland. Nigeria should beat Swaziland with any serious squad. If Oliseh doesn’t want to take the risk, he can pick eight Europe-based players to join the home-based. We are tired of having 25 Europe-based players invited to prosecute games against minnows, such as Swaziland, with due respect.

     

  • Apc, Pmb: Not yet the change we voted for

    Are the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) aware of the great expectations their intense advocacy of change in the campaigns leading to the last general elections aroused among Nigerians? Are they conscious of the fact that the greater the time lag between their formal assumption of office and the manifestation of their promised changes, the greater will be the growing frustrations of sections of the populace with the attendant increasing nostalgia for an idealised past?

    It is now nearly five months after PMB was sworn in following the sweeping victory of the APC at the polls. Yet, the party is only just putting in place members of its Federal Executive Council (FEC) to assist the President in driving the machinery of governance.  PMB claims he needed sufficient time to pick the very best men and women in terms of competence and moral integrity to work with him. Yet, impressive as the ministerial list he has sent to the National Assembly is, any President could have assembled the team within a month.

    For most Nigerians, the APC’s mantra of change remains just a slogan. No one is sure of its concrete content. Does its idea of change mean just a shift of power from Dr Goodluck Jonathan to PMB and from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC? Nigerians who voted for the party in droves expect more than that. The very depth of the PDP rot that the APC campaigned vigorously against necessitates a higher degree of sure-footedness, decisiveness and sense of urgency in governance than the APC has shown so far particularly at the centre. This honeymoon can surely not go on forever.

    Any follower of this column will know that this writer does not share the sentiment of ethno-regional balancing in perceived juicy political appointments particularly at the expense of merit. Hence, I have refrained from joining the bandwagon of critics who fault the alleged ethno-regional lop-sidedness of PMB’s early appointments. The Federal Character principle of the constitution serves the latent function of ensuring a sense of balance and fair-play among cultural components of a diverse and plural society like ours. But it also serves the manifest function of legitimating the criminal extraction and privatisation of public resources by representative elites in public office purportedly in the interest of their ethno-cultural groups.

    I find it astonishing that in these fiscally and economically famished times, PMB, apart from having obtained the approval of the Senate to appoint 13 Special Advisers has sent a list of 36 ministerial nominees to the Senate for confirmation. This makes a FEC of at least 49 members. It is unjustifiable. There is absolutely no difference between this and the PDP era of opulence and waste associated with the costs of governance. Where then is the change?

    Some readers aware of my views in this regard have referred me to Section 147 of the 1999 constitution, which requires the President to appoint one minister per state.  That section is non-justiciable. It is just like the section on the Directive Principles of State Policy, which demands the implementation of certain social and economic objectives that can only be at the discretion of the President. The Federal Character principle requirement can be met across the different arms, levels and agencies of government and not just in the composition of the FEC. In any case, as Professors J. Isawa Elaigwu and Ali A. Garba have argued “It is important to note that in a federal system, all levels of government operate directly on the people and not through another level. That is the import of multiple poles of power – i.e. non-centralisation”.

    However, I must confess that I am also beginning to be disturbed about the possible mindset of PMB in making some of his very sensitive appointments. This is particularly so with his appointment this week of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, a renowned historian as Professor Attahiru Jega’s successor as substantive Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). No one doubts Professor Yakubu’s intellect, integrity, administrative experience and managerial acumen. However, this appointment appears to me very insensitive.

    In admitting the flawed nature of the election that brought him to power, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua exhibited uncommon nobility of spirit and integrity. He went on to set up the Justice Mohammed Uwais panel on electoral reforms, which proposed a wide range of reforms to strengthen the electoral process. One of these, which the opposition parties at the time vigorously supported, was that the President would pick the chairman of INEC from a list of three nominees by the National Judicial Council (NJC). Although, President Goodluck Jonathan from the South-south did not implement this reform, he at least picked a man of integrity from the north, Jega, as head of the electoral umpire.

    The least one expected of PMB as a northerner was that he would emulate this worthy example and also pick an INEC chairman of intellect, character, experience and integrity from the South. In this respect, we seem to have taken one step backward. This is very unfortunate. In the same vein, I find it curious that a leader with zero-tolerance for corruption like PMB would not consider an anti-corruption and pro-human rights legal icon like Mr Femi Falana (SAN) as a great asset to his government. One seriously hopes that in his decision making process, PMB is not becoming hostage to a narrow ethno-regional cabal the way Jonathan was.

    Due to the utter naivety of its politics and rank indiscipline within its ranks, the APC, which controls a majority of members in the National Assembly, is today burdened by an ethically challenged National Assembly leadership that gravely imperils PMB’s much trumpeted anti-corruption war even before it takes off.  This is why beyond the media razzmatazz; there is hardly any difference between the utter lack of seriousness and rigour that characterised the screening of ministerial nominees under the PDP-dominated Senate of the past 16 years and the new APC-dominant Senate.

    We still have the absurd situation in which Senators are asked to scrutinise and interview ministerial nominees whose portfolios are unknown. It is very comical. Indeed, with the very strong pro-North signal sent out by PMB’s new appointment of the INEC Chairman from his ethno-regional zone, it will be very interesting to see the pattern of his allocation of portfolios to his confirmed ministerial nominees. I hope we will not all be turned into ethnic chauvinists now.

    I write this as a wakeup call to the APC. Time is ticking. The people are expectant. If an incumbent party and President could be defeated in 2015, the same feat is not impossible in 2019. The party cannot afford further complacency.

  • Ambode and the Lagos traffic conundrum

    It was a bright sunny Saturday afternoon some two years ago when I drove out of the premises of one of my favourite bookshops on Oko Awo Close, Victoria Island. Rather than turn right to link Akin Adesola Street, I turned left heading for Adetokunboh Ademola Way by Eko Hotel and Suites. I had driven only a short distance when two LASTMA officials suddenly emerged from nowhere, jumped in front of my car and forced me to halt. They gleefully informed me I was driving against traffic even when there was no sign indicating it was a one-way lane. My entreaties that I was a law-abiding journalist who would not wilfully break the law fell on deaf ears. At the end of the day, they not only wasted my time but forced me to pay a fine which would have been unnecessary if they had drawn my attention to the status of the road before I unwittingly committed the offence. It was probably to put a halt to this kind of pervasive practice that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has tried to instil decorum and civility into the activities of LASTMA. Unfortunately, many commercial and private drivers have taken this as licence for gross indiscipline on Lagos roads. I also gather that a cabal within LASTMA, which used to make between N10,000 and N20,000 daily through extortion in the past are subtly sabotaging smooth flow of traffic on Lagos roads. Now that the Lagos State Executive Council has been sworn in, I urge the new Commissioner for Transport to swing into urgent action to address the situation

  • Who’s next?

    These are interesting times in the Super Eagles. Those hitherto regarded as untouchables in the squad are trembling, having seen what befell their biggest mate. Players are on their toes. They don’t want to be caught unawares. They react to every seeming change. They are the first to hit the media platforms sourcing for news about trends in the Eagles.

    This is what we need in the Eagles. There should be competition for shirts among players. Playing for Nigeria shouldn’t be any player’s birthright. Anyone wearing our jersey should be the best at that point in time, not getting the shirt based on past performances. Current form, discipline and dedication to what the team stands for should inform the selection of players.

    Emmanuel Emenike may have been worried about the new development and how it could affect his chances of playing for Nigeria’s senior team. Could this be why he hurriedly announced his retirement from the Super Eagles?  NFF chiefs should reject Emenike’s resignation, given the fact that the story which informed the striker’s decision has been refuted by the chief coach Sunday Oliseh?

    Happily, NFF Secretary-General Dr. Mohammed Sanusi said: “I just heard of it but there is no official confirmation from the player in question, so for us it is mere speculation. However, I also agree that it is the right of any player to play or not to. Our concern as a federation is how to build a formidable team for Nigeria.”

    Good talk Sanusi. This statement also opens the door for Emenike to do a recant or call the coach to deny his tweet, having read the coach’s denial on the subject.

    Clearly, Emenike has allowed thunder to strike on the same spot twice. He ought to have explored all the avenues of seeking redress before heading for the social media to resign. This act shows a high level of disrespect for constituted authority. That has been the trend with our senior players. They have a penchant for making the administrators and coaches look like the problem with our game not them.

    The story about Oliseh’s alleged decision to drop Emenike didn’t have any comment by the coach. The story was hinged on the striker’s goal drought and his recent substitution. In the past, it was seemingly a taboo to substitute the big boys in the Eagles. But I’m sure if Emenike had reflected on the fact that John Mikel Obi has been replaced twice in the last two games that he played in Belgium, he could have called the coach to seek some clarification. I’m sure Oliseh must have told everyone how he felt about the team’s performance in the last two friendly games in Belgium. What did he tell Emenike? Did Oliseh tongue-lash Emenike? If he didn’t, why did Emenike think the coach would head for the media to announce his removal from the squad?

    Come to think of it, Emenike has played four times for Nigeria under Oliseh. How many matches has Oliseh handled? Aggrieved players worried about their substitution or bench roles for clubs, politely walk up to their coaches to find out what was wrong with their game. What the coaches say help them in improving their games. A few of these player/coach interactions have gone awry with the players lampooning their managers.

    When Oliseh got the Eagles job and extended an invitation to Emenike for the double header in Belgium, the striker poured encomiums on the coach for his interpersonal relationship with his players. Emenike told us then that he wanted to quit the Eagles but had to rescind his decision following heart-to-heart discussions he had with Oliseh. If such a relationship existed between the two, why didn’t Emenike put a call across to the coach to find out if he had seen the questionable story? Since when has the media become the basis for selecting players into the Eagles? Our players must show more respect to Oliseh because sometime in the future, a few of them may opt for coaching and some of these acts may return to haunt them.

    I’m sure if Emenike were a coach, he would have doubts about a striker who hasn’t scored a goal in the last two years. But rather than throw such a striker out, Emenike as a coach may strive to either sharpen the striker’s goal scoring skills or find another role for him to play.

    Oliseh isn’t a coach that discloses his list to the media like others do. All his lists have come from the NFF. Speculations on his likely invitees have been laughable. And that is the spirit, since it presupposes that Oliseh is involved in the selection process with his assistants, and not influenced by agents and scouts who leak such lists to the media.

    Besides, losing first team shirt in the Eagles ought to be enough motivation for Emenike to improve on his game, rather than this escapist method of retiring on social media platforms. Indeed, it should strike Emenike’s conscience that Oliseh had him in the Eagles’ plans when he offered him the vice captain role, which Emenike rejected.

    Truth be told, Emenike stopped scoring when Sunday Mba and Brown Ideye were dropped from the Eagles. These two players understood how to play alongside Emenike. One of them, Mba ceaselessly threw defence-splitting passes at Emenike while Ideye created the openings for the striker to score goals. Such tactical movements don’t exist in the Eagles today. And it is why Emenike’s goals have disappeared like ice-cream left under the scorching sun.

    It is sad that Emenike is leaving the team unceremoniously. He did well in the four years he served the country. He surely deserves a testimonial. Emenike doesn’t look like one to change his mind.  Emenike can’t point at one act of disrespect that he suffered under Oliseh.

    Interestingly, Oliseh’s comments on Emenike’s shock retirement shows maturity and it is a welcome development.

    Oliseh said: “I have made him (Emenike) part of our rebuilding process, in fact he has had more playing time than any striker we have had, so I am very very surprised that he has decided to retire. He has not reached me but I have called him twice because immediately I heard this, first I thought it was all these lies on social media so I called him twice yesterday (Tuesday), I am expecting a return call from him, it is when I hear from him that I would fully accept that he is retiring.”

    Our players should stop making spurious allegations about the setting in the Eagles when they want to quit. What one can see from the last two retirements is that Oliseh seems to know who the bad eggs in the team are. They are getting uncomfortable with his commanding presence in the camp. So, those who can’t stand his regime are opting out but they are splashing mud, which isn’t good for the team. Vincent Enyeama’s and Emenike’s exits raise the poser about how long John Mikel Obi will remain with the team. I hope Mikel won’t say soon that he is quitting the Eagles because the new players are not in his class.

    Oliseh must tell the players that he is building a truly young team. Oliseh must be bold enough to tell non-performing players that they won’t get a shirt in the Eagles, if they don’t improve on their game. Nigeria is bigger than any player. No player must be allowed to hold us hostage. After all, a majority of them achieved their heights playing for one of our national teams.

    It was quite shameful watching Mikel reject the Eagles captaincy band handed to him by Ahmed Musa, as he was being substituted in one of the friendlies in Belgium. Mikel ought to have taken the captaincy band from Musa, even if he had reservations. In other climes, that would have been Mikel’s last game in the national team. It is always an honour being the captain of any national team. What Mikel et al did on that night was to desecrate the emblem of our country. As usual, that despicable act has been swept under the carpet because it is football, where sentiments becloud our sense of judgment.

    Indeed, if Mikel must be honest with himself, he ought to know that his attitude towards national team assignment since he hit stardom has left much to be desired. Based on his attitude, no coach will give the leadership of his team to him.

    NFF must help Oliseh by insisting on what is right. Any aggrieved player who doesn’t trust the available channels for seeking redress should go to the public court to state his case. I feel strongly that Nigerians would soon get tired of players’ excesses and support the system. For too long, layers have taken advantage of Nigerians’ passion for the game to ridicule us, particularly concerning things they dare not protest about in their European clubs.

    I’m sure that if Mikel was kept on the Eagles bench like he is experiencing at Chelsea, a players’ mutiny would have occurred to sack the coach. And many of us would have supported the coach’s removal on the grounds that he doesn’t know how to utilise Mikel’s talent.

  • Ideology, opportunities and diplomacy

    In  welcoming China’s  president to the British Parliament this week, the Speaker  spoke of a meeting of  two nations both ancient  and modern. In response the Chinese leader wondered at new opportunities for both nations in a collaborative world .In  the US the  Vice  President  Joe  Biden  in announcing his intention not to run for the presidency  of the US  was  escorted to the venue of the announcement by his wife   and  the President of the US who  did not utter  a word at  the event where the Vice President took the opportunity to enunciate the ideology of the Democratic Party for the 2016 US  presidential elections.  In  Russia, the  president told a think thank that the  US  is supporting  terrorism in Syria while at  home our lawyers created a conundrum over the trial of the senate president on  assets declaration there by tasking our separation of powers in a presidential system  of government in rather extravagant fashion. These  then  are the issues for consideration today  and  I think they are quite juicy for scrutiny  and analysis.

    Starting with China the visit of Chinese President Xi  Jinping to the UK  this  week  was bound to stir powerful historical   and political   memories  with ideological  antecedents. The  most powerful  dictatorship in the world was being hosted by the mother of Parliaments  and the world’s leading  constitutional  monarchy  and democracy. Surely  this was a meeting of ideological incompatibles in terms of either side’s perception of power, human rights and rule  of law. The  Communist Party of China led by President Xi  Jinping has a membership less than a million members yet it holds sway over the lives and security of one and a half billion Chinese people, the largest population of any nation in the world today. Whereas British  democracy runs on the well  known gruel  of one man, one vote majority  democracy. So  it is crystal clear that it is not democracy or ideology that has brought the successor of Mao and Deng to London but good old and new, ancient and modern  business  and  economic  opportunities, as  both the Speaker and the Chinese leader so rightly remarked in their speeches at the Mother of Parliaments this week in London. Already  it has been reported  that trade agreements worth  30  bn  pounds  are in the offing from the four day state  visit  of the Chinese president.

    The  announcement  by Vice  President Biden that he would not run for president  was obviously  closely monitored by the incumbent  and lame duck President  Barak  Obama for obvious reasons. The  first is to ensure that the president’s  preference for Hillary Clinton the Democratic Party’s front runner presidential candidate  is not derailed. The second  is to ensure governmental unity and focus  in the last  days of the Obama Administration.  That really must be why Obama himself followed or led his Vice  President to the event and  followed him out without a word at the ceremony. Yet Biden had his say even if he did not have his way  to  contest for America’s  highest office  for now or ever. He  said loudly that he would  not  contest but he would not be silent and Obama could hear that clearly as he was standing by his side policing him as it were on the occasion. Biden then took a swipe  at the tone of the Democratic Party  campaign  by stating that the Republican  Party was not an enemy but an opposition party and should be respected as such and not treated as an enemy. This  has  however  not prevented the hostile  legislative  witch  hunt of Hillary  Clinton on the Benghazi  matter  on which  she was reportedly grilled for 11  hours  this week. Biden   went on to say that consensus and compromise are not pejorative  words and have pragmatic use in US politics  and  diplomacy   as has been amply demonstrated under the Obama administration in which  he has played  his own part and would continue doing till the end.

    More  importantly he  said  the Democratic  Party must run the 2016 Presidential  election on the legacy of the outgoing Obama  presidency if it is to maintain its ideology of reducing the gap of income inequalities  between the rich and the poor in a US in which about a hundred families own the bulk of America’s  gargantuan wealth and earnings. To  me it was a good farewell  speech by the US Vice President to presidential ambition and a   good wake up warning to those in the presidential race as well as the Democratic Party on its core values, and  a  clear  message  not to take victory in  the  2016   presidential  race  for granted.

    In  Russia aside  from the fact that Syria’s  President Bashar Assad paid a visit to thank  Russia’s  President Vladmir  Putin for supporting him against the Syrians trying to oust him  from power,  the Russian president accused  the US of  supporting  terrorism which  of course  cannot  be true but which showed  that there is no love lost between the US and  Russia  at least  under their two incumbent presidents today. Indeed  it is a clear  sign that a serious personality clash  between the two leaders has overtaken the course of diplomacy and further  bilateral relations between the two  nations. Putin  accused  the Americans  of choosing who  to support amongst the rebels  fighting Assad and in the process  backing the wrong horses who Russia said are plain, raw  terrorists. Rather  than make the same mistake Putin said Russia would stick by Assad and in  the process  fight and   root out  ISIS which  he identified as a global threat  rather than a Syrian  problem. One  is yet to see how the US would  react to this  as the  US  is more interested in not losing any American lives in Syria than anything else and that is rather  strange  for a nation which had been concerned about spreading American values  and making the world safe for democracy. Obviously  on Syria the  Obama Administration is behaving like  the proverbial cat that would eat fish  from a pond without  getting its paws wet while the Russians have  evolved a heads on winner takes all approach  on the same  matter  and are enjoying its glamorous diplomatic  dividends and spoils of adventure which  the US of  course  thinks  is a misadventure that will soon backfire.

    At  home  the trial of the Senate president is being politicised  mostly  by  lawyers,  aided and abetted by the media. A  clear administrative issue  is being overblown by  all parties  to the trial. The tribunal  has taken a sensible decision  to await the decision of a higher court on its jurisdiction, an issue raised  by the Senate President’s lawyers earlier on. But  a debate is on, on who should have asked the tribunal  to stay proceedings between the prosecutors and the defendants as if that  too is an issue which I contend it is not. It  does not matter who kills a snake as long as it is killed. It  is simple  courtesy  for the tribunal not to jump  the gun  but to wait  for a decision of a higher court and not  embark  on an exercise  in futility if the higher court rules  one way  or the other. This is not even trite law  but common  sense but so many SANs  have been quoted on the matter saying contradictory things as if  a Ph.D  dissertation  is to evolve from  the debate which  I found  confusing and distracting from the focus on the case,  which  is an important litmus test  for the anti  corruption war  of this new Administration. Again, long live the Federal Republic  of Nigeria.

  • Who is afraid of the Buhari-Tinubu strategic partnership?

    Who is afraid of the Buhari-Tinubu strategic partnership?

    Barely a month after a fictive hack writer utilizing the pages of a national newspaper, to unleash a barrage of lies, wild concoctions and unsubstantiated fantasies against one of the pre-eminent leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC),   Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,  the same newspaper has without respect for facts or logic been on the onslaught against Tinibu. This time around, the newspaper claims without the slightest respect for facts or empirical facts that Asiwaju Tinubu has been placed under security surveillance because of his perceived opposition to the ministerial submitted to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari. Of course, the presidency has since denied the utterly unfounded fabrication. Yet, there are issues about the strategic Buhari-Tinubu political partnership that are germane to the present and future politics of Nigeria.  Students of politics may be quick to accuse this columnist of individualistic reductionism when group or organisational analyses are required.  But the role of individuals in organisational dynamics cannot be underscored.

    There can be no doubt that the strategic political partnership between President MuhammauduBuhari (PMB) and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has turned out to be one of the most efficacious, effective and productive in Nigeria’s political history.   Although each time he contested for Nigeria’s presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011, Buhrai garnered more than 12 million votes in the north, where he has a cult following, this could not translate into the pan- Nigerian victory that Buhari needed to emerge as Nige1ria’s President.

    In the same vein, despite throwing formidable and logistical weight particularly in the South West behind AtikuAbubakar in 2007 and MallamNuhuRibadu in 2011, Tinubu’s now defunct Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), could not lead the progressives to victory at the national level. The 2015 unprecedented electoral victory that swept Buhari to power on the platform of the APC was thus a function of the combination of Buhrai’s mass grassroots following in the north and the mass appeal of the Tinubu tendency in the South West and the tendency’s strong network with political elites across the country that had hitherto been scared of Buhari’s puritan and inflexible approach to politics.

    Any skilled political tactician who wants to cripple and render Buhrai’s administration ineffective from inception will, therefore aim to sunder and tear apart the partnership between the two men, One of the astute strategists being deployed by the anti Buhari-Tinubu partnership in a  section of the medias  is to recycle and dredge up all kinds of spurious and nefarious allegations against Tinubu that had become stale over the years and all which have been thoroughly investigated by relevant security and other agencies within and outside Nigeria. That plan of action has obviously gained no traction in relevant quarters. Hence the new line that                 Tinubu is under security surveillance for being allegedly opposed to President Buhari’s ministerial list. The APC national leader, according to the fictional report, jetted out of the country because he is many of his nominees did not make the president’s ministerial list.

    Of course, there are established protocols, processes and procedures that must be adhered to before anyone, no matter how highly placed, can travel out of the country. Did Tinubu violate anyone of these? In any case, the security sources quoted by the newspaper in question claimed they could not be placed on record because the purported investigation against Tinubu’s alleged plot against Buhari are still at the preliminary stages. This suggests that no in depth investigations have been carried out and any talk of a plot at point in time is tentative, premature and lacking in substance.

    Now, for what rational or logical reasons will Buhari’s ministerial list instigate Tinubu to begin to plot against PMB whatever that means? In the globalised world of today, can a national leader of a political party travel to any of the advanced global democracies to plot the destabilisation and truncation of his country’s democracy? What magical wand does Tinubu wave that he will convince Senators to plot against Buhari simply because the President has exercised his right to pick men and women he can work with as Ministers? Is that an impeachable offence? The Presidential system of government gives wide latitude to chief Executives to appoint Ministers they can work with within or outside their parties. This is unlike the parliamentary system where the Prime Minister is bound to nominate his cabinet from members of his party in the legislature.

    A number of commentators have cited the presence of Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) and Dr Kayode Fayemi as reasons for Tinubu’s alleged disagreement with Buhari’s ministerial list. This is childish. No matter what political intrigues may be currently at play, the presence of the two eminent gentlemen in Buhari’s cabinet testifies to Tinubu’s attributes as a talent hunter, discoverer and builder of leaders. Let us nurture not savage the productive Buhari-Tinubu partnership.

  • Street terrorism, deterrence and leadership

    From the bloody   killings  and  terrorism on the streets of Israeli cities and the  suicide  bombings in Maiduguri on Thursday  and  Friday this week it is clear that terrorists have adopted a new strategy of street  killings to drive home their points and  bloody  grudge against  organized  society. 100  people  were killed in Ankara, the Turkish  capital this week. In  Israel  terrorists  used knives to kill 7  Israelis  and wounded several in Israeli towns and cities. In Maiduguri the capital  of Borno State suicide  bombers said  to be girls aged between  11  and 15 killed 32 people at  evening prayers in Mosques on Thursday  and 34 in morning prayers the following day.

    Fellow  Nigerians,  it can not be business as  usual when girls become rampant and  prolific suicide  bombers at taking their own lives and those of innocent bystanders and passers by. It is my contention here that the Senate when it resumes its screening of members of the president’s  cabinet on Tuesday should pass a resolution  calling on the President to declare a state of emergency in Maiduguri not  only to save further  blood shed of innocent lives but  to save Nigeria’s sovereign  reputation as a nation that cares  for its citizens and not one that fiddles like Emperor Nero while Rome burnt. Especially  with our  globally infamous  incapacity  and nonchalance   over the loss of the 200 Chibok girls which  has left  the civilized  world  wondering at our sense  of parenthood, family, humanity and respect for the sanctity of human life and dignity.

    I  really  am  serious that Nigeria as a nation needs  to  show  the civilized  world  that we do care about  the  lives  of our  citizens and the carnage and killing  of innocent worshippers in mosques  must simply stop. Nigerians  generally and Islamic leaders in particular  must put pressure on government to stop the killing  and  not look the other way because it is not yet in their vicinity or  doorstep. That is plain callousness  and indifference bothering on collective wickedness.  I  recall that when Boko  Haram started in Maiduguri they were bombing night clubs and bars and people looked the other way. Then they started on Churches and still people looked the other way  Now   they  are using  small girls to  bomb mosques  and we are still  looking the other  way. But  now they are in Abuja, Kaduna and all over the North. Are we going to do something only if they bomb Lagos,  Ibadan  and Enugu? Certainly  something is rotten with  our state of mind and  state of the nation in the way we have been reacting to the killings of about 200 innocent  Nigerians in the last two  weeks  in Maiduguri.

    It  is nice to know that the Army  has reacted  by saying that it is because it is beating  Boko  Haram  on all fronts that is why it has resorted to suicide  bombing in  mosques. But  the army shoud restrategise  to combat or contain that too by protecting places of worship or places with large  crowds and that really should be done to save further loss of lives. Let  me illustrate with how  Israel has reacted  to the street  knife  killings which it did not expect and which  really  made the Jewish  state  to panic. Israeli Benjamin  Netanyahu who  has shown  so much arrogance against  the Palestinian leadership on peace talks suddenly  announced he was ready  to talk  with the Palestinian  President   Mahmoud  Abbass   on how to end the street knife killings which  is a new  form of terror in Israel  although it has  killed  only 7  Israelis.

    Similarly  Russian  President Vladmir Putin  is holding  talks with  Islamic  Central  Asian  nations called the Commonwealth of Independent States to form a military alliance with Russia  to combat an anticipated incursion of Islamic terrorism on these   nations bordering Afghanistan  where  the Taliban is playing the role of ISIS  and  Boko  Haram. This  is apart  from his much  criticized military  foray into  Syria to bomb  ISIS locations.  Again I say the Russians have been proactive  in the way they have acted in Syria and  Central  Asia and their  action and policy in this regard  have sent a strong warning of deterrence against real and potential  terrorists in the areas they have intervened.

    It  is certainly   educative  and instructive  to compare the Russian new  initiatives with the American policy in Afghanistan which gave notice of withdrawal  of  US  forces on a deadline but which  has now been extended for the obvious reason that the so called deadline emboldened the Taliban to plan a comeback  once the Americans are gone. Certainly there is not much argument in saying that the Russians understand the language terrorists are afraid of and would flee from,  far  better than  the endless dialogues and engagements of the Obama Administration which  have only made the terrorists  more confident instead of being roundly deterred and frightened  from   engaging    in further  despicable   acts of  murder and mayhem.

    With  regard  to Turkey  and the financing of the care of the refugees  that have flooded  that nation enroute Europe especially Germany the Turks  have asked for  a colossal  amount   –  3m  Euros – to fund the project.  Amazingly  Germany  under its Chancellor  Angela  Merkel  has asked the EU  to  place  Turkey’s  proposal  on the table  for consideration which again shows  humane and good leadership   by the Germans in confronting terrorism and telling   ISIS   clearly  that  in spite of the street bombings in Turkey  last week  Turkey  is not alone in  fighting  Islamic  terrorism  and ISIS.  Yet  this was the same German  Chancellor who  some time ago stalled  on Turkey’s  over 50  years EU  membership  application   with the argument  that  Turkey  cannot be a member  because it is Islamic  and you  cannot have an Islamic state  in the heart  of  Europe.  Really  one can  say  – how  time changes –  and wonder  how terrorism  has  brought  out  humanity  to do  so clearly  what diplomacy  has not been able to achieve in almost  half  a century  of  Turkey’s  application  for EU  membership.

    On  another  note  it was  cheering hearing that the US  has  sent some 300 troops  to  fight Boko  Haram  from  Cameroon. It  shows that the US African  policy at  least is becoming more pragmatic instead  of staying in  Washington  and expecting the collapse of the Nigerian state this 2015 which  cannot  happen. In  Nigeria  however given the  rise  of street violence  and suicide  bombing in Maiduguri intelligence gathering and house searching becomes an important strategy  to foil suicide  bombing attack  potentials. The objective should be to  preempt the attack or nick it in the bud before execution. That  cannot be done by the army alone and the civil  society  should be engaged to assure the security  of  all  of us. It  is imperative we get this right and deter terrorists  in  our midst as  quickly as possible.  A stitch in time saves nine.  Again  long live the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Fighting a friend

    The missing piece in the puzzle has been fixed.  The virus of indiscipline troubling Nigeria’s senior soccer side, the Super Eagles, is on the verge of extinction, following the brouhaha that happened in Belgium, last Tuesday. I deliberately refused to comment on the imbroglio until all the scenarios arising from the skirmish had faded away like odour oozing out of a basket of rotten eggs.

    When the first offender cried blue murder, I knew he had realised that his game was up. He wasn’t going to be the monster that he had turned himself into. His angst stemmed from the way he had been eased out of the Eagles – like the runny nose of an ailing kid – so easy. This first offender suddenly realised that his flock in the Eagles had chickened out, leaving him trapped inside the clay pot, ready to be thrown out in the forest.

    It needed a mafia to fix this first offender and it is a welcome development. Glad to know that nothing happens forever. The change mantra in Nigeria has finally hit the Eagles- we can now hope that lessons have been learned by those waiting in the flanks to succeed this first offender.

    I guess by now it should be obvious what this writer wants to address- the Sunday Oliseh and Vincent Enyeama face-off. Both of them are “mafia” men in their own rights, but one has been outsmarted by the bigger boy. Had Enyeama appreciated that Oliseh negotiated the soft landing he got from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) chiefs over his uncouth utterance that Kaduna wasn’t suitable for an international game, he wouldn’t have seen the coach as his enemies’ friend, but his messiah.

    Enyeama saw Oliseh as NFF’s ally; someone he shouldn’t support. That preconception was what Enyeama took to the Eagles camp in Belgium. Clear to me was the fact that the goalkeeper didn’t want to play in the two matches. He was there for war. He only needed some prompt to set the camp ablaze.

    And Oliseh unwittingly provided it with the announcement of a change in the team’s captaincy. Blue murder, Enyeama raved inside him. This agenda had the colouration of all that had been planned for him by the NFF chiefs. It mustn’t stand – poor boy, like he has now realised, albeit with a bruised nose.

    Put simply, Enyeama misfired. He must have realised it and spanked himself in his bathroom while reflecting on what happened, especially after having access to  information that he didn’t have prior to the Wednesday show-of-shame. If Enyeama knew that Oliseh insisted on having him as the Eagles’ captain while negotiating his deal with the NFF, he wouldn’t have reacted that way. If the coach made the announcement based on the fact that Enyeama told him pointedly that he would retire in 2017, the goalkeeper should have waited until after the meeting to break the news that he had changed his mind.  They would have embraced themselves like they are now doing. The coach would have called Ahmed Musa aside and informed him of Enyeama’s review of his retirement date.

    The lesson that Enyeama should learn from this is that vengeance is of God. What happened in Belgium was transferred aggression. He must also learn how to control his emotion, whether under stress or in distress. What has softened Enyeama’s hostility towards Oliseh is the revelation by NFF that the coach saved him from a ban earlier. The goalkeeper must be quietly kicking himself for fighting a friend. Little wonder, the goalkeeper laughed heartily on the phone on Saturday.

    Let’s hope that Oliseh has taken all that happened with Enyeama in its stride. Such incidences serve as the experience he will garner in the course of doing the job. The victory on Sunday against the Indomitable Lions is the elixir the team needs for growth.

    Oliseh must employ the method of substitution by elimination in his selection process. He should give players enough games to prove themselves, except where such a player’s performance is appalling.

    Such informed methods would forestall players’ rebellion. Oliseh should learn to delegate functions. He needs to consult widely on issues he thinks can be chaotic. If he had consulted widely, for instance, maybe the NFF should have made the announcement of the change of guard, even though the decision is his.

    We should never sacrifice discipline on the altar of how long any player has served the country. Rather, his commitment and readiness to abide by camp rules should be the basis for electing a captain. I support Oliseh’s decision to ignore John Mikel Obi on the issue of captaincy. Mikel hasn’t shown that he is ready for such exemplary positions.

    No player is bigger than Nigeria. Any irritant player should be shown the door before he corrupts others. We must weed out heady players in the team to prevent the shameful act in Windhoek, Namibia, in 2013, when Eagles players refused to board the chartered aircraft sent by FIFA to convey the squad to the 2013 Confederations Cup held in Brazil. It was reported that the players and coaches refused to allow the then sports minister to intervene in the matter. Rather, they opted to seek reassurances from a telephone conversation with the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan before they boarded a commercial aircraft to the Samba region.

    This act of impunity continued at the 2014 World Cup where Eagles refused to train again until their entitlements were paid. It must be stated here that World Cup emoluments are paid after the competition, largely because the soccer-ruling body needs to make pro rata deductions on yellow and red cards and other sundry issues before effecting pay ment to the participating football federations.

    But these recalcitrant players (that is what they were because of the show-of-shame) got President Jonathan to cough out $3.8 million, which the players, coaches and accompanying officials shared 24 hours to Nigeria’s second round game against France, which the French won 2-0.

    Enyeama’s exit from the Eagles’ camp should signpost the holistic changes many pundits have craved for in the team. His exit should launch the enforcement of the players’ code of conduct. This document exists in all their European clubs.

    It really hurts that Enyeama is quitting the Eagles with this stigma. He should be given another chance provided he can openly accept that he erred. He needs to promise everyone to be of good conduct subsequently.

    Enyeama needs this face saver if he hopes to return to coach any of the national teams. His past should never haunt him. He can draw examples from the immediate past Eagles chief coach and the incumbent, who in their days as captain ran the rule over everyone yet refused to be led by the noses as coaches.

    Barrister Godwin Dudu Orumen situates the Enyeama/Oliseh’s brouhaha thus: Unsalutary tales of captain’s power and its misuse by Stephen Keshi, Uche Okechukwu, Sunday Oliseh ironically and now Vincent Enyeama.

    “These captains have all acted like Head Boys and Union Leaders rolled into one in their times, challenging constituted authorities of the NSC, NFA/NFF and Coaches like dark knights and non-conformists.

    “They lead and drive in hostage-taking style and engaging in disruptive late night bargaining for match bonuses especially and who gets to coach the Eagles. I do admit that the issues of match bonuses have been a sore point now.

    “However these Captains too have been very unprofessional, limited in thinking and costly in their actions. Several of their actions fall into moral hazards giving the fact that appearing in national colours have boosted their careers too. Notwithstanding the din of the moral hysteria that greeted the Oliseh-Enyeama imbroglio, the efforts by NFF to resolve same, I hold the view that to move forward institutionalised checks have to be put in place urgently in the Super Eagles structure to forestall further or repeat occurrence.

    “And although I gave Oliseh my support in his face off with Enyeama, I do hope he has learnt a thing or two from this unpleasant experience, especially because as captain of the Super Eagles to Mali 2002, with the active connivance of (then) Super Eagles coach Shuaibu Amodu, Oliseh’s behaviour was no better,” Dudu Orumen alleged.

    Well said Dudu-Orumen. Good luck Vincent Enyeama. Welcome to the hot seat, Sunday Oliseh.

     Going to Turkey

     The story on Tuesday night of an endorsement of John Mikel Obi’s exit from Chelsea during the January 2016 transfer window is the best news in recent times.

    The story is soul-lifting since it stated the Special One, Jose Mourinho has approved Mikel’s sack from Stamford Bridge. Some other reports were categorical in revealing that the Nigerian is heading for Besiktas, although no one is ruling out a move to Fenerbahce also in Turkey.

    Mikel needs this break to save his career. His performance against Congo DR and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Belgium on October 8 and 11 suggests that he still has the Midas touches that made him only second to Lionel Messi at the Holland U-20 World Youth Championships, where Nigeria lost 2-1 to Argentina in the final game.

    Movement to Turkey for Mikel means more playing time on the pitch. Although it presupposes a huge cut to the staggering wages he collects at Chelsea. Will Mikel accept pay cut or just wait until his deal at Chelsea runs out? If he waits, he goes on a free transfer. It means that Chelsea loses out? But will Chelsea want to lose out on Mikel’s transfer? Again, how many clubs will pay 15 million pounds on Mikel, who has been in-and-out of the pitch? Or will any European club pay the 15 million pounds and offer Mikel regular first-team shirt?

    Will Mikel end his romance with Chelsea? Or will he seek greener pastures in Turkey or any other club? Time will tell.

  • Our sports minister

    It appears we have left sports in the lurch, if one takes a critical look at the 21 nominees for the ministerial positions in the Muhammadu Buhari government. There is no doubt another set of ministerial appointments to be made. But I feel strongly that sports ought to have come with the first batch with months to 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil and other top tournaments.

    The names published in the newspapers don’t look like people to be assigned to sports, given their pedigree. Perhaps, the president would shock me by announcing Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) as the new sports minister. Did I hear you say in my wildest dream? Don’t blame me. Fashola took sports to the zenith in Lagos. Fashola understood the dynamics in sports. He created the platforms for sports in thrive in the Centre of Excellence.

    He gave Lagos a credible face that emboldened the corporate world to identify with sporting events in Lagos. Fashola found the time to play football at the late Teslim Balogun Stadium. This further convinced the blue chip firms to support sports in Lagos. With the corporate bodies providing the cash, Lagos returned to its glorious past of being the Mecca for sports in the country. Lagos had a sports calendar that many people followed. Fashola ensured that Lagos discovered, nurtured and exposed talented athletes drawn from the hinterlands at the National Sports festival. He told his officials to jettison the poaching of athletes from other states syndrome that some desperate governors opted for to win the multi-sports events.

    The effect of no poaching by Lagos ensured that the indigenes formed the nucleus of the state’s contingent unlike in other states where Adekunle Oluwasegun, for instance clinched 10 gold medals for Rivers State and Abubakar Abubakar win medals for Edo State.

    Another ripple of no poaching is that the medalists returned to the homes, schools, churches, mosques and play grounds as heroes and heroines. They served as models for others in the communities to emulate with some parents urging their kids to take to sports.

    Fashola understood the essence of the multi-sports competition- to get younger talents to replace the ageing ones and to strive to upset the established stars. Today, the sports facilities built and rejuvenated by Fashola warehoused most of the athletes Nigeria paraded at the All African Games trained before heading for Brazzaville.

    Besides, Fashola anchored the new dawn in Lagos sports on credible and distinguished Nigerians such as the late Molade Okoya- Thomas and Mr Olawale Edun. Both men instituted the right attitude and mentality in the way sports is run. Today, Nigerians are celebrating new boxers who shone at the All African Games without recourse to the Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame project which laid the foundation that threw up the medalists.

    Moribund sporting facilities were rebuilt. It is unfortunate because the one sphere that unites us a one nation is sports. It is only during sporting competitions that Nigerians forget about ethnicity, religion and political divides.

    These administrators must be tasked to take each game to any part of the country with the best comparative advantage to produce the athletes who must then be taught the rudiments of the game at the grassroots. The criteria for picking administrators for each sport should include having the passion for the game. It is only when a person is passionate about a sport that he can appreciate the need to continuously provide new ideas to develop it.

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

    The policy should challenge local government chairmen to build at least four mini-sports centres that would serve as playgrounds for their constituents in the absence of such structures in the schools in the 774 local government areas.

    Multiply four mandatory mini-sports centres by 774 local governments, what you get (3,096 mini-sports centres) would set the platform for the industry to grow. Blue-chip companies will then leverage their products and services on this enterprise since their target audience are the masses who will throng the centres to watch competitions.

    The spiral effect of blue-chip firms identifying with this new initiative is that the local government areas could recoup their investments because they could offer to name these facilities after the firms alongside other marketing windows that the initiatives offer, such as kitting and moulding the career paths of athletes discovered to stardom.

    Wealthy indigenes will queue up to patronise sports, recruiting the locals as coaches, athletes, grounds men, drivers, cleaners, security personal, doctors and other institutional staff in their outfits. If each of the 774 local governments employ 50 people for each of the mandatory four mini-sports centres in the proposed pilot scheme, the employment rate in the hinterlands will reduce.

    Perhaps we need to re-introduce the zonal sports offices in the six geo-political zones and equip them with coaches and office personnel who should be monitored just as the coaches must be retrained. Those who are not productive should be eased out of the system.

    These rebuilding processes would produce incontrovertible data base for the talents discovered. And it would help sports develop since athletes won’t be able to forge ages to play for the junior teams.

    But how did we get to this pitiable situation? Greed and selfishness of those who administer sports put us on this inglorious path. They refused to build on the gains of the past. They introduced quota system. Sports facilities were left to decay. Nepotism formed the fulcrum for picking coaches, officials and athletes. That would have been okay, if they performed. But these people failed woefully.

    Unpopular governments in Nigeria, especially during the jackboot eras used sports as their biggest public relations tool to seek acceptance.

    In other polities, sports industry is big business. It is a money spinner. It is used to empower the people. It engages the youth and takes them off societal vices. Sports create the platforms for the people to recreate. Being engaged in sporting events improves the health and living standards of citizens.

    And so people rebuilding sports are most times tested technocrats and renowned athletes who have graduated from the fields to the board rooms.

    Such novel choices when made get global applause from other countries because with such a person, a truly new dawn beckons for the industry. Anytime, we appoint a sports minister, he starts by wrestling for power at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), leaving more than 26 other sports in the lurch. This explains why our facilities are in ruins. Ministers measure their achievements by the success records.

    Yet, the National Sports Commission (NSC), which most ministers and director generals operate is not known to the law. These twosome have played politics with the abrogation of Act 101, because it gives the minister the powers to interfere in NFF’s affairs.

    I look forward to the day we will get a minister who will complete the process of abrogating Act 101. I look forward to seeing a minister who will run sports through the schools, polytechniques and universities. Sport is for the youths. They are found in the schools.

    I recall those days at Government College Ughelli, when we returned to the school as winners of the 1977 edition of Morocco/ Clarke Cup. Our mates at school trooped out to receive us. We felt like kings. We were celebrated by the principal the late Demas Onoriode Akpore. It was a very rare privilege. I treasure those moments to date.

    This scenario underscores the importance of what renowned sports journalist and the Vice President, International Sports press Association, Mitchel Obi told a gathering recently in Lagos.

    Obi said: “Allow the private sector to come in to set the tone with entrepreneurial skills, then it becomes huge business. Imagine what it means if every week people go into the stadium to enjoy a good match; the impact and effervescent effect for the nation. Consider those who transport the fans, those who sell to the fans, produce wares for the fans, those who produce the tickets, the telephone companies that would gain from it, especially in this telecommunication age, where if you are in the stadium, you want to tweet it, take pictures and post on the social media, it is all so complex. That is why we are saying that sports is a catalyst to recover from the economic recession that the country is experiencing. But that is if we understand it.”

    The Progressive Vanguard stated that: “President Buhari must not set a bad precedent by not appointing a Sports Minister; the decision will also jeopardize the revival of the now moribund industry. Our industry is comatose.  We need a tripartite marriage between the Ministries of Education, Youths and Sports to revive the industry. If we don’t have a Minister of Sports, that means there won’t be cabinet representation for Sports, thus there won’t be interaction between Ministers of Youth and Education which are crucial to the revival of the Sports industry.”

    The Progressive Vanguard urged President Buhari and APC not to be deceived by the second placing of Team Nigeria at the just concluded All African Games to think all is well with our sports.

    The Progressive Vanguard  stressed: “The All Africa Games, as it is today is a developmental programme, Nigeria is just one of the few countries that take it seriously, most sporting nations in Africa, like South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and others send their young athletes. If the government is in doubt, they should just check the world ranking of athletes that won medals in Congo vis-à-vis their counterpart in other parts of the world, most of our medalists are not in the top 50 in the world.’’

    “Apart from a brief period under GEJ when concerted efforts were made to revive our sports which was aborted because of politics , sports has been dead in Nigeria in the last ten years.’’

    So, who will be our next sports minister? I cannot wait.

  • Expectations, indignation and democracy

    A CNN interview of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson fired my imagination for this write up. Obviously Carson is no run of the mill candidate just as Donald Trump the front runner of the GOP  to whom Carson  is a close  second is, and  both are not politician. Yet  that has not been a disadvantage as polls show that both are riding on a crest of indignation  by  the US  electorate  against the dismal  performance of politicians in running or ruining the American government or American dreams or both.

    Today  I  recall elements of the Carson interview and ponder his electability as a US presidential  candidate even as I have no iota of doubt on his capability to function effectively if  elected   as a US president judging from his performance from  that same interview. I  will  proceed to compare that  with the high expectations of Nigerians with the Buhari Presidency in the wake of the running battle of legitimacy with the leadership of our senate on the eve of the senatorial confirmation of ministers sent  to the senate. I  will  then look at Russia’s  President Vladmir Putin ‘s  successful foray of returning the world to the era of  Cold War diplomacy with his launching of rockets on ISIS  locations in Syria  from Russian warships  stationed in the Capsian  Sea while the US and EU watch in despair, amazement and sheer diplomatic and military  paralysis.

    I  start with a  brief analysis of the personalities of the world  leaders I have mentioned here as an anchor to my perceptions on the topic of the day. Ben  Carson is a world renown neuro  surgeon, a black man and the first doctor to successfully separate  twins joined at the head.  He  has America’s  highest honor – the Medal  of Freedom and has 15 honorary doctorate degrees to  his credit. He is a  scholar’s delight in terms of academic achievements which  have a great and direct bearing on his articulation of issues and events – which  also  have earned him  respect  generally  but  also envy and indignation from  those who cannot reconcile his color with his great talents and  admirable  sagacity.

    Donald Trump the American property  billionaire and Republican  front runner is an all American  success story but the Republican Party establishment do  not want him as their candidate. But  Trump is brave, brash, articulate and stunningly rich such that he is proving unstoppable for the GOP, which traditionally in the US is the party of the rich.

    Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is of a different mode from  both US Republican presidential  candidates  He  has been elected and  he came to  office with great expectations  from Nigerians on how to sanitise their socio political and economic  environment. His reputation for fearlessness in doing the right thing has  made him the natural and expected  motor to clear away the sickening odor and refuse of corruption that has characterized Nigeria such that an American author wrote a book  titled‘A Culture of Corruption ‘which is about how 419  has become a way of life  in Nigeria.

    Russian President Vladmir Putin on his part has shown that lackadaisical diplomacy cannot be allowed to endanger world peace and security.   He  has stolen the thunder or is it miaowing of the US and EU by  taking up the vacuum of vacillation created  willingly by the US in the Middle East  by backing the Bashar Assad regime  in  Syria militarily to  the consternation of traditional US allies like Saudi Arabia and the wealthy Gulf States like Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.  Putin  has recreated a global  balance of terror 15  months  to the end of the Obama presidency and has made Obama  to look like one of the most impotent lame duck president of contemporary US  history simply  by siding Assad on the excuse of trying to make the world safe by  attacking a common enemy such as ISIS. Putin has used the perfect excuse to return Russia as a world power and his timing and execution has shown that he is a far better master of the pot pourri  of modern diplomacy than those who scoff at his tactics and invoke international  law as if inaction  and blatant dithering and handwringing will ever deter murderous terrorists and religious  militants.

    Let  me  now address the interview that Ben Carson had as  a presidential  candidate on CNN and the expectations of Nigerians  on the Buhari presidency and the spat with the Senate respectively. First  the Ben Carson interview by Wolf was more interested in nailing Carson to what he had said on the campaign trail which were considered controversial. These included his saying that a Muslim cannot  be US president, that Obama is not a black man  or  a Christian and that if  Americans had guns they  would not be killed randomly by gun toting crazy  Americans. His explanations were that he had been quoted out of context and I find his answers quite  illuminating even though the questions were like a mousetrap set to nail his presidential  bid.

    Carson said Islam is a way of life governed by Sharia and that would make it unconstitutional for any American practicing it to be US president unless and until he has renounced it.  He  said he believes Obama  is a black man and that the publisher Rupert Murdoch who said he is not was not a racist. On  Obama being a Christian he said since Obama has said  so he believes him. On  gun ownership Carson wrote in his new book that if Jews had guns in Hitler’s  Germany he would have been deterred from slaughtering 6m Jews in the Holocaust and he[ Carson]  stood by that. He  went  further to elaborate that recent killings in the US have been in gun free zones and advocated a mechanism to be put in place whereby those being attacked can make effort collectively to attack their real or potential killers instead of just mopping or running away.

    To  me Carson’s  explanations make great common sense and are indeed truisms which, expect one wants to be mischievous, can not be said to be controversial  but the US media  has made it so. The reason may be tied to the gay issue because Carson is  Seventh  Day Adventist Christian who  believes marriage should be between a man  and a woman although he respects the rights of gays and lesbians. On  Obama’s blackness Jesse Jackson once apologized for saying that Obama was not the type of Blackman expected to be US president ostensibly because he was raised by his grandmother,   a rich white banker  with Irish ancestry. That  really again was  what Rupert Murdoch was referring to when he said  Obama was not a real black  man and I do not see any racism in that. He was just alluding to Obama’s upbringing and orientation which  have played  a great part in  his presidency which Carson insisted has not benefitted the Blackman in the US in any way.  On  diplomacy  Carson said if elected he would call Russia’s Putin to order and given the US non policy on the Middle East which  he said had given rise  to ISIS I do  not see any controversy in that either.  Whether  Carson wins his party’s  nomination  or  not he has proven that his presidential  bid has clout and that it is quite possible for the US to have a credible and acceptable  blackman  as US president after Obama and that to me is commendable and desirable.

    Let  me round  up with the politics of approval  of the president’s men in our  senate. My  view is that the exercise  is a litmus test of  not only the integrity  of our separation of powers but also the fibre of our fight against  corruption. Certainly  the  Senate  will want to make a meal of the exercise but  Nigerians are  watching and they are not amused because the Senate is not  a soccer pitch to  cheer  goals or  a theatre  of Nollywood. The  ministerial  screening is a serious business and given the manner of the emergence of the Senate leadership, the asset  declaration trial of the Senate president and the police investigation of the senate leadership election rules,  Nigerians are watching to  see how the three issues will affect the screening of ministers. My advise is that the Senate  should do its duty without any  haggling or bargaining  over the three issues  and the Presidency  should stick by its list without any expectation other than a strict screening of its nominees by the Senate. This  is the expectation. of Nigerians otherwise the screening may   be – like Anthony Enahoro said when he proposed  self government for Nigeria –  the beginning of a chain of events the end of which no man knows. Again  long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.