The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Sensible Eagles list

    I’m excited over the 23-man list released by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for the March 25 and 29 games against Bolivia and South Africa. The list shows clearly that it is no longer business-as-usual. It represents the best of Nigerian players in Europe. And that has been my biggest grouse with Super Eagles’ coaches.

    Super Eagles isn’t a rehabilitation centre for orthopaedic players. Nor is it a place to expose players for export to European clubs. The Eagles camp is the centre-piece of excellence where our players should fight for shirts. It should be a place where the mere invitation to camp should call for celebrations, like we see in other climes.

    Hitherto, most Eagles’ list either looked like they were brought out of the dusty drawers at the NFF or were the results of the coaches’ fixation, which forbade new players in the team. The list became subjects of debates because it contained the names of injured players or those who hadn’t played for their European clubs for months. Such were the discrepancies in the Eagles list that pundits asked the coaches where they saw those questionable players play. They were not the ones seen weekly on television.

    Global best practices are such that players who under-perform in competitions or matches, lose their shirts to others in subsequent matches. But in the old Eagles dispensation, it was forbidden to replace fumbling players.

    It is, therefore, refreshing to note that Nigeria could pick three goalkeepers without Chigozie Agbim and Austin Ejide. The argument that Agbim is the best goalkeeper in the domestic league, going by the listing of goalkeepers Theophilus Afelokhai (Kano Pillars) and Chidiebere Eze (Ifeanyi Ubah United), is bunkum. These home-based goalkeepers have been around in the last three years. Afelokhai mans the goalpost for defending league champions Kano Pillars. The implication of this new development is that other domestic league goalkeepers will fight to improve on their game, knowing that they could be invited to camp, if any of those picked fumbles.

    Part of the list’s excitement is that only two members of the Eagles defence at the 2014 World Cup are included. Godfrey Oboabona and Kenneth Omeruo are listed with some home-based defenders along with Leon Balogun, who was injured in one of our build-up games to the Brazil 2014 World Cup. No list is perfect; otherwise one would have asked for the criteria used in picking Omeruo, who has been very inconsistent with his English Championship side Middleborough. But one is consoled by the fact but he represents some of the youngest boys in the Brazil 2014 World Cup Eagles’ whose experience shouldn’t be jettisoned on the altar of poor performance with his club.

    The talk of starting a home-based Super Eagles camp with over 28 players which must be pruned to five or six that would eventually   make the final squad, smacks of laziness on the part of the coaches. If the coaches had taken pains to watch the domestic game religiously, it would have been easy to pick a 20-man local league side without duplication.

    For defenders Chima Akas (Sharks FC), Nelson Ogbonnaya (Heartland FC) and Akeem Latifu (Aalesunds FC, Norway), a debut appearance for the Eagles is like a dream come true. Granted friendly matches are to expose players but they have to be our best at all times. If we continue to invite our best, foreign scouts would be encouraged to visit our local clubs to watch matches and get the players without necessarily going through shylock agents, who rip off the players through slavish deals.

    If the NFF sincerely continues to ensure that only our best players in the domestic league get called to the camp, the exodus to Europe that has crippled the game here will be reduced. Our players will remain here, knowing that if they excel with the Eagles, they can discuss their future with their suitors.

    Globally, it’s the strikers who get the attention, but if we showcase midfielders and defenders who are talented, the searchlight would be focused on them. Had Adegboye Onigbinde not taken the risk in fielding hitherto rookie Vincent Enyeama against a star-studded England side at the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup, maybe Enyeama have been Globally, it’s the strikers who get the attention, but if we showcase midfielders and defenders who are talented, the searchlight would be focused on them. Had Adegboye Onigbinde not taken the risk in fielding hitherto rookie Vincent Enyeama against a star-studded England side at the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup, maybe Enyeama have been wallowing in Enyimba FC of Aba or be tagged a veteran without a job.

    Eight midfielders – Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio, Italy); Steven Ukoh (Biel-Bienne FC, Switzerland); Omatsone Aluko (Hull City, England);Hope Akpan (Reading FC, England); John Ogu (Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel); Babatunde Michael (Volyn Lutsk, Ukraine); Joseph Nathaniel (Sharks FC) and Kingsley Sokari (Enyimba FC) – raised fresh hopes that the rebuilding of the Eagles would be thorough. Sadly, John Mikel Obi’s injury may scuttle the attempt to carve out a formidable midfield to provide the defence-splitting passes for the strikers to score goals. Akpan and Aluko have been very enterprising in the few games that they have played for the Eagles. Perhaps, the next Eagles coach would have the guts to pick one person between Mikel and Onazi to play at the number 4 position, which is where either of them plays in Europe.

    The Eagles midfield lost its fluidity when the coaches dropped Sunday Mba for inexplicable reasons. Mba gave the Eagles attack at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa the width it required to spray the passes towards the flanks for our strikers to score goals. When the goals didn’t come, Mba took the gauntlet and scored. Indeed, it was Mba’s goal that gave Nigeria the trophy in our nail-biting 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso in the final game at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

    Since Mba was dropped from the Eagles, we have struggled to score goals. Emmanuel Emenike, who benefited from Mba’s incisive play, hasn’t scored a goal for the Eagles like he did in the past. Many football pundits still remember how Mba combined effectively with Brown Ideye at the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria won.

    If there was one player who surprised many a Nigerian fan at the Brazil 2014 World Cup until the Eagles were eliminated 2-0 by France in the second round, it was Babatunde Michael.  Until he was injured in the game against France, Babatunde’s bustling run from the midfield gave the Eagles another option to launch its attack. It was in one of his bustling runs that he got hacked by a French defender. That marked the end of the competition for him, but he had made his mark. His return to the Eagles represents one of the benefits of Nigeria’s participation at the Mundial in Brazil, last year.

    Already, the South Africans are scared stiff about the Nigerian list, which excludes most of our big stars. They are not shocked because we have the population to produce 11 Super Eagles, only if our coaches consider the importance of fielding our best.

    The strikers’ list tells the story of adequate monitoring of the European leagues. The list includes Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia), Aaron Samuel (Guangzhou R&F, China), Brown Ideye (West Brom, England), Odion Ighalo (Watford FC, England), Anthony Ujah (FC Cologne, Germany), Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium), Ubong Moses (Kano Pillars), Stanley Dimgba (Warri Wolves) and Mfon Udoh (Enyimba FC).

    Musa, Ideye, Ighalo, Samuel and Ujah have been quite outstanding in their leagues. They haven’t played together before. But we expect the coaches to know how to get them to work as a unit. It is quite interesting to know that Emmanuel Emenike can be dropped. I feel strongly this is the best reality check for Emenike to improve on his game.

    Emenike’s goal drought extends to his Turkish club. It explains why he shouldn’t be in this squad. It would have been marvelous watching Victor Moses’ return to the Eagles after his war of words with the coaches in Brazil over his exclusion in the team. The coaches denied that such an incident happened. Yet, Moses hardly made the team after the 2014 World Cup fiasco.  Moses is on standby due to the injury he sustained playing for Stoke penultimate Saturday.

    Pundits are relieved that Yakubu Aiyegbeni wasn’t listed for this game. Yak has played his part in the Eagles creditably. He may be doing well at Reading but he should never be considered for the national team. A few others who are ageing could be invited with one goal in mind- sending them forth so that they can keep such tapes recorded for posterity.

    It still hurts that Nwankwo Kanu, Stephen Keshi, George Finidi, Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amuneke, Sunday Oliseh, Austin Eguavoen, Peter Rufai et al don’t have tapes of their testimonial games at the national level. NFF must ensure that John Mikel Obi, Vincent Enyeama and others in this generation break the voodoo by sending them forth at the appropriate time.  A word is enough for the wise.

    Bonfrere’s heart of gold

    Johannes Bonfrere isn’t a stranger to football lovers here. Need I waste space to highlight his contributions to our football development?

    Bonfrere is certainly a good man. It takes the heart of gold for a former boss to keep track of what is happening in a country that, according to him, treated him with levity.

    For the records, Bonfrere was the technical adviser that led the team coached by the late Willy Bazuaye to win the gold medal at the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games in Georgia.

    It is quite understandable that Bazuaye’s death should attract tributes from those who knew him closely. And Bonfrere told 88.9 Brila FM on Wednesday that Bazuaye’s death left a deep cut inside him.

    “What can you say to the family other than sorry, that a good man is gone again? He was always ready to work very well when the time was there. You can trust and believe him when he was telling you about the football in training,” Bonfrere concluded in his smattering English.

  • Elections as nemesis for performance and corruption

    Next  Saturday  Nigerians  who  have  the required  PVCs  will  troop  out to  vote  in the 2015  presidential  elections while those who  don’t  have them brood disconsolately  in their  homes at their disenfranchisement.  This  is  the hard  fact and no matter  how much those who have PVCs  gloat  at the opportunity to vote  the  fact that those who cannot vote  because they don’t have them did not put themselves  in that  situation.  They  are  just  victims  of INEC’s  incompetence and inefficiency  in insisting that some Nigerians  cannot vote  because the  computer  used  for  the registration  of their  PVCs  in  2011  is bad  and  only those  who  register in  in  2014  can  have PVCs  for  the 2015  election.

    I  find  that totally  unacceptable  even though  I know  such  disenfranchised  people are  in their millions  and  have resigned themselves  to their fate because  politicians  and  political  parties have  politicized and  polluted the issue of glaring and manifest  INEC  incompetence in this election such  that it is like  barking at the moon  to provide remedy  for such disenfranchised  Nigerians. It  is  particularly  painful  that  INEC’s callous  indifference  to the plight  of  such  disenfranchised  Nigerians gave  rise  to the call  for the removal  of its boss Professor Attahiru  Jega  which  has led to a do or die duel  in the polity as the matter  has become personalized  and politicized  about  his headship of the electoral  body. Whereas  in any civilized  community    he would  have thrown  in the towel  for lack  of capacity or  shown   the way  out for  palpable mendacity in    saying  he  was  ready  for  the  postponed 2015  Valentine Day’s   election  when indeed he  was  not  and would  later in smug    relief  tell  the National  Assembly  unbelievably   that the postponement  was  a blessing. Definitely I am  one  Nigerian  who has  lost  faith  in the capacity  of INEC  to  conduct a free and fair  election in our 2015  elections starting next week  on  March 28.

    Let  me  state  that I am  aware  that some  politicians  have said that  that INEC made cards available and potential  voters did not  just collect their cards and that is not the fault  of INEC. That  again  is not tenable  or plausible. Why  would voters not want to collect their  PVCs? Frustration in not getting them on deliberate visits to registration sites is one  reason. The second  is the dismay  of seeing so  many  cards  for your area lying unclaimed while a leering INEC  official  tells you casually that  your name  is not amongst  the huge  lumps  of unclaimed  PVCs  in your area. Such  blatant disenfranchisement is  going to be read as voters apathy by observers in this election. But   I call  it induced or inadvertent  apathy as distinct  from real apathy  when  for whatever reasons   registered  voters  don’t want  to vote or be  involved in the electoral  process  for  personal  reasons.

    Yet  elections  provide a great  opportunity  for  voters to exercise  their  democratic rights and reward  performance while  admonishing governance  sloppiness and failure  to fulfill election promises  by voting  out such  errant incumbents or leaders  out  of office. It  therefore  follows that any political system worth its salt and mindful  of its stability should  make the creation  and  entrenchment  of an enabling  environment  for voters and  potential  voters  to  exercise  their  voting  rights  its priority   or  open itself  to  charges  of  electoral  fraud  or  manipulation  even  before  elections take  place.

    Again, elections such as the ones we embark  on  next  week  provide  the litmus  test  to authenticate or fault  any  democracy and ours  is  no exception. Up  to next  Saturday  you  can bet that the  incumbent  president  of  Nigeria will  still  be campaigning furiously  as he has  done  in the last three  months for  reelection. He has  been joined  by his wife who  has brought her own  brand  of first lady  politics to the fore to ensure  her husband  is  reelected. One  can  only  for now warn the first lady  that the wife of the former president of the Ivory  Coast  has  just  been jailed for about 21  years for post election violence in that nation after the husband  Laurent  Gbagbo  refused  to quit  the presidency when  he lost the presidential election to current Ivorian President Alasane  Ouattara. However in  spite  of the first lady’s  electioneering aggression I  do  not think the  husband  has the hunger  for power that much  to go the Gbagbo  way in case he loses  power, but it is necessary to  bring up  the issue.

    One  thing that is certain  though  is that the incumbent president is  fighting  belatedly  for his political  life in an unprecedented  manner as if he  forgot what we are discussing today. Which  is that elections are the nemesis or day of judgement to renew  or take power from those who hold it and  or  give it   out  to those with the promise to use it better  for the good and welfare  of the electorate. Certainly  from his busy  campaign  shuttle  and that of  his wife added to it, the incumbent  president  knows what is  at stake  and does  not want to lose power in  next  week’s  presidential  elections.

    On  that score the  Nigerian  president must  defend  his record  on the management  of corruption during his tenure. That  record  is dismal  to say  the least and  his many evasive  answers on the issue  have only compounded  the matter. The  example  of the  Brazilian  President  Dilmar  Roussef  who won the presidential  elections in that nation recently is  apt. She is facing calls  for  her  impeachment because the ruling Workers  Party  that brought  her  to power is facing accusations  of  corruption involving kickbacks  and bribes involving government officials   from  Petrobas the major  oil  company in Brazil  and the equivalent of our NNPC.

    The  Brazilian  president won elections in spite  of the   Petrobas  corruption  charges but  the  charges  like  a bad  dream  have resurfaced  again and  have to be addressed  by the government  and the president who  happens  to be the party  leader. It  is pertinent to mention here  that the Brazilian  president herself  has  not been implicated  on any corruption  charges even though it has been acknowledged  that the corruption started when she  was Chairman of the Board  of Petrobas before  she became  president. In  addition  President Dilmar  Roussef  has  given   her full  backing to the corruption   investigation and  has insisted that whoever is involved  in her party  no matter how highly placed  must  face the music  The  latest  casualty  has  been  the  Treasurer  of the  Workers  Party, the ruling party in Brazil.

    So  in  Brazil,  the re  elected  president is demonstrating zero  tolerance  for  corruption in spite  of the fact that her  party  was known  to be corrupt  before the election and got elected  any way. But  the saving grace for  her was her reputation  for integrity and the trust  of the Brazilian people. Next  week  Nigerians will decide the fate of their president on a similar plate and  it  remains  to be seen  how he  will  fair with  the wind  of change blowing in opposite  direction  of his performance and record  of fighting  corruption during  his tenure.

  • A tale of two transformations

    A tale of two transformations

    Transformation Agenda. That is the favourite buzz phrase of the Goodluck Jonathan administration. His ardent supporters want President Jonathan to continue in office for another four years so he can complete his revolutionary and historic mission of transforming our lives. PDP supporters apparently cannot understand why the majority of Nigerians are so reluctant to believe that Dr Jonathan is undertaking any meaningful transformation in their lives.

    Of course, the debonair and ever fluent Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina has incessantly dazzled us with dizzying statistics of how the country’s agriculture sector has been transformed to the extent that Nigeria now exports a broad range of agricultural products. His beleaguered and ungrateful country men and women respond that they remain as hungry as they were four years ago if not more so. You see, rosy statistics cannot fill the human belly.

    Or let us take the one and only former Aviation MinisterMs Stella Odua. She regaled us daily with stories of her feats in transforming the Aviation sector by painting Airport Terminals and being generally and vigorously busy doing things of microscopic significance. Her boss, the President, reluctantly let her go when she slipped on the Banana Peel of public opprobrium and disgust at her authorisation without appropriation of the procurement of two armour -plated  BMW cars allegedly for her personal use. The ever vocal Nigerian critics could never fathom that kind of transformation at all. Stella Oduah had to go.

    The Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Abba Moro, was not that unlucky. He remains solidly in President Jonthan’s Federal Executive Council courtesy his fundamental transformation of the way the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruits new employees into its service. Thousands of unemployed youths were herded into stadia across the country to write so called examination tests after they had been fleeced of N1000 each by dubious private consultants who smiled all the way to the bank. Of course, the shoddy arrangement led to a stampede by applicants desperately looking for jobs. 20 precious souls perished. Several others were injured. But thank God for little mercies, Mr Abba Moro remains a Minister of the Federal Republic.

    And what about the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngoji Okonjo-Iweala. Her performance has been no less stellar. Her greatest achievement has been the miraculous re-basing of the Nigerian economy, which has transformed Nigeria into the largest economy in Africa. Of course, she cares little for the late Professor Dudley Seers or even the cerebral Professor Charles Soludo who contend that high growth rates at the same time as unemployment, aggregate poverty rates and inequality are  rising does not amount to much in any economy. As far as Dr Okonjo-Iweala may care, however, it is all well and good for the country to grow richer at the same as the vast majority of her people are getting poorer!

    However, this piece is not an attempt to analyse the performance of individual ?Ministers in President Jonathan’s administration. My mission today is to draw attention to two amazing transformations I have noticed. First, let us go back to the 2011 presidential campaigns. A candidate told us he had no shoes as a child. He said his case was a story of going from a very humble station in life to reach the apex of authority in his country. He knelt before pastors and General Overseers. Wow! What symbol of humility we all gushed. Millions of his compatriots went out of their way to vote emphatically for this candidate. He won decisively. He assured us he would not use his power like a Goliath, Nebuchadnenzer, Hero d or any of those tyrants in history.

    The people did not know they were in for a shock. One of his first major acts on winning re-election was to increase the price of fuel by as much as 100%. He and his Ministers claimed that the economy would collapse if the purported fuel subsidy was not removed. Angry Nigerians protested.  A man who disdains Nebuccadnezer and other tyrants in history ordered troops on the streets to suppress the demonstrations especially in Lagos. That precisely was the turning point of his administration. Extensive probes by the National Assembly showed that the whole fuel subsidy claims running into trillions of Naira was an elaborate fraud. None of the fuel subsidy thieves has been brought to book and the Petroleum Minister remains firmly in office as imperious as ever.

    From then it was one way downhill for a man who once had no shoes. It has been for the man from Otueke, a scandalous squandering of tremendous goodwill. He told his country men and women on national television that he would not declare his assets and that he’ gave no damn about that!’

    Now let us look at another scenario. The year was 1983. The notoriously corrupt National Party of Nigeria(NPN) had been over thrown by a number of young turks in the military. To give their coup the desired credibility, the planners of the coup entrustedd power to two top Generals. The duo fought corruption ruthlessly, sentenced corrupt politicians to long years in prison, gave three drug couriers retroactive death sentences and launched a fierce War Against Indiscipline (WAI).

    Apparently fearing that they could also become victims of the anti-corruption war, the young Turks moved to quickly replace their stern, no –nonsense officers and the era of the ever –smiling Generals set in. There was unbridled deregulation of virtually every sector of the economy and unparalleled indiscipline and corruption. Today the nation is paying the price for several years of profligacy and wantonness. Three times, the austere General had put himself forward to serve in competitive elections on the platform of different parties in this dispensation.

    This time around, he is running on the platform of the biggest and most formidable party ever available to him. At 72, he has been wizened and tempered by age and he looks more regal and composed than the too often agitated incumbent.  His popularity soars by the day. The attempt to label him a Muslim fanatic has completely fizzled out. His Running-Mate is a distinguishedbProfessor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a prominent pastor of one of the largest Pentecostal churches in the world. How could one candidate squander so much goodwill across the country within four years while another, defeated in 2011 has garnered so much support even among his once most ardent opponents? I think the answer is simple, you must not take any individual, group or interest for granted in politics. The incumbent took so much for granted believing, perhaps, the power of the Nigerian state could guarantee him victory no matter how personally unpopular he was.he was. Again, his Niger-Delta kinsmen behaved as if the presidency was their private property and he never cautioned them as they often abused and insulted the entire nation including some of our most eminent citizens. He may pay very dearly for this kind of carelessness.

  • Politics, elections and stability

    Let  me  start     on    the   premise that  politics  when  played  by the rules  and  done  legitimately  facilitates  good  and  fair  elections  which  ultimately  lead  to  political  stability and  a peaceful  environment. It    follows  therefore  that  in  talking  about  Nigeria’s  2015  elections  and  the state  of  tension    and   friction  bothering  on  hysteria    that   we are  in     right  now  this  premise  does  not  hold  water  in  our  nation. Which  means  my assignment  on this  score today is  to  highlight  events  and issues  that give  cause  for concern  in  our polity or  indeed  any  nation,  and  constitute  serious threat  to  an    environment’s, collective  existence,  security  and   peace      of   mind.

    The  first  cause of concern was the challenge purportedly  given by  Femi  Fani  Kayode, the  Goebbels of  the  ruling  PDP to  APC  flagbearer retired  General  Muhammadu  Buhari  on  his role  in the July  29  1966  countercoup  in  which  several  Ibo  military  officers including  former  Head  of state  then  General  Aguiyi  Ironsi  and the former  governor  of the West  Colonel Kunle  Fajuyi   were  killed . The  second  was  the advice  given  to the  incumbent  president by  his  host  the  Awujale  of  Ijebuland  when  he  visited  the  Oba  to  canvass  for  his  support. The  third  is  the     CNN  interview  of  Prince  Charles  the Prince  of  Wales  and  his wife  Camilla,  the  Duchess    and  my  interpretation  of  that in terms  of political  stability of  British  democracy which  is robust  but  is still  tied  to the apron  string  of  the British  monarchy.

    The  PDP  Director  of  Communications  spoke  in  Umuahia  the heart  land  of  Igbo  land  and  he was quoted  as saying that the APC   presidential  candidate had  his hand full  with  Ibo  blood during  the coup. So  Fani  Kayode’s  speech  was well  timed  in terms  of  context and  location  for  maximum  effect.  His  goal  was  to  invoke  painful  memories  of  the coup  against  the  North  which  Buhari  represents    and  provoke  the Ibos    to  vote  against  Buhari  and  the  APC.

    This  is an act  of  incitement with  no respect  for  the history  and stability  of  Nigeria . It  shows  clearly  that the  ruling  party  is ready  to  do anything to  retain  power.  Since  the PDP  has  not  renounced  the speech and published  statement,  it shows  that the party  has  endorsed  it  and  that is dangerous  for  the  security  and political  stability  of  Nigeria.  This  is  because  coups,  military  interventions and  countercoups  and  civil  wars  are not just  ordinary  politics and once  over  should not  be  politicized  or  made  the contents  of  political  campaigns  as  Fani  Kayode  has  done  so  recklessly  and  brazenly in  Umuahia.

    Such  episodes  in the  life  of a nation  are  like  revolutions  which  Mao  said  was  politics carried  on  by other  means  principally  violence.  It  is  crass  ignorance  on the  part   of  the  PDP  Campaign  spokesman not  to  know  how to  draw  a line  on what constitute a campaign  issue.  A  coup  such as the July  29  1966  coup is certainly  not  one  and  the  PDP  should  rein  in its  Director  of  Communications  before  he  sets  the nation ablaze again on  issues  that the  costly  civil  war  we fought  have put behind  us. As  things  stand we  have enough  on our plate with  Boko  Haram  and  the conduct  of a free and fair 2015a election  without the  costly  distraction  of  the  recall   of  a    bitter  past by  a desperate  and  overzealous politician   with  no  sense  of  history and patriotism,  who  is just  eager  to  get  public   attention,  no  matter  how the way  he  does  it  affects  the stability  and  peace  of  our political  system and  polity.

    The  second  issue  was  the advice  given  by  the Awujale  to  President  Goodluck  Jonathan when  he  went to  his  palace  to campaign. The  Ijebu  monarch  told  his visitor  that it is not the duty  of an Oba  to  tell  his people  who  to  vote for. This  he said is the  right  thing not  only in Ijebuland  but in Yorubaland  generally. The  Oba  said  the duty  of an Oba  is  to guide  his  people  to  make a choice  so that they  don’t vote in those  he called  looters.  He  said  he has  called  in people  from  all  walks  of  life  in his  domain  to listen  to  the visitor  and  make  a choice and  the visitor  then  catalogued  his achievements  as usual.

    What  the  Awujale has  done   is  to  set the  enabling  environment  for  a  jus political  participation in a modern democracy   even  though  he  is  a traditional  ruler.  He  has  induced  the  spirit  of  merit and  impartiality in  both  his  subjects  and his  visitor in  one  swoop. He  has  killed  two  birds  with  one stone  in  the  process. He  has  fused  innovation  with tradition  and turned  it  into  modernity. He  has  taught  his  august  visitor  and  his powerful  entourage the political  virtues of  fairness, choice, accountability and  transparency  just with a single  campaign  visit  from  the president of the nation  on his  busy  campaign  schedule. The  Awujale’s  contribution  and  advice  should   strengthen  our political  system  and  our collective  security. Other  traditional  rulers     in    this   nation should  emulate  his sense  of fairness  and state  building from the  conduct  of elections  and  social  mobilization.

    The  third  and  last  issue  may  sound  strange  and  far fetched but  it is relevant  and  apposite  in terms  of our  topic  of  today. I  have  seen  the interview  of Prince  Charles and  his wife  Camilla on  CNN this week  and  I just could  not  resist  hazarding a guess as to why  the sudden publicity for this  virtually  forgotten royal  couple especially  as  the Jubilee Celebrations  and Royal  wedding  have  fuelled  rumours  that the  couple  or  Charles  in  particular  will  not ascend the British throne  because they were  tainted  with divorce.  I  personally  have never  agreed  with such thinking and look  forward  to seeing the day the present Prince  of Wales  will  succeed his  mother  as  King  of  England  and Camilla  as  his  Queen according  to  the British  Constitution. This  is because  of  my  colonial  experience as a youth  impressed  by the royal  family  early in life. Indeed it is what is commonly called Colonial  mentality which  I really am not bothered  about.  But  I am  impressed  with the way the  wily  British  are  preparing  the public  mind for an abdication  by the Queen  paving the way  for his  ageing  son to succeed her. It  is the fashion  nowadays as recently done  by the monarchs  in Spain  and Sweden  recently.

    Again,  I  must  end with my  favorite  quotation on British  political  stability  when ever  I  discuss  the  British  political  system.  It is  that –  ‘With  the Queen  in  Buckingham  Palace  every  Briton  sleeps well  in his bed. ‘With  the Charles  and  Camilla interview shown  globally  this week  you  must prepare  to  substitute   King  for  Queen  in  that quotation   very  soon  as I  believe  that was the purpose  of  all that  brouhaha  on Charles and  Camilla on CNN this week.

  • A word on tactics

    Nigeria’s Olympic Games’ soccer squad’s chief coach Samson Siasia has raised the alarm that he doesn’t know much about our next opponents, Zambia. He feels that he needs to have tapes of the Zambians’ matches for him to study and plot counter strategies to win both legs like he did to the Gabonese.

    This is crucial because no serious country approaches its big games without knowing its opponents. Nigeria is the only country that plays ‘blind’ football where our players are only told what to do when the coaches have seen the opponents play for 45 minutes.

    This is why we play badly in the first half of most of matches, except we are clearly better than our opponents because of our players’ experience in European soccer. Team cohesion comes from knowing what to expect, planning for it and executing the plan. Uncoordinated teams, as we have always seen, would wait until half time to make changes. Most times, the game has been lost because the opponent has found its rhythm, having planned for us by exploiting our weaknesses. It really hurts because fixtures are not drawn 24 hours to matches. They are drawn months, sometimes years for serious countries to plan.

    The NFF technical committee needs to have a unit that monitors all the teams in Nigeria’s group for competitions. Besides, there ought to be people assigned to watch our group opponents’ matches to get tips on them which the designated coaches should use to plan how to set their players against them.

    Our players and coaches will benefit more if they can watch several tapes of their opponents to see how they play. Indeed, knowing who to police in a game can be very helpful just as it can rattle the opponents since their game plan would be forced to change. It isn’t easy to change plans perfected during practices during matches.

    Information on how teams play could also be got from monitoring them on television. Or by tasking our embassies to fetch their host countries’ teams’ tapes from television stations, if need be.

    If such countries are handled by foreign coaches, it becomes much easier since these tacticians are renowned for certain playing patterns, provided our coaches and technical experts know how to unlock such formations.

    Nigeria’s quest to join the league of frontline football nations should include upgrading our coaches and technocrats in the science of the game which evolves in geometric progression. And I feel strongly that Adegboye Onigbinde has a role to play in this new endeavour. Onigbinde is revered at FIFA and CAF. We need his expertise, irrespective of what people say about Onigbinde’s outspokenness. People must learn to take criticisms, if they must improve. Our sports administrators must learn to embrace the message and leave the messenger. It must be said here that without the athletes, in this case the footballers, there won’t be any administrator.

    Kashimawo Laloko has shown mastery of the age grade teams through his Pepsi Soccer Academy. It may shock many a Nigerian fan that Laloko discovered John Mikel Obi in Jos, through the Pepsi Soccer Academy. Laloko, who has a doctorate degree, can still be of immense benefit to our soccer, considering his practical experience.

    Monitoring of players could also be done by watching them play for their European clubs. If we must compete with the best countries, we need to always play them, trying to exploit their weaknesses to win games. Except we beat the bigger football nations routinely, they won’t consider us for friendly games whenever they are preparing for big competitions, such as the World Cup, for instance.

    “My brother, my eyes were opened to so many things at the training programme. It was very good quality education for all of us in the group and I can say the new NFF administration is getting it right.

    “I spent several years playing in England and in other countries, and at the top level internationally. But what I have learnt over the past week in the United Kingdom is prizeless,” Austin Okocha told thenff.com in London.

    Okocha has seen it all in the game. His ascension into administration best explains why he was bowled over by the new things he was exposed to. That is the way forward, if we truly want to rub shoulders with the best. And it starts with encouraging our best players to become administrators. Welcome to the club, Okocha.

    It is commendable that the NFF sent out ex-internationals on a course for match reading and related matters. We only hope that they return to translate all that they learnt to the Nigeria concept. We are tired of the Nigerian way of doing things. It is why we are tottering when we should be exploding to the next level.

    “My brother, my eyes were opened to so many things at the training programme. It was very good quality education for all of us in the group and I can say the new NFF administration is getting it right.

    “I spent several years playing in England and in other countries, and at the top level internationally. But what I have learnt over the past week in the United Kingdom is prizeless,” Austin Okocha told thenff.com in London.

    Okocha has seen it all in the game. His ascension into administration best explains why he was bowled over by the new things he was exposed to. That is the way forward, if we truly want to rub shoulders with the best. And it starts with encouraging our best players to become administrators. Welcome to the club, Okocha.

    It is commendable that the NFF sent out ex-internationals on a course for match reading and related matters. We only hope that they return to translate all that they learnt to the Nigeria concept. We are tired of the Nigerian way of doing things. It is why we are tottering when we should be exploding to the next level.

    Those who have attended the course should also internalise what they learnt by organising seminars at home for those in the domestic league. The literature distributed during the course can serve as the curricula for the domestic coaches and administrators who need to be routinely refreshed with what operates in other climes.

    The commendable aspect of these training courses by the NFF is that they were outsourced by the federation, showing clearly that the corporate world are prepared to develop the game only, if the NFF can bring such noble aspects of the game to their notice.

    Coaches Samsson Siasia and Garba Manu have raised hopes about the future of the beautiful game, with the resounding victories recorded by the Dream Team VI and the Flying Eagles. We are encouraged by the fact that the NFF scrutinised the squad members to fish out age cheats. It simply means that we have a large pool of players from which we can pick the Super Eagles squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

    Siasia and Manu have not held the NFF hostage with needless demands. Even the things that are the rights of the coaches have been played down for the bigger picture- getting Nigeria’s flag hoisted at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, Brazil and the New Zealand 2015 U-20 World Cup.

    Our Super Eagles players cannot benchmark our future in Russia in 2014. Most of them are benchwarmers in their clubs. Others get cameo appearances, which wouldn’t translate into strength for the Eagles because their fitness will be questionable.

    Nigeria has three years to use the crop of players at the U-20 and U-23 levels to decide the future of our game. With coaches Siasia and Manu, all that the NFF needs to do is to scout for a competent foreign manager for the Eagles in Russia.

    Many a Nigerian laughed at Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo’s order to the NFF to immediately recruit either Chelsea FC of London’s loquacious manager Jose Mourinho or Bayern Munich of Germany’s tactician Pep Guardiola for the Eagles, if the yet-to-be employed coach Stephen Keshi must go.

    Danagogo’s order showed where the problem in the NFF/ Keshi saga laid. The minister showed again that he isn’t adept in sports news or doesn’t read newspapers. Otherwise, he should have known that Mourinho and Guardiola are not national team coaches for any price in the world.

    Mourinho and Guardiola signpost the new generation of coaches in the world today, eager to make their mark and raise the standard of the game. They enjoy the pressure of weekly football matches with the clubs, not the bit by bit national team assignments.

    Even if the duo want to handle national teams, certainly not Nigeria, where ministers run the show to suit their whims and caprices. Mourinho and Guardiola are used to working with organised people. They don’t bother themselves with players’ entitlements. Nor do they have to wait until the minister has shown that he is the NFF’s boss before their salaries are paid.

     Attack on Kano Pillars

    Kano Pillars’ robbery experience at Abaji in Kogi State isn’t news. That five players received treatment for gunshot injuries isn’t news. The visit of the Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is remarkable and his decision to foot the bills of those in the hospital explains why he has pumped cash into the club to make it the team to beat in Nigeria.

    I have read the concerns from the clubs in Nigeria over the dark event. I was excited about the visit of eggheads of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to the players and the deputy governor.

    Sadly, the first visitor to these players has not shown up. Ordinarily, the club’s insurers ought to have visited the players and coaches to commiserate with them and lay bare their package since no death was recorded.

    One begins to wonder how club proprietors expect the players to take risks during matches when their future in the event of injuries, permanent disabilities and death (God forbid) hasn’t been insured.

    The League Management Committee (LMC) must tell us what they have done to insure the lives of the players, besides what the clubs have. Little wonder these players languish in their homes when the toll of their injuries gets to them at old age. What are these players, especially those with injuries entitled to? NFF, LMC, we need an answer to this question.

  • Postponed elections- strategies for a new race

    Our  postponed  2015  elections  have given  the governing  party some  breathing  space  and  have  not  gone  down  well  with  the opposition    which  cried  foul  at the  postponement. The  mood  on either  side    has  been  superficially  different  but  commonly suspicious.  While  APC  candidate  former retired  General  Buhari called  it  a coup  by  the ruling  party  against  the people  of Nigeria,    the opposition from  all  indications showed it  had not prepared  itself  for  a marathon  race which  the post poned elections  had  become,  but  a sprints  dash.  The  ruling  PDP  on its  part  is  using  the postponement  like  a respite  and  it  has come  out  with  biting  media  attacks  and  advertisement  aimed at  establishing    negligence  against  the  preparation  of  INEC and  its  boss Professor  Attahiru  Jega  for  the  postponed elections.  How  the two  contesting  parties are adapting to  the new  political  status  quo  of  the March 28    and  April  11  2015 election is the  topic  of discussion today.

    We  will  look  at  the  postponement  as a casualty  or  accident in which  both political  parties  were involved  in,  but  unprepared for,  and  we  shall    appraise  the  resultant effect  on  their pre  postponement  assets  and  liabilities,  to  really  appreciate their  chances  in  the new  six week  race to  get power  at  both Abuja’s  Aso  Rock  and the  36  state  capitals in  the nation. To say  that the postponement  has  not altered the chances  of either party  is to under  rate  the dynamics  of  Nigerian  politics  and to behave  like the proverbial  ostrich  with  its head  buried  in the sand. To  put it  bluntly  the  opposition  is seething  with anger at  the postponement, while  if  you  saw  the picture  of the hitherto dormant  but  now  grinning  Commander  in  Chief  with military  commanders  at  the war  front in Mubi and  Baga,  it  is apparent  that the  ruling  party is  thanking God for the postponement.  That  means while  the opposition  must overcome its frustration  at  the postponement it  should  re – strategise  and reposition itself  to be the front runner  again because  the ruling party knew  it  certainly would have lost power  if  the elections were  not  postponed. Consequently  it  would now  be ready  to use all  its resources  and the Almighty  incumbency factor  to ensure  it does  not  lose  power  easily, if ever,  again.  Therein however lies  the  most  dangerous threat  to  our volatile  democracy and the much  awaited  2015  elections.

    So,  a quotation  on the import  of the  six  weeks postponement time  is  in order    from  another  war  situation, albeit  a bigger  war,  which  is the  Second  World  War of  1939  – 1945.

    This  was  at    the    climax  of  the Allied  Invasion  of  the beaches  of  Normandy    that  finished  Hitler’s  well    prepared army  that  had  conquered  most  of  Europe  but  England.

    England’s  war  time  Prime  Minister  Winston  Churchill  had provided  the inspiration  and oratory  that fired  the English    to fight  like they were 10  times  bigger  than  the  size  of  their small  island. Hitler’s  brilliant  commander  the desert  fox Rommel told  his  secretary  while  mining  the beaches  of Normandy in  anticipation  of  the  Allied  Invasion  that eventually  came  – ‘Believe  me  Lang [  his  secretary’s name ]  the next 24  hours will  be very  decisive. The  fate  of  Germany  lies  on the beaches.  For  the Allies as  well  as  for  Germany  it shall  be the longest  day ‘. My  cue  here  is that the six  week  election postponement has  become  the longest day  for  Nigeria, its  two main  political  parties  and  the  Nigerian  electorate.  If  you think  my  historical  analogy  is  exaggerated please  hold  your breath  for  my  explanation.

    To  know  how  desperate the ruling  party  and  the incumbent president are  to  retain  power  by winning  the elections  by  all means  just  look  about  you.  At  a  recent  Federal Executive Council meeting  the Federal  government guaranteed over  $ 400m loan for APC  states Lagos, Osun, Rivers  and Ogun  states. If  that is not a Greek  gift  you  have  to  find  out  what is.  As  a deliberate  follow  up  the PDP  spokesman said  the president  is’ father  of all’ and is  not  discriminating  against  states controlled  by  the  opposing  political  party.  Yet  the real objective is  to castrate  the  opposition  before  the six  weeks postponement  expires  into  the much  expected  election.  Similarly the visit  to the  troops  by  the  Commander  In Chief  was  well timed. Why  did  the same president  and  Commander  not  pay  the same  visit before the postponement ?. Obviously  while  you  can say that the for PDP  the coming  of postponement  was    the beginning of wisdom,  the same  postponement has  become  a nightmare  for  the APC  which  by  now should have breasted  the  tape  in the now extinct  100m  dash  for  power  in  the 2015  Val  Day  election that never was.

    The  APC  too  is  not  giving  up  that easily. The  party’s candidate  has  gone overseas  to  canvass  for  support  on  the quality of  his  candidacy  and  that is not  a futile  but

    beneficial  exercise  The  issue  is  that  the way  the PDP  is going about  the vilification of  Buhari  over  his  educational qualification,  and  his purported  Islamic sympathy  for  Boko Haram  has  boomeranged  and has turned  the  former  general  into a sort  of  folk  hero.  The PDP  attack  has  been  quite personal,  abusive and  fallacious. It  has  created  the dismal situation of  leaving  the substance  of an argument and a debate and attacking  the person of the opposition  leader. In  logic, the ruling party is guilty of  the fallacy  of ad  hominem.

    If  you  add  to that the    tirade  of Ekiti  Governor  Ayo  Fayose that the APC  leader cannot  live till the election  time because  of ill  health and  that he  had  gone  overseas  for medical  treatment then  you  see  how bad  the  fear  of the opposition is of  losing power. The  Ekiti  governor  has  remained  incorrigible and recalcitrant  on  his  assertions but  it  is a posture  that has been costly  for  the ruling party    in  terms of public  goodwill  and respectability.  A  political  party  in  any  environment  must reflect  the traditional  values  of  that society  even  as it accommodates  modernity  and innovation  that  allow  for  human comfort  and progress. The  Ekiti  governor  has gone beyond  the bounds  of decency  in the way  he is attacking the APC  presidential candidate.  Inadvertently  his  morbid  hatred  has  drawn  sympathy and support  for the APC  candidate even  amongst  Yorubas  like Fayose  who  hitherto  were  not willing to have anything to do with the candidacy  of the APC candidate.  Again the  Ekiti  governor should  show restraint in  the use  of language and  decorum  because to whom  much  is given  especially  in  politics  much  is  expected.

    In  effect  then  the  two  parties  have  to  restructure  for  a marathon  election  to win power on  March  28  and  April  11.  Undoubtedly  in  terms  of funds,  the ruling party  has  the edge because  it has  not been easy  to  separate  state  funds from party funds and there  is  no  ceiling  on  campaign  funds.  Even  if there is, INEC  has more  on its plate  to  get PVCs  ready  than  to  open a pandoras  box  on  that. Yet  that does  not make it right to campaign  in  that manner  with  such  impunity.

    Public  expectation  of an end  to  the PDP government  of  perfidy is the  major political  capital and  goodwill  driving  the APC race  for  power  in this huge  marathon  of an  election.  It  is the  oil  lubricating and  sustaining the  APC  campaign  machine and for now  it is a match  for  the opulent  but vastly  unpopular quest for power  of the ruling party  nation wide. Its  strength  is what has put  the incumbent president  on the road of  political  campaign more  than any president in  our history .  But  for  the postponement this last  ditch  presidential nation wide,  criss -crossing would have been quite  late.  But  then  the  200  Chibok  girls  have  not been  found. It  is  a prize  that the incumbent would  hanker  after to swing  votes  and win  power  and I won’t  put  it beyond  him.

    But  then the  public  mind  is  largely  made up and it  is easy  to see  who is buyng time  and  who  should make change  happen . The Nigerian  public cannot  be deceived  forever  not  to talk  of  a mere  six weeks no  matter  how  long it is made to last  with our funds  and common  patrimony.

  • Born again Siasia

    Born again Siasia

    Today in Abuja, Samson Samson is on the verge of attaining the height which many a Nigerian battled to hit. He has been our best. Many looked forward to seeing Siasia shout out instructions to our players at the senior World Cup competition. Having guided Nigeria to the silver place in FIFA’s U-20 Championships held in Holland in 2005, soccer purists were not shocked that Siasia led the country’s 2008 Beijing Olympic Games side to another silver placing, losing for the second time in the finals against Argentina.

    His rookies in 2005 in Holland had begun to make their marks in European clubs. It was only wise the players grew with their coach, especially after the back-to-back final appearances. But that decision turned out to be Siasia’s albatross. To be fair to Siasia, he controlled the players. He didn’t connive with the players to hold us hostage for spurious reason like we have seen recently in the Super Eagles. It would be recalled that he asked the bust to head to the airport when Vincent Enyeama, Victor Anichebe and two others complained about the size of the aircraft billed to take them to Europe. They went to the meet the team at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in chartered taxis.

    Fresh from his sojourn in the United States where he trained kids in soccer, Siasia understood what it meant to go round the country to scout for talents that he could mould into stars. He did the scouting very well, culminating in the exciting U-20 side that thrilled the world at the Holland 2005 World Youth Championship. Nigeria clinched the silver medal, losing to Argentina 2-1 in the final. That team produced Mikel Obi, who was adjudged the second best player of the championship behind the best Lionel Messi. But another Nigerian, Taiye Taiwo was adjudged the third best. I can still spot goose pimples, ten years after, because it was quite a novelty for one country to have two players ranked among the best three in the championships. Such was the depth of very talented players that the furore that surrounded Mikel Obi’s movement to Europe was no surprise, with two of the biggest clubs in Europe, Chelsea and Manchester United, battling for the Nigerian’s signature. Chelsea eventually won the battle.

    Rather than continue with his personal scouting system, Siasia chose to use proxy. He didn’t reckon with the fact that the prox Things turned awry for Siasia at the senior national team level. True, most of his boys at the U-20 and U-23 levels had graduated to the senior side, they also had grown in the game, with many of them being fathers with responsibilities.

    Siasia enforced discipline the way he knew best. It backfired. He would have applied some diplomacy and had a heart for forgiveness. If he had these two qualities, he would still be the Super Eagles chief coach because Nigerians loved and trusted his tactical savvy. Siasia literarily surrendered his team selection to scouts using the information he got from them. Had Siasia come down from his high horse, he would have picked better players and joined the league of players who won the Africa Cup of Nations as player and coach.

    Siasia’s teams played exciting football, until he handled the Super Eagles and turned himself into a tin god. I won’t blame Siasia.

    He got excited by the accolades from people who were satisfied with his turnaround of the Eagles. It however became difficult to get Siasia to listen to suggestions about how his team should play and those who should be paraded without necessarily dictating to him.

    His hard stance on discipline even after pleas from concerned Nigerians when it came to forgiving Vincent Enyeama led to his eventual sack as the Eagles coach. Had Siasia listened to the pleas of Nigerians and fielded Enyeama against Guinea in Abuja in 2012, we would have qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

    The slips from goalkeeper Dele Aiyenugba caused us the ticket. We could also have lost if Eneyama was in the goalpost. But if Enyeama was in goal and he made those slips, Siasia would have kept his job. Although many would argue that Siasia also didn’t know the rules of the competition. Had he a full grasp of the rules, he could have directed the boys to keep possession of the ball, since we were leading 2-1. Instead, Siasia, based on prompting from some equally uninformed people at the Glasshouse, asked the boys to go for more goals. That was the wrong thing to do and we paid the price with a last minute equaliser from the Guineans. Having incurred the wrath of soccer-crazy Nigerians by not securing the qualification ticket, Siasia had no hiding place. Besides, he had issues with the big boys in the Super Eagles.

    Today, Siasia is back in the saddle at the U-23 side. He led the boys to beat the Gabonese at home 4-1, making today’s game a mere formality. But has Siasia learnt his lessons? I think so. He monitors his players. He visits the league centres. This affords him the best opportunity to see his boys physically, not relying on scouts who misguided him.

    Siasia is born again. He wants to do things differently. He brought back his trainer Odigie. He has capable assistants and has told the NFF pointedly that he doesn’t need the services of Silvanus Okpala. His players are regulars wherever they play. His tactics have never been in doubt. It remains to be seen how he integrates some of the exceptional Flying Eagles stars into the team as the qualifiers go on.

    Interestingly, Siasia belongs to the school of players who played for both the senior and intermediate national teams. Nigerians need now a well groomed squad of future players. An amalgamation of our bests at the U-20 and U-23 is the future of our game. The U-20 stars, for instance, are the defending FIFA U-17 World Cup champions. The world awaits those who excelled in 2013 to see how they would transform into the big boys to rule the world in the next decade.

    The two teams are in safe hands technically, but they should not allow their success get into their heads. I don’t expect such to happen again to Siasia, considering that he went through those troubled times alone. Siasia felt the pains alone. Those who flocked around him then deserted him. They aligned with the new helmsman. No prize for predicting if those interlopers are back with Siasia.

    There must development programmes that would utilise the services of Siasia, Manu and Amuneke. They have shown potentials to be great coaches. They must be kept busy through coaching attachment with clubs whose style of play is in tandem with what they want to adopt. These age-grade coaches must be told that the target of the federation is to discover, nurture and expose budding talents whose ages we can verify. The growth of any country’s football is measured by the number of players drawn from the domestic game into the senior team. It is sad that Nigeria, with a population of over 150 million, still relies on foreign players for the Eagles.

    Part of the reasons why the domestic league is tottering lies with the fact that the local boys know that the only way that they can be tagged internationals is to head to Europe. Those who cannot find European clubs head for obscure leagues where their game is destroyed. We must stop this.

  • Curriculum vitae: Between Ambode and Agbaje

    Curriculum vitae: Between Ambode and Agbaje

    Given the avalanche of responses to last week’s piece I am reproducing it for your contemplation.

    But for the desperate, last minute shifting  of the polls earlier scheduled for this  month at the behest of Nigeria’s military high command, acting obviously on behalf of an embattled President Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP),  state governorship and House of Assembly elections would have been taking place today across the country including Lagos.  The electoral battle in Lagos would have been a two-way affair between Mr Akinwumi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Mr Olujimi Agbaje of the PDP. Both men are household names in Lagos. Their posters, billboards and other souvenirs dot the landscape of the Centre of Excellence. Their variegated messages dominate both the electronic and now ubiquitous social media. They have a new date of engagement scheduled for March 11th if the electoral magicians do not abort the elections once more.

    Jimi Agbaje is not new to the Lagos State governorship race. In 2007, he contested for the position on the platform of the Democratic Parties Alliance (DPA). Despite having run what was widely considered a brilliant and innovative campaign, he emerged a distant third in that election to the incumbent, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). The latter’s widely adjudged two-term brilliant tenure comes to an end this May.  Some analysts contend that Jimi Agbaje is contesting on a firmer, surer, more solid platform this time around. Even though, the PDP has never succeeded in supplanting the progressives from power in Lagos since 1999, it is still perceived as a more viable dais for competing effectively in Lagos than Agbaje’s defunct DPA.

    Yet, others argue that the PDP platform is indeed Jimi Agbaje’s albatross. Agbaje is often described as a good candidate running on a rotten platform. The PDP has monopolised power at the centre since 1999. In the period, it has controlled the bulk of the country’s resources. Yet, all the country has to show for it is illusory statistical growth without concrete content in terms of their material well-being. Indeed, under the PDP’s watch, Nigeria lies humiliatingly prostrate and subject to mass poverty, hunger, chronic insecurity, monumental corruption, unbearable unemployment, unbelievable impunity and utter ignominy in the comity of nations. Can Agbaje convince the people of Lagos to entrust their fate in the hands of a party with such a deplorable record of performance especially given the undeniably impressive strides the state has taken under the guidance of the progressives in the last 16 years? It is improbable.

    It is possible to argue that there is really no big deal about Agbaje jettisoning his professed commitment to structural change in Nigeria throughout his political career only to pitch his tent with a PDP so obviously committed to maintaining Nigeria in her current dysfunctional shape and structure. After all, political vagrancy and promiscuity have become part and parcel of our political culture and no party can self-righteously cast the first stone against the other. In any case, have the Afenifere old guard not assured us all that President Goodluck Jonathan will implement the recommendations of the moribund National Conference if he is re-elected for a second term in office? Of course, this is sheer baloney.

    The Jonathan National Conference was an illegal and illegitimate contraption, a sheer waste of time and resources and a wily tactic for an administration running out of options to buy time. If the Jonathan presidency could do nothing concrete with the National Conference report when it had near total dominance of the National Assembly, is it now that it is much more considerably weakened in both chambers that it will get the recommendations of the conference through the national legislature? Anyone who cannot see that Dr Jonathan enjoys the centralized and excessive powers of the Nigerian state and presidency as it currently exists to genuinely desire any meaningful structural change in the country deserves a doctoral degree in political naivety.

    But then, the thrust of this piece is to seek to find out in who’s hands – Agbaje or Ambode – it will be safer and wiser to entrust the almost one trillion dollar economy of Lagos State especially at this crucial period of the state’s evolution? A careful examination of the curriculum vitae of the two candidates as gleaned from their respective websites should give us a clue. Let us start with the PDP candidate, Mr Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje. He was born on March 2, 1957, to late Chief Julius Kosebinu, a banker and Mrs Margaret Olabisi Agbaje, a teacher. Agbaje obtained his secondary school education at St Gregory’s College, Lagos, and graduated as a pharmacist from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). Agbaje’s CV does not tell us what he did between his graduation from Ife and the setting up of his company, JAYKAY Pharmaceutical and chemical company in 1982. However, he was Managing Director of the drug manufacturing and distribution company between 1982 and 2005 when he decided to venture into politics. Again, we have no indication of the net worth of the company or the expansiveness or complexity of its operations under Agbaje’s guidance.

    Agbaje served as a Member, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (1999-2006); National Secretary, Nigerian Association of General Practice Pharmacists (1987-1990); National Chairman, Nigeria Association of General Practice Pharmacists (1987-1990) and Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Branch (1994-1997). Other non-executive public service appointments Agbaje has held include Member, Lagos State Task Force on Fake and Adulterated Drugs (1989-1993); Member, National Drug Formulary and Essential Drugs List (1986-1993); Member, Lagos Hospitals Management Board (1994-1999). In addition to being a Faculty Member of the African Centre of Leadership, Strategy and Development Centre, Agbaje is a Merit Award Winner of the Lagos State Chapter of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Fellow, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and Fellow, West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists. Agbaje has participated in various international programmes including the Executive Management Programme at the Wits Business School, Johannesburg, Cape Town Business School, South Africa and the World Health Organization training course on good manufacturing practice in the pharmaceutical sector.

    Now, what about Mr Akinwunmi Ambode? Born on the 14th of June, 1963, at Epe General Hospital, Epe, Ambode had his primary school education at St Jude’s primary school, Ebute Meta. His father served as a teacher in Lagos State before retiring after 34 years in service. Ambode passed the National Common Entrance Examination in primary five and gained admission into the Federal Government College, Warri. Ambode recorded the second best result in West Africa in the Higher School Certificate Examinations in the Social Sciences in 1981. At the age of 21, Ambode graduated with honours in Accounting from the University of Lagos.  He scored a double when he both qualified as a Chartered Accountant and completed his M.Sc degree programme in Accounting from the University of Lagos specialising in Financial Management at the age of 24.

    Ambode started his public service career in November 1985 as Accountant Grade 1 at the then Lagos State Waste Disposal Board (now Lagos State Waste Management Authority). Over the next 10 years, Ambode acquired considerable experience serving as Council Treasurer in several Local Government Areas of Lagos State including Alimosho, Shomolu, Mushin, Epe, Badagry and Ajeromi-Ifelodun. In 1988, Ambode earned the award of the United States Fulbright Scholarship for the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program in Boston University, Massachusetts, on Public Leadership with emphasis on Finance and Accounting.  In 2000, Ambode was appointed as the youngest ever Auditor-General for Local Government in Lagos State. Thereafter, he was elevated as the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance in January 2005 and in February, 2006 he was given the additional responsibility of Accountant General of Lagos State. At the time, he was the youngest Permanent Secretary in the service and only the second person to hold both positions of Permanent Secretary and Accountant General at the same time.

    Under Ambode’s leadership, the State Treasury Office (STO), raised the state’s budget performance at an average of 85% annually, ensured payment of civil service staff salaries before the end of each month, launched the e-platform for the payment of monthly staff salaries, ensured prompt payment of gratuity and pension arrears of the State Universal Basic Education Board and Local Government old pensioners. Apart from initiating and sustaining the annual retreat for Heads of Accountants in the Lagos State Public Service as well as Local and International training for staff, Ambode co-organised the first ever National Tax Retreat in association with the Joint Tax Board/Federal Inland Revenue Service in 2005.  He was the Chairman of the Technical Committee that produced the Lagos State Economic, Empowerment Development Strategy (LEEDS) document and helped achieve the feat of clearing and publishing arrears of statutory audits of Local Governments in Lagos State from 1995 to 2004 within 12 months. His financial ingenuity has been publicly acknowledged as a key factor that enabled Local Governments in Lagos State survive the illegal seizure of their statutory allocation for over one year by the Obasanjo administration.

    Ambode is an Alumnus of Wharton Business School and also attended courses at Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England, Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland, INSEAD, Singapore and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Boston, Massachussetts, USA. On voluntarily retiring from the Lagos State public service in August 2012, Ambode successfully transited to the private sector by establishing Brandsmiths Consulting Limited, a company that is presently consulting for Federal, State and Local Governments on the transition to the new International Public Service Accounting System and offering other financial advisory services.

    These then are the profiles of two illustrious and accomplished sons of Lagos State seeking the consent of Lagosians to pilot the affairs of the state after Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola’s distinguished tenure. Who has the requisite experience and expertise to build on current achievements and lift Lagos to a new pedestal of excellence in a world characterised by unpredictable financial and economic turmoil? I leave the answer to you, dear reader.

  • Curriculum vitae: Between Ambode and Agbaje

    Curriculum vitae: Between Ambode and Agbaje

    But for the desperate, last minute shifting of the polls earlier scheduled for this month at the behest of Nigeria’s military high command, acting obviously on behalf of an embattled President Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP),  state governorship and House of Assembly elections would have been taking place today across the country including Lagos.  The electoral battle in Lagos would have been a two-way affair between Mr Akinwumi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Mr Olujimi Agbaje of the PDP. Both men are household names in Lagos. Their posters, billboards and other souvenirs dot the landscape of the Centre of Excellence. Their variegated messages dominate both the electronic and now ubiquitous social media. They have a new date of engagement scheduled for March 11th if the electoral magicians do not abort the elections once more.

    Jimi Agbaje is not new to the Lagos State governorship race. In 2007, he contested for the position on the platform of the Democratic Parties Alliance (DPA). Despite having run what was widely considered a brilliant and innovative campaign, he emerged a distant third in that election to the incumbent, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). The latter’s widely adjudged two-term brilliant tenure comes to an end this May.  Some analysts contend that Jimi Agbaje is contesting on a firmer, surer, more solid platform this time around. Even though, the PDP has never succeeded in supplanting the progressives from power in Lagos since 1999, it is still perceived as a more viable dais for competing effectively in Lagos than Agbaje’s defunct DPA.

    Yet, others argue that the PDP platform is indeed Jimi Agbaje’s albatross. Agbaje is often described as a good candidate running on a rotten platform. The PDP has monopolised power at the centre since 1999. In the period, it has controlled the bulk of the country’s resources. Yet, all the country has to show for it is illusory statistical growth without concrete content in terms of their material well-being. Indeed, under the PDP’s watch, Nigeria lies humiliatingly prostrate and subject to mass poverty, hunger, chronic insecurity, monumental corruption, unbearable unemployment, unbelievable impunity and utter ignominy in the comity of nations. Can Agbaje convince the people of Lagos to entrust their fate in the hands of a party with such a deplorable record of performance especially given the undeniably impressive strides the state has taken under the guidance of the progressives in the last 16 years? It is improbable.

    It is possible to argue that there is really no big deal about Agbaje jettisoning his professed commitment to structural change in Nigeria throughout his political career only to pitch his tent with a PDP so obviously committed to maintaining Nigeria in her current dysfunctional shape and structure. After all, political vagrancy and promiscuity have become part and parcel of our political culture and no party can self-righteously cast the first stone against the other. In any case, have the Afenifere old guard not assured us all that President Goodluck Jonathan will implement the recommendations of the moribund National Conference if he is re-elected for a second term in office? Of course, this is sheer baloney.

    The Jonathan National Conference was an illegal and illegitimate contraption, a sheer waste of time and resources and a wily tactic for an administration running out of options to buy time. If the Jonathan presidency could do nothing concrete with the National Conference report when it had near total dominance of the National Assembly, is it now that it is much more considerably weakened in both chambers that it will get the recommendations of the conference through the national legislature? Anyone who cannot see that Dr Jonathan enjoys the centralized and excessive powers of the Nigerian state and presidency as it currently exists to genuinely desire any meaningful structural change in the country deserves a doctoral degree in political naivety.

    But then, the thrust of this piece is to seek to find out in who’s hands – Agbaje or Ambode – it will be safer and wiser to entrust the almost one trillion dollar economy of Lagos State especially at this crucial period of the state’s evolution? A careful examination of the curriculum vitae of the two candidates as gleaned from their respective websites should give us a clue. Let us start with the PDP candidate, Mr Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje. He was born on March 2, 1957, to late Chief Julius Kosebinu, a banker and Mrs Margaret Olabisi Agbaje, a teacher. Agbaje obtained his secondary school education at St Gregory’s College, Lagos, and graduated as a pharmacist from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). Agbaje’s CV does not tell us what he did between his graduation from Ife and the setting up of his company, JAYKAY Pharmaceutical and chemical company in 1982. However, he was Managing Director of the drug manufacturing and distribution company between 1982 and 2005 when he decided to venture into politics. Again, we have no indication of the net worth of the company or the expansiveness or complexity of its operations under Agbaje’s guidance.

    Agbaje served as a Member, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (1999-2006); National Secretary, Nigerian Association of General Practice Pharmacists (1987-1990); National Chairman, Nigeria Association of General Practice Pharmacists (1987-1990) and Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Branch (1994-1997). Other non-executive public service appointments Agbaje has held include Member, Lagos State Task Force on Fake and Adulterated Drugs (1989-1993); Member, National Drug Formulary and Essential Drugs List (1986-1993); Member, Lagos Hospitals Management Board (1994-1999). In addition to being a Faculty Member of the African Centre of Leadership, Strategy and Development Centre, Agbaje is a Merit Award Winner of the Lagos State Chapter of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Fellow, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and Fellow, West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists. Agbaje has participated in various international programmes including the Executive Management Programme at the Wits Business School, Johannesburg, Cape Town Business School, South Africa and the World Health Organization training course on good manufacturing practice in the pharmaceutical sector.

    Now, what about Mr Akinwunmi Ambode? Born on the 14th of June, 1963, at Epe General Hospital, Epe, Ambode had his primary school education at St Jude’s primary school, Ebute Meta. His father served as a teacher in Lagos State before retiring after 34 years in service. Ambode passed the National Common Entrance Examination in primary five and gained admission into the Federal Government College, Warri. Ambode recorded the second best result in West Africa in the Higher School Certificate Examinations in the Social Sciences in 1981. At the age of 21, Ambode graduated with honours in Accounting from the University of Lagos.  He scored a double when he both qualified as a Chartered Accountant and completed his M.Sc degree programme in Accounting from the University of Lagos specialising in Financial Management at the age of 24.

    Ambode started his public service career in November 1985 as Accountant Grade 1 at the then Lagos State Waste Disposal Board (now Lagos State Waste Management Authority). Over the next 10 years, Ambode acquired considerable experience serving as Council Treasurer in several Local Government Areas of Lagos State including Alimosho, Shomolu, Mushin, Epe, Badagry and Ajeromi-Ifelodun. In 1988, Ambode earned the award of the United States Fulbright Scholarship for the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program in Boston University, Massachusetts, on Public Leadership with emphasis on Finance and Accounting.  In 2000, Ambode was appointed as the youngest ever Auditor-General for Local Government in Lagos State. Thereafter, he was elevated as the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance in January 2005 and in February, 2006 he was given the additional responsibility of Accountant General of Lagos State. At the time, he was the youngest Permanent Secretary in the service and only the second person to hold both positions of Permanent Secretary and Accountant General at the same time.

    Under Ambode’s leadership, the State Treasury Office (STO), raised the state’s budget performance at an average of 85% annually, ensured payment of civil service staff salaries before the end of each month, launched the e-platform for the payment of monthly staff salaries, ensured prompt payment of gratuity and pension arrears of the State Universal Basic Education Board and Local Government old pensioners. Apart from initiating and sustaining the annual retreat for Heads of Accountants in the Lagos State Public Service as well as Local and International training for staff, Ambode co-organised the first ever National Tax Retreat in association with the Joint Tax Board/Federal Inland Revenue Service in 2005.  He was the Chairman of the Technical Committee that produced the Lagos State Economic, Empowerment Development Strategy (LEEDS) document and helped achieve the feat of clearing and publishing arrears of statutory audits of Local Governments in Lagos State from 1995 to 2004 within 12 months. His financial ingenuity has been publicly acknowledged as a key factor that enabled Local Governments in Lagos State survive the illegal seizure of their statutory allocation for over one year by the Obasanjo administration.

    Ambode is an Alumnus of Wharton Business School and also attended courses at Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England, Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland, INSEAD, Singapore and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Boston, Massachussetts, USA. On voluntarily retiring from the Lagos State public service in August 2012, Ambode successfully transited to the private sector by establishing Brandsmiths Consulting Limited, a company that is presently consulting for Federal, State and Local Governments on the transition to the new International Public Service Accounting System and offering other financial advisory services.

    These then are the profiles of two illustrious and accomplished sons of Lagos State seeking the consent of Lagosians to pilot the affairs of the state after Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola’s distinguished tenure. Who has the requisite experience and expertise to build on current achievements and lift Lagos to a new pedestal of excellence in a world characterised by unpredictable financial and economic turmoil? I leave the answer to you, dear reader.

  • Lessons of Eaglets’ loss

    EMMANUEL Amuneke must be sulking now. He must be wondering where he got it wrong against the South Africans on Wednesday in Niger. He will be scratching his head to figure out how the Golden Eaglets couldn’t score the equaliser against the Amajimbos despite his half time talks.

    Take heart brother. That is the baptism that you need to appreciate the fact that coaching goes beyond being a great player, especially after excelling at Barcelona FC in Spain. Coaching is a different gamut. It involves spying on your opponents religiously to know who they set up against different opponents.

    Here is the lesson of the Golden Eaglets’ loss – the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should immediately send Amuneke for refresher courses or attachments, preferably at Arsenal with Arsene Wenger. We have been told that Wenger is ready to re-train our coaches. And Amuneke should be his first student, given the importance of the Eaglets in the development of the game here.

    Wenger would be excited to hear that Amuneke played brilliantly for Barcelona – if he didn’t watch Amuneke play. Wenger would happily teach Amuneke the basics of the game, knowing that he couldn’t have fitted into Barca’s seamless pattern if their coaches didn’t grill him in the act of trapping and passing the ball, shooting etc.

    Wenger would know that Amuneke won’t be left mopping, if thrown into Arsenal Academy to see how coaches prepare teams for matches. The Nigerian coach won’t be inferior to the coaches at Arsenal. Many would look at Amuneke with awe, knowing that he played for Barcelona FC that had its present coach Luiz Erinque as Amuneke’s captain.

    Our coaches don’t do enough homework on opponents before games. That is because we don’t have technical study groups trained for such an exercise. What these groups do is to dig out all the data of the coaches and the players, if they are the popular ones, and fashion out strategies that would render them otiose during matches. But, we approach matches blindfolded. Nigerian coaches gleefully announce that they don’t know enough about their opponents.

    I’m glad that NFF chiefs won’t sack Amuneke. It shows that they understand what the problems are. I want to see what they would do between now and the World Cup with the coaches and how the team prepares. It isn’t enough for the Eaglets to play a string of friendly games. We need to also evaluate the coaches and see if they have learnt anything from the refresher course they underwent, if they do.

    Coaching is a practical job. This Eaglets’ ouster provides the best platform to integrate all the soccer academies to chart the way forward for our football. Teaching kids or should I say younger ones anything in life requires special skills. It is from these academies that we should normally pick our age-grade coaches. The registration of academies will also provide the basis for organising Local Government Areas (LGAs), states and national soccer competitions which would help uncover the raw talents at the grassroots.

    Our academies should be structured in such a way that pushes out quacks and those set up by shylock agents to transfer Nigerian kids outside the country for pittance. This initiative will help the NFF collect the data of players, coaches, agents and owners of soccer academies.

    Soccer academies shouldn’t be left in the hands of untrained people. If the kids are not taught the proper way to do things at the level where they mostly copy their role models, it would be difficult for them to change their style of play at adolescence. This is the major problem of most of our domestic league stars. They only start to embrace how the game is played properly when they go to Europe. Those who are not lucky end their careers without actualising their dreams.

    If the foundation of our football is right, then the production line of talented Nigerian kids ready to shake the world would be phenomenal. In the past, European agents stormed the country to fish out talents themselves. Those they cannot spot they see whenever Nigeria registers for any big competition. We appear to have lost that era, largely because the NFF has paid lip service to this aspect of regularising soccer academies.

    The future of the Eaglets and Amuneke should be seen as a wake-up call for Manu Garba and the Flying Eagles, not forgetting Samson Siasia and the U-23 Olympic Games squad. If Garba and Siasia are not busy, then they should be taken for refresher courses or attachments to big European clubs. I digress!

    I have been very reluctant to discuss former Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi in this column. I reckon that having served his term as Nigeria’s coach, one had to close his file until he renews his contract.

    I have decided to talk about Keshi this week following his seeming malicious jibes at the NFF President Amaju Pinick on Wednesday night. Keshi threw caution to the wind when he said: “I heard also Amaju said he has paid us everything, that he isn’t owing us. It is a lie, big-time lie. He is owing us two months, plus our winning bonus for the game against Sudan.

    “What is he talking about? Is it because I am keeping quiet? I don’t want to talk. Now if they want me to talk, I will start talking and let Nigerians know what is happening.

    “I will let Nigerians know what is happening. I don’t understand; how can Amaju, who says he is the president of Nigerian football, be lying to Nigerians? Is that how he wants to run Nigeria football?

    “They are owing us money, they have not paid and instead of him to say okay there is no money yet or something, he is telling everyone he has paid everything.”

    My first reaction wasn’t to glorify Keshi with a response. But I changed this view because when lies are allowed to go unchallenged, they are termed the truth. I know for a fact that Keshi and his assistants were settled all their claims till July 2014, when President Goodluck Jonathan gave out $3.8 million to the Eagles in Brazil for all outstanding issues before the second round game against France, which Nigeria lost 2-0. In fact, the players and coaches spent the wee-hours to the France game sharing the $3.8 million.

    What this simply means is that NFF had paid Keshi et al their entitlements because the caveat was for the National Sports Commission (NSC) to deduct that $3.8 million from NFF’s account at source.

    Indeed, by the end of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Keshi’s contract had lapsed, awaiting renewal by the NFF chiefs who were being hounded by the government with the NFF President Aminu Maigari arrested on arrival at the airport in Lagos from Brazil. The furore at the NFF continued, culminating in the partial burning of the federation’s Glasshouse in Abuja. There was the campaign that the Maigari-led board should be removed by those purporting to be close to those in the seat of government.

    This “arrest today and release tomorrow” saga continued as the days drew nearer for Nigeria’s qualification series for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea. Need I say that Nigeria lost her first game to Congo DR, with members of the Maigari-led board not watching the game?

    Pained by the loss, the Sports, Minister Tammy Danagogo, decided to handle the affairs to guarantee Nigeria the qualification ticket, which turned out to be a mirage. As Danagogo took charge, words filtered out that Keshi was paid N14 million sequel to the deal he struck with the minister to handle Nigeria’s qualification.

    The minister was lampooned for giving out such huge sum to the coach, especially as he was being paid N5 million monthly. Those in this school of thought  felt strongly that since the coach was out of contract, it was wrong for him to be paid such a lump sum rather than pro-rate his entitlements. But the minister didn’t want any reason for failure; he gave the coach what he demanded. Bottom line: Nigeria didn’t get the ticket and everyone wanted the technical crew out.

    One is, therefore, miffed that the coach could be talking about being owed October and November salaries and entitlements. He also went on to say that he wasn’t paid his allowances for the victory over Sudan.  Keshi must tell us who paid him during the period when we had no NFF? I feel strongly that is the body that should authorise the payment of the outstanding salaries and allowances. Keshi must be told that this is the fallout of his insistence on dealing with constituted authority not his immediate bosses.

    The immediate question to ask is- what was the N14 million paid to the coach for? His salaries and allowances or what? Is it right to pay a man who is out of contract salaries? Thank God Danagogo is a Phd holder in law. He should be able to tell us what the rules say, especially against the background that the coach was paid N14 million. Except that payment was never made. Who do we believe? NFF, Amaju, Keshi or the minister? I hope all the parties know that Nigerians won’t forgive them, if we don’t qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.