The Nation Newspaper

Category: Hardball

  • Xenophobia: Not the spirit of Lagos

    There is a furore in town: the Eko Foundation kicking against Prof. Wole Soyinka’s appointment as co-chair, Committee on Lagos State at 50.

    Its public faces, Prof. Imran Oluwole Smith, SAN and Kunle Uthman, say the appointment is wrong, since Soyinka is no Lagosian.

    But a section of the media balks, with both The Punch and The Nation, both corporate natives of Lagos, writing contrary editorials.

    Now, how does Hardball weigh in?  First, with name analysis, with all due respect to the two signees of the Eko Foundation communication, vis-a-vis Lagos nativity.

    Uthman is a Muslim name.  Given that Islam was the dominant religion in Isale Eko, bastion of the Lagos aborigines, Uthman could well pass for an autochthonous Lagos name, just like Oluwa, Fafunwa, Bajulaye, Obanikoro, etc.

    But Smith?  That would appear a Saro name: just like Macaulay, Bickerstheth, Johnson, etc.  The Saros, in Lagos history, were returnee former slaves, mainly from Sierra Leone, quartered mainly in Olowogbowo.  They were the bright lights in the “new” religion of Christianity, around the mid 19th century: clerics at the Anglican Church, clerks in the civil service, and cocky consumers of European fashion: shirts, trousers, socks, ties, and, of course, the inevitable umbrella.

    Sure, there were other returnees, from Brazil, of Popo Aguda (Catholic district) of Campos (the hub), with their fringe spreading to the uptown Lafiaji area.  These were the Pedros, the Da Rochas, the Cardosos, the Salvadores, etc, with their mother shrine at Holy Cross Cathedral.  But since most denizens from the Brazilian quarters were skilled artisans, the Isale Eko natives regarded them as little threat.

    Not so, the Saro.  Indeed, Patrick Dele Cole, in his Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos, quoted an eminent Saro, John Payne Jackson, editor-publisher of Lagos Weekly Record, as knocking the Saro as “non-productive”, since they feasted on “the foreigner for culture and the aborigines for wealth.”  He only echoed native Eko sentiments.

    Indeed, the Lagos aborigines back then resented Saro influence, in local trading and petty civil service work, fuming that next to the greedy white traders, the local Saro were the biggest threat to native Eko economic opportunities.

    But if, in 21st century Lagos, a Smith and an Uthman can co-sign the Eko Foundation communication, it clearly shows how far Lagos had moved from those insular early times. But that very fact does great dissonance to their unfortunate anti-Soyinka campaign.

    The melting pot that Lagos has become today is founded on Michael Echeruo’s book, Victorian Lagos.  Though it started, in Echeruo’s words, as “Lagos at first of the returning Brazilians, Americans and West Indians; and later of Sierra Leoneans and Liberians; and not Lagos of Nigerians,” it has since morphed into a Lagos of all, with both natives and settlers adding value to the city.

    Wole Soyinka, famed culture icon, has been a key contributor to Lagos, as we know it today.  Besides, he is standing consultant to the Lagos Festival, celebrated around Easter every year; and his input and impact is clearly felt in redeveloping the old Broad Street Prisons to what is now known as Freedom Park.

    With all due respect, the Eko Foundation does neither themselves nor Lagos any good by their shocking xenophobia against a rare toast of global culture, and first African Nobel laureate for Literature.

    Soyinka proudly epitomises both the Lagos motto of excellence; and essence as a truly cosmopolitan city.  In contrast, Xenophobia is no spirit of Lagos.  So, Eko Foundation should, forthwith, quit this embarrassing campaign.

  • House wars

    You probably know Star Wars, particularly if you gobble science fiction. The Star Wars series resonate well in that genre, particularly in movies.

    But House Wars?  Probably not.  But that appears the latest hair-raising drama in Nigeria’s political space, with the ace dramatic personae priming their acts in the troubled Kogi State.  It promises turbo-charged drama!

    The House tango sprang from the March 9 reported House of Representatives takeover of the Kogi legislature, following a tussle over disputed speakership, with two claimants Momohjimoh Lawal (purportedly impeached former Speaker) and Umar Imam (purportedly elected new Speaker).  The House of Representatives declared it was taking charge because of the stalemate, in line with Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constitution.

    Trouble started on February 14 when a faction of the Kogi legislature, claiming it had 17 signatures (out of 25 members) to impeach Lawal, announced it had replaced him with Imam. But in a riposte at a news conference, Lawal claimed he remained Speaker, since he had the support of 20 members.  With the ding-dong, resulting in operational paralysis, Lawal took his case to the National Assembly, which, after charging a committee to investigate the crisis, handed down its March 9 decision, calling on IGP Solomon Arase to shut down the Kogi House, until the claimants resolved the problem.

    But on March 10, the Imam faction, with 10 members in attendance, poured cold water on the House of Representatives’ decision.  It convened a special valedictory session for James Ocholi, SAN, the minister of state for Labour and Employment, a Kogi son who just died in a tragic auto crash.

    The Imam faction even added a sheen of legalism to its rebellion, which many would regard as audacious.  “This Assembly is in session, transacting its legislative business at the plenary sitting and committee meeting,” thundered the factional Speaker. “I call on the Senate to discountenance the concurrence sought by the House of Representatives and direct same to re-examine the prevailing situation disinterestedly and with a view to finding a solution to this problem.”

    Talk of upping the ante!  Meanwhile, the Lawal faction scrupulously stayed out of chambers.  But a casual math.  Imam claims he has 17 members backing him.  But only 10 showed up at his rebel session.  Lawal too says 20 members still endorse him.  Could part of his 20 have attended his rival’s session, given the fact that five of the 25-member legislature had had their elections voided?

    It is well and truly a Kogi peculiar mess, that somewhat echoes the ace British TV comedy: Some folks do have them!

    Kogi’s controversial Governor, Yahaya Bello, faces intra-APC opponents at the election tribunal, who taunt him as “supplementary governor”; a Kogi version of the federal experience of Chief Ernest Shonekan, a fidihe (interim) occupier of office, soon to be judicially unhorsed.

    At the legislative front, the Kogi House appears split right through the middle, with a pugnacious Imam half, even upping the stakes! The big question is: who blinks first?  It is the making of a Kogi roforofo fight!

    Indeed, some Kogi folks do have them!

  • Fish out the saboteurs

    Hardball wishes the  President Muhammadu Buhari administration well. The President cannot afford to fail. He must not fail. Nigerians don’t want failure. Nigerians don’t deserve failure.

    When a leader publicly expresses doubts about the loyalty of some important members of his administration, it is a sign that all may not be well with the administration. When Buhari spoke to Al-Jazeera during his recent visit to Doha, Qatar, he perhaps betrayed his uncertainties and anxieties.

    A report said: “When asked to be specific on his submission, which suggested that there were saboteurs in his government, Buhari replied, “Certainly!” He said it would be wrong to assume that government officials, especially those who his government inherited from the Peoples Democratic Party will be 100 per cent loyal to his government.”

    The President advised Nigerians , particularly the critics of his administration , “to be fair to us. “ He was quoted as saying that his administration inherited many officials of the previous  governments , among them permanent secretaries.

    “ So, we cannot assume that all of them are 100 per cent loyal to this government. However, the President did not name these officials, “ the report said.

    So, who are these saboteurs? Does Buhari know them? If he doesn’t know them, what is the point in saying that they exist? If he knows them, what is he doing about them?  Surely, it isn’t enough to paint a picture of sabotage without having a clear picture of those involved and how to arrest their disruptive actions.

    Buhari’s comments were curiously reminiscent of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2012 comments that the extremist Boko Haram group had succeeded in infiltrating his government and planting its members in government agencies and security outfits. Jonathan’s revelation came during a church service at the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, as part of the annual Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations.

    Jonathan had lamented: “During the civil war, we knew and we could even predict where the enemy was coming from.  You can even know the route they are coming from, you can even know what calibre of weapon they will use and so on…Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won’t even know the person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind your house.” Could this observation partly explain why the Jonathan administration failed to make positive progress in the anti-terror war?

    The Buhari era is being promoted as a change era and Buhari is described as a change agent. If indeed there are saboteurs in his administration, he should do something about it quickly.

  • Let there be light

    We are suffering here. Over 10 years now, we have been in darkness. We have spent about N400million through our own efforts, yet we remain in darkness… Are we not Nigerians? We cannot continue like this again. As you can see our banner-Enough is Enough.”

    The speaker, Funso Ayeni, spoke for residents of Ibafo, Mowe, Magboro and many other communities along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, who have threatened to disrupt traffic on the highway if darkness continued its reign in their localities.

    He told reporters that the prolonged darkness affected people under 187 Community Development Councils (CDCs) and over 500 Community Development Associations (CDAs).

    According to Ayeni, who is the chairman of a Community Development Council, efforts to get successive state and federal administrations to tackle their troubles failed and the people who live in darkness have decided to give the government a “week ultimatum to address their plight or risk having traffic jam on the ever-busy Lagos–Ibadan Expressway”.

    These communities are a classic example of how growth goes before infrastructure, and all its attendant pains. Because of the rapidly expanding Lagos megacity, many people move out to the fringes: partly to own their own homes, to flee from shylock landlords and cut-throat prices or just to escape the urban tension.  But on balance, it is doubtful if the math adds up.

    Ayeni claimed that the people had spent a fortune on poles, cables, transformers and contractors’ fee without the desired result, meaning that the result was extended darkness.  He also lamented that they have had to provide roads, drainage, clinics, schools, electricity and community police posts for their communities without assistance from the authorities.

    This is a familiar picture. It is perhaps darker than others, but it is familiar. It illustrates the suffering in many communities across the country. In the case of these communities in Obafemi Local Government Area of Ogun State, they reportedly blamed the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) for their dark situation. Ayeni said the electricity company had promised to provide electricity by January 8. The company’s failure to keep its word is a reflection of how the authorities pay lip service to development.

    It goes without saying that the state of affairs has negatively affected socio-economic activities in these communities, apart from the resultant frustration of the people.

    But this dark tale is not just about these particular communities. Moving from the particular to the general, it is the sad story of Nigeria, a country living in darkness in an age of light and enlightenment.

    Still, it is doubtful if invading and shutting down the expressway is the solution to the problem. Yes, these citizens feel hurt, ignored and neglected — and painfully so.  But would they be right to inflict pains on other Nigerians just to vent their own frustrations?  Hardly.

    So, the Ogun State government should liaise with Ibadan DISCO to see what can be done to improve the parlous power situation. But the people should not take the law into their hands.

  • Think before speaking

    “Think before you speak” is a piece of advice that the Senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, Mr. Dino Melaye, should find useful if he is not unteachable. He demonstrated remarkable unthoughtfulness when he spoke on the floor of the Senate on March 2. Or should the counsel be “Speak after thinking”?

    On the positive side, Melaye spoke in favour of made-in-Nigeria products and argued that Nigerians should patronise things made in Nigeria.  Then he got carried away and perhaps stopped thinking for a while as he reportedly made a reference to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his Cape Verdean wife, Iara.

    Melaye was quoted as saying: “We will also move in order to encourage made-in-Nigeria products and begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria women. Apologies to my uncle, the Governor of Edo State, we must, as a people, stop paying dowries in dollars and pounds. It is time for my colleagues here to become born-again.”

    To be fair, the question must be asked whether Melaye meant that Nigerian women could be regarded as made-in-Nigeria products. His choice of words was certainly insensitive, to put it mildly. Likening women to products not only belittled women but also insulted women. There is such a thing as the objectification of women, which is what Melaye did by his unthinking utterance.

    Melaye’s mention of Oshiomhole and his wife reflected the mind of a mischief-maker. What has Oshiomhole’s marriage got to do with the promotion of made-in-Nigeria products?

    More importantly, Melaye displayed narrow-mindedness unbecoming of a Senator in a world that is regarded as a global village. Perhaps only a vacuous mind would try to make an issue of a mixed marriage involving a Nigerian man and a Cape Verdean woman or, by extension, any intermarriage involving a Nigerian and a foreigner.

    The point is that Melaye could have made his point without turning himself into an object of ridicule by mouthing irrelevancies. When a Senator opens his mouth in the Senate chamber, he should watch his mouth. Melaye should learn to keep his mouth shut if he can’t think before speaking.

  • Where is Olisa Metuh?

    Folks, where is Olisa Metuh, hitherto the loquacious Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national publicity secretary?  And why has he, all of a sudden, morphed from His Voluble Olisa to His Funereal Silent, Metuh?

    Hardball feels constrained to ask, given the situation this time last year.  O, it was the halcyon days of power and the desperation to retain it; and how the PDP duo of Metuh and Femi Fani-Kayode (now known and addressed as Femi Olu-Kayode) were in full charge.  It was the scalding heat of electioneering, and did the opposing partisans feel the heat!

    As desperate problems compel desperate solutions, Metuh and Fani bossed the PDP strategy of ultra-negative campaign: sensations, titillation, reckless libel and sometimes, outright lies.

    But why this sudden quest for Metuh?  Well, the controversial Ali Modu Sheriff (SAS) seems to have ridden the storm to stay as PDP national chairman.  That’s okay, for it is PDP’s internal affair.  By this time last year, SAS was swearing to be personally held responsible if he didn’t deliver his native Borno to President Goodluck Jonathan, then eyeing a second term, which proved to be doomed.

    Before then, however, the same SAS had, perhaps as a satanic muse, inspired Metuh to his Janjaweed partisan poetry.  By the Metuh (il)logic, SAS was the “founder” of Boko Haram; since he belonged to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), APC must be an Islamist party, with a Janjaweed philosophy!

    Needless to say, that crusading outrage, of resisting alleged Islamists like SAS in the polity, led Fani to growl and foam in the mouth, and quit APC.  He won’t be party to Islamisation of Nigeria as long as he lived and retained his rather smooth and glib elocution.  That, new darling, landed him a plum job as Jonathan’s campaign chief spokesperson.  And boy, did he make hay!

    It was the golden season of the tag team of Fani and Metuh, in strident and reckless electioneering.  And the major plank was ethnic and religious baiting.

    That, of course, was dangerous religious play, aimed at consolidating Jonathan, in the South, as the poor Christian about to be cruelly unhorsed by the Islamist North, but which spectacularly backfired in the North, forcing a pathetic Vice President Namadi Sambo to claim, on the hustings, that indeed PDP was the Muslim party, simply because he was personally a devout Muslim by name and by practice!

    One year later, however, everything seems changed.  SAS that was the APC Judas has become the new  PDP saviour, the sole force to lead the former federal ruling party back to redemption.

    But even for Fani, it was an irony he couldn’t stomach, hence his new found war against SAS’s new ascent.  That has provoked a libel writ by SAS, who vigorously declaims the tag of founder of Boko Haram.  The case is in court.  But Fani insists he isn’t fazed a hoot.

    And Metuh?  Funereal quiet, aside from his initial terse announcement that party bosses had chosen SAS as new chair.  Is the former flamboyant PDP spokesman quiet because of the rap he now faces in court?

    Or is he chastened by the sheer folly of Janjaweed thinking, especially as it has come back to haunt him and his party with SAS’s ascendance?

    Folks, whenever you see Metuh, please ask him exactly why.  All Hardball knows is that his has been a rather dramatic transition from His Noise-some Olisa, to his Dead Quiet, Metuh!

  • Progressive executive, reactionary legislature?

    What Nigeria’s National Assembly has morphed into an anti-people assembly is no news.  What is news is that leading lights in that reaction are now elements of the new progressive ruling party. When reactionaries wear progressive garb, what are they — progressive reactionaries?  Ha!

    Hardball’s Monday morning ire is stoked by The Nation’s story of March 4: “Lawmakers kill Buhari’s N500 billion for the poor”, which they claim is not a true reflection of their thoughts.  Guess the chief ideologue in that story?  Mohammed Danjuma Goje, chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, former PDP governor of Gombe State but now APC senator from Gombe.

    The senator, who in the story assumed the role of Mr. Fiscal Impossible, dismissed the N500 billion voted for the economic succour of most vulnerable Nigerians, in Budget 2016, as un-implementable. He spoke at a joint session of the Senate and House committees on Appropriation, en route to passing the 2016 Appropriation on March 17. At the briefing were Budget and National Planning Minister, Udo Udoma and Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.

    The “can’t do” senator said the modalities to implement the N500 billion intervention were not clearly stated in the budget; said when it got to the market folk, the budget spoke of “market women” when in his native Gombe, all they had were “market men”.  He also dismissed the Buhari Presidency’s proposed school feeding programme as un-implementable, because most of them studied under trees due to lack of classrooms.

    Well, maybe that was the situation in Gombe when the senator was governor. But pray, how do Osun, under Rauf Aregbesola, which has implemented the scheme for more than four years now; and Kaduna, under Nasir El-Rufai, which has just started implementing it, do the magic — a clear magic, which could have been beyond the ken of the senator as governor?

    When will the Federal Government cease to be the big-for-nothing, dog-in-a-manger bully that cannot do but won’t allow others who can, do?  Never, if the reactionary notion of the National Assembly is allowed to stand.

    Mercifully, Budget Minister Udo Udoma made it clear that the intervention was an inviolate campaign pledge, suggesting deferring implementation was out of question. That is good because the President has a mandate, forged from these promises.  He takes the flak if things go wrong, not some feckless National Assembly.

    Even then, Senator Goje’s remark on the schools feeding scheme shows his basic lack of understanding of the programme. Like many of his over-fed and over-pampered compatriots, the senator focused on the freebie from the state: why should you feed pupils when their parents should do so?  Teach them to fish, they thunder that popular cliché in holy rage, but don’t give them fish!

    But what of the business chain in the process en route to the feeding: the livestock, grain and chicken farmers whose businesses would get a boost?  The food vendor who would recharge his or her economy, and have more disposable income?  And the increased money in people’s pockets, which can be spent to reflate the economy? O no, forget the process, the end result is freebie!

    O yeah? But when did freebies become a crime — when vulnerable Nigerian masses are beneficiaries? Listen to the same National Assembly, on January 4, exactly two months to The Nation report. The news was the N4.7 billion to be shelled on buying Nigeria’s 469 federal lawmakers cushy cars.

    “There is no way,” Senator Sabe Abdullahi exploded, “we can exercise our legislative functions, especially in the area of oversight, using our personal cars.” Progressive rage, isn’t it?

    These legislators should get real and wean themselves from their overarching sense of self-settlement. If the President cannot dictate to them when it concerns their personal comfort, they certainly cannot dictate to the President when it is the collective comfort of Nigerians.

  • JK is not OK

    It’s about a year since he lost at the polls for the post of governor of Lagos. But it seems Jimi Agbaje is still panting. And he is panting like a bad loser. Hear him on that matter and ancillary grudges:

    “Some members were annoyed because the monies meant for the elections were not given to them to prosecute the last polls. I am angry too because the PDP won the last election in the state but was denied victory. I finish election, na gbese I carry for head.”

    Agbaje, who rode on the slogan, that JK is OK, is still in the dumps, temperamentally. He said this at the PDP secretariat in Lagos. But hear what his party leader, Boy George, or properly known as Bode George, said on the same election in which now Governor Akinwunmi  Ambode squeaked out an undisputed triumph.

    “We were defeated by the agent provocateurs within our ranks. We were defeated by political renegades who merely invested in their own greedy and selfish interests.”

    So, there! The oga and the candidate spoke from different lamp posts. Barely a year after they lost, the house is still divided against itself. JK has not even had peace with himself. First, when the poll result was announced, he had called the then Governor-elect Ambode not only to congratulate him, but also to pray profusely for him. In a supposedly anointed hour, he wished him well, so that he could govern the people of the state with merit and credit.

    Well, the irony may not be striking the pharmacist. But his prayer is already working:  Ambode is morphing into a giant of governance, while JK is metastasising as a bitter man, who cannot even conceal his malicious bile in a public square. JK can see around Lagos the strides Ambode has set in motion in Nigeria’s state of states.

    After that grand petition to God for Ambode, when he was declared Lagos helmsman, he went to petition man by going to the tribunal. He lost at every level. Did he not read the scriptures that “we rather obey God than Man?”

    Then he turned sullen and slid into silence. The silence was dignified until he came out on Tuesday. It showed that his bad blood did not subside. Rather, it has escalated.

    If Boy George had not spoken, the view could have gone abroad that the PDP held JK’s view. Hardball does not know if the gbese reference was a jibe at his “mentor” Bode George. If he, Agbaje, is now broke, was he unleashing a knock on Boy George over recent revelations about a hundred million Naira election bonanza? But even at that, why did he, JK, as the candidate, not open the books of the campaign and demonstrate how he “carried the gbese?”

    Who were the political renegades that Boy George railed at in his vitriolic speech? He mentioned former minister, Musiliu Obanikoro. Who are the other renegades? We would like to know indeed.

    “Our victory was scuttled by evil characters,” Boy George announced, “who preferred the narrow position of ministerial office than (sic) the collective esteem and honour of winning the governorship election of Lagos State.”

    Well, it is clear the bellyaching continues. But the better advice goes to JK, who should learn to be true to his God when he prays. He served God before he made a pirouette to serve man. It does not pay. It has not paid him.

  • Fayose needs self-criticism

    I am Ayo Fayose. If you hit me, you hit trouble; if I hit you, you will be in trouble.”  That was Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose bragging during a February 27 victory celebration by the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt. His choice of words, “If you hit me, you hit trouble”, suggests that he is intolerant of criticism.

    Interestingly, he sees nothing contradictory in criticising others, even when his criticisms are evidently politically motivated. His response to those who criticise him for his usually unreasonable criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration: “My criticisms are to help the people enjoy dividends of democracy.” Fayose’s reaction came during the March 1 inauguration of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital. Fayose added: “If nobody is talking because of fear, you will have a dictator in every leader.”

    Perhaps this explains why Fayose is behaving like a dictator in Ekiti State. When in December last year the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposition in the state criticised him for wearing a pair of Jeans trousers and a T-shirt to the House of Assembly to present the Appropriation Bill, the House Committee Chairman on Information, Gboyega Aribisogan, reportedly wondered: “And what has what Governor Fayose wears got to do with governance?”

    Also, when Fayose was criticised for reportedly grabbing the gavel and employing it to “pass” the budget he presented into law, which was an undemocratic absurdity, Aribisogan was quoted as saying: “Is it our fault that the APC does not have a member in the House of Assembly? … The reality that those in the APC must face is that if they are waiting for us to confront Governor Fayose on issues of governance, they will wait till eternity.”

    Now, let’s go back to the JSC event, where Fayose said: “What gives birth to dictatorial governance is lack of consistent and constructive criticism of public officers.” It is unsurprising that Fayose continues to demonstrate “dictatorial governance” in Ekiti State, given the hero worship by men of straw. He needs to practise what he preaches by doing some self-criticism.

  • Golden boy chickens out

    Sunday Oliseh, Amaju Pinnick’s golden boy, with the golden touch, to make the Super Eagles golden again, has sensationally chickened out!  Was that an unforeseen glitch or accident waiting to happen?

    The exit of Stephen Keshi and entrance of Sunday Oliseh, was akin to the fecundity challenge of the hen and the fowl in a Yoruba saying.  The hen produced 20 eggs and hatched all 20.  Yet the owner angrily solid it off, for alleged barrenness.  Instead, he bought a fowl.  But the new darling produced only six eggs, hatching only one!

    With all the hype surrounding Oliseh’s arrival, Guardiola of Africa, et al, it can only surprise the gullible that everything has ended a damp squib.  But that doesn’t mitigate the catastrophe: on the virtual eve of a crucial Nations Cup qualifier back-to-back with Egypt, the coaching camp is in disarray.

    Now, Keshi with all his troubles, chalked up modest achievements, among which was an African Nations Cup (AFCON) win from virtual nowhere.  Yeah, many times, he didn’t play great.  But at least, he could boast a bragging right as AFCON winner.

    Pray, what could Oliseh brag about?  Presiding over the dumping of Nigeria, in the opening rounds, in the second-tier Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in Rwanda, a tournament in which the “very bad” Keshi even won a bronze!

    When Oliseh came, people who knew football pointed at his lack of managerial experience (never even coached a top league club side before, or even any of Nigeria’s age-grade teams); and his fearsome temper, which makes him rude and insufferable most of the time.  What Amaju Pinnick’s Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and their spin ensemble could mouth was the all-conquering Guardiola of Africa, that needn’t national team training experience before excelling!  Now, we know better!

    But even worse: Hurricane Oliseh was some glorious undertaker of a sort, at least with some senior players.  Vincent Enyeama, one of Nigeria’s best goalkeepers ever, walked out on the national team simply because Oliseh would play the brusque boss over team captaincy.  It is a scandal that one of the best goalkeepers in France’s Ligue One is unavailable for selection in a key Nations Cup eliminator.  His replacement?  Another of Oliseh’s golden rookies from the English second-tier!

    Another, Emmanuel Emenike, Nigeria’s top striker at the AFCON win, took a jump before he was pushed.  He was afraid, perhaps, Oliseh would sack him if he didn’t sack himself early enough!

    The long and short?  Nigerian football is back to square one. Does that say anything about the quality of decision making in Nigeria’s public space?  And what’s this umpteenth intransigence about the inviolability of decisions, even if they appear, as in Oliseh’s appointment, patently wrong and not well thought through?

    Still, with all of Oliseh’s faults, nothing excuses NFF for not fulfilling the terms of his contract, as the coach claimed.  It’s really a scandal: coaches being owed salaries, Oliseh’s accommodation deal remaining a mirage, and even his hand-picked assistant “begging” for his salary to attend to his health!

    Contract terms brouhaha has always been part of NFF’s narrative, right from its time as NFA.  Even if Oliseh proved a pig in a poke, the contract disputes that rationalised his premature exit was also part of the reasons for Keshi’s sack.

    So, when will the NFF get real, given the almost spiritual plane football occupies in the lives of stressed and longsuffering Nigerians?