PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has pulled the brakes on the needless wrangling between the Sports Ministry and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), with the sacking of the faction which occupied the Glasshouse, flaunting an ex parte motion from a Jos High Court. The President must have rightly looked at the bigger picture: Nigeria should not become a pariah nation among 210 others who have applied themselves to FIFA’s rules and statutes without putting them to test against what operates in their Constitutions.
Nigeria’s Constitution is supreme. However, when a country voluntarily decides to identify with any group or society, such as FIFA, such a country must abide by such body’s rules, statutes and regulations, especially if as many as 210 others are doing so. If such a country feels strongly that it can no longer belong to the group, it should quietly opt out. Unfortunately, a few unhappy people want to decide for us without concrete reasons. The President has painstakingly thought through the charade and directed that the status quo ante should remain.
Perhaps, we need to inform the President that one of the early statements of the minister was that he was short-changed by one of the NFF boards when he accompanied the Nigerian side to an international competition. Could this be the reason for the consistent onslaught on the incumbent board? Again, there is the subtle reminder here that the minister is one of the defendants in the suit. One wonders what he would be saying in the court when the case is called. Is it not also true that a peace meeting was called by the minister? What happened to the resolutions? Did the minister not constitute an intervention panel headed by Ibrahim Galadima, which met and submitted a report on the way forward in this crisis? What happened to the report? Answers to these posers will be helpful in charting the way forward from this impasse now that the President has ruled that we should respect FIFA’s statutes while we await the final determination of the suit.
The President’s pronouncement came via a letter from the country’s chief law officer who wrote thus:’’ I write to convey the directive of His Excellency President Muhammad Buhari that the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports should refrain from making any further public statement in relation to this matter and let the legal process take its course. The parties are to be advised to await the final determination of the suit without, disturbing the status quo ante. Accept the assurances of my warm regards.’’
Abubakar Malami, SAN, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice’s letter wasn’t ambiguous. Why the interpretation caused all the hue and cry in the land underscores where the root of the problems lies. Indeed, it is the AGF’s duty to talk about legal matters concerning the country, irrespective of the qualifications other ministers have in related fields. I digress!
President Buhari intervened in the NFF wahala to avoid international disgrace for the country,especially after the so called leadership of the factional body sat down in Abuja occupying the Glasshouse whereas their counterparts in Africa convened in Morocco to discuss why the continent disappointed at the Russia 2018 World Cup despite high hopes raised prior to the tournament.
Once any incident is likely to pour odium on the country, it is only appropriate that the President intervenes like he did with those Nigerians who were stranded in Russia. The President ordered the Foreign Affairs minister to bring them back home safely. The minister obeyed the directive and they came home aboard an Ethiopian Airline. The point made here is that the President’s intervention in the NFF crisis which had the FIFA chiefs telling us who they recognised isn’t government interference. Rather, only such orders can be obeyed without being challenged. There is relative peace in the Glasshouse, following hints that some elders want to resolve the crisis. Hmmm! Where were they all this while? Are some of these people’s views not known to us? This body can’t resolve anything. Most of the members are behind the chaos. With this new reconciliation plan, what has happened to the Supreme Court judgment being flaunted? I digress.
“We must give all the credit to our President, Muhammadu Buhari, for acting to restore the leadership of the federation and saving the nation the embarrassment,” NFF President Amaju Pinnick said.
“Even as the situation persisted, I was very positive about his patriotic commitment to the best interest of the nation and his clarity of judgment to bring order to bear. It is said that the sheep cannot be suffering the pangs of birth tied to the stake while elders are around. He has demonstrated this fatherliness in so many ways across various sectors and now football is the latest beneficiary. We thank God for his life and for giving him to us.
“By his intervention, the nation has been saved the embarrassment, the world football community has been reassured of the high sense of responsibility of the government of Nigeria as a member of the international community and hope is brought back to thousands of Nigeria youths engaged in football as the various national teams can proceed on their various programmes without apprehension, the various leagues which were stopped under the circumstance can now get back to action while the confidence of the various sponsors, partners and investors in Nigeria football has been restored.”
The beauty of the Moroccan parley is that football chieftains in Africa invited the five countries’ coaches to explain to them what happened and proffer solutions on how to avert such unpleasant outings in the future. For the records, Africa’s five representatives crashed out of the Mundial at the group stages. That wasn’t good enough, considering how African players rule their European clubs.
A lot was expected from the African teams. When they failed, it didn’t come as a surprise when fans in the continent rooted for France from the Round of 16 matches until the French lifted the World Cup diadem, beating Croatia 4-2 in Moscow. The Africans took solace in the fact that most of the French players had strong African lineages, but the players would rather see themselves as Frenchmen, not Africans, even if they would admit to such links so sparingly.
Indeed, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria will build on the suggestions made in Morocco to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Cameroon, having been in the Maghreb nation as a united front unlike Nigeria, bickering less than 50 days to the annual election into the Glasshouse.
Interestingly, those who query the NFF chiefs for seeking to run its affairs devoid of the government’s interference point to the fact that the government funds the federation’s operations. The fact remains that when Nigeria has an international assignment, it is the country’s anthem that is sung, not NFF’s, making it imperative on the government to fulfil its social responsibility of providing the platform for its citizens to recreate, as in this instance. After all, recreation enhances people’s health.
This NFF board, for the first time, ran its operations using FIFA’s $2 million grant to the 32 participating countries at the Russia 2018 World Cup and other sources (non government) to meet the players’, coaches’ and back room staff’s allowances and match winning bonuses. The players were given the treatment they get from their European clubs, hence when the team tottered in Russia, they owned up to their shortcomings, with a promise to excel at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations slated to hold in Cameroon.
Nigeria’s population is said to be close to 200 million. Football and its allied services providers, including stadium attendants, doctors, coaches, physiotherapists, grounds men, players, nurses, ambulance drivers etc, also provide means of livelihood for several unemployed Nigerians, who will become destitute, if Nigeria becomes a pariah nation in FIFA’s calendar.
Shouldn’t the existing system be allowed to entrench the process of self – financing and accountability that saved us the shame of reading about our players boycotting training in Russia, like it happened in 2014? In the past, we bore the shame of having foreign coaches we hired drag us to the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) and FIFA, seeking payment of their entitlements. That has changed. Plans for the next competition, the Africa Cup of Nations, slated to hold in Cameroon, like it is done in other climes.
Nigeria, having attended six World Cup competitions since her debut in 1994, must be a regular at the Mundial. This can happen only if we have people who can run the game like a business and not a platform for the boys to sit aloof and leave the critical aspect of funding to the government. Nigeria’s jersey at the last Mundial was a marketing success, having been adjudged the best in Russia. Nigerians at the Mundial cringed watching other nationals wear our jerseys on match days involving their countries. It was quite interesting seeing others struggle to have our jerseys as souvenirs.
Mention must be made of John Mikel Obi’s courage in playing so well against Argentina in spite of the fact that he had discussed with kidnappers who took his father hostage in before the game at the Saint Petersburg Stadium in Russia. A rare show of patriotism which deserves our commendations. Cheers Mikel.