Former Enugu Rangers and Warri Wolves forward Marshall Odah has signed a year’s loan deal with Vietnamese club Song Lam FC.
Last year, Odah underwent trials in Vietnam before he returned to complete the season with Rangers in November.
And the forward has already started to justify his transfer after he came in as a second half substitute to score a brace in a 2-0 win over Hanoi in a pre-season tournament. The Vietnamese season will begin next month.
Forward Onoriode Odah has returned to the Rangers squad for Sunday’s league game after he was dropped for the home win against Kwara following a training ground bust-up.
Marshall walked out on Rangers final training prior to the match against Kwara with permission from the coach and he was ordered to stay out till further notice.
His last game was against Wikki at home in early September during which he scored from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win only to suffer an injury, which kept him out for several weeks.
The left-footed striker, who is a brother of Warri Wolves goalkeeper, Okiemute Odah, has scored 10 goals in all competitions this season – seven in the league and three in the Confederation Cup.
Warri Wolves have warned other clubs off goalkeeper Okiemute Odah, insisting they won’t sell him even for a fee of 100 million Naira.
Wolves have made it clear that Okiemute will see out his contract before they would think of releasing him to another club.
“After our meeting on Wednesday’s evening, we looked at some of the requests from other clubs interested in our players. While we agreed on some, we decided we cannot release Okiemute Odah now,” said Wolves spokesman Moses Etu.
“We will not sell him even for 100 million Naira because he is part of the coach’s plan for this coming season.
“We have also registered him for the CAF Confederation Cup and if he is fit, he will be on the plane to defend his fatherland in Burkina Faso next month.
“He is an important player and he is well behaved and the fans like him so his own case is a special one. There are some good players that are serving as bad influence and we did not waste our time in debating their matters. We have asked them to go but in Okiemute’s case, he will serve us for this season.
“We know we are one of the best clubs in the country and only the best is good for him.’”
Meanwhile, Wolves have commended the League Management Company (LMC) for inviting the country’s U20 and U23s teams to feature in this year’s Super 4.
“We are happy that with the absence of the league, we have something to really test the strength of our team especially the inclusion of the two national teams. Let me commend the LMC and NFF for that and we are looking forward to a good outing,” Etu remarked.
Enugu Rangers’ forward, Onoriode Odah, has expressed satisfaction with his performance for the club this term.
Odah joined Rangers last term and is in his second season with the former Nigerian champions.
“I had a quiet outing last term, but at present I am experiencing a different atmosphere this season. I’m pleased with the role the manager, John Obuh, has given me. I’m always working hard to improve and it’s good to know I’ve provided assists for my teammates to score,” he told supersport.com.
Odah, younger brother of Warri Wolves goalkeeper, Okiemute, has scored twice for Rangers against Abia Warriors and Bayelsa United, this term.
•Court ruling is a wake-up call for labour to live up to its ideals
For John Odah, victory could not have been sweeter after nearly two years of battle to return to his plum job as scribe of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). Last week, the National Industrial Court, Abuja, ordered the NLC to withdraw its letter of May 24, 2011 terminating his appointment. It further directed his reinstatement as general secretary of the congress with full rights, benefits, and privileges appertaining to it from June, 2011.
The ruling was explicit: “the Claimant (Odah) is deemed to have maintained unbroken record of service with the 1st Defendant (NLC) since his employment in 1987 until his ultimate disengagement as hereinafter provided.
There is however a caveat: Odah will upon resumption of office serve a three-month notice of his voluntary retirement and “on the same day proceed or deemed to have proceeded on retirement leave” with his salaries and emolument as well as terminal benefits paid up to, and including the last day of his pre-retirement notice. The NLC was directed to arrange a befitting and widely publicised sen- forth party for him, in appreciation of his services while he, in turn, is expected to hand over the affairs of the office and any property of the congress.
For a case that threatened to split the labour movement down the middle, it is both a timely and well-reasoned judgment.
No doubt, the development had a tinge of irony while it lasted. The first part is that the NLC had to be dragged to court over an alleged violation of the same principles of fair and equitable treatment over which it had dared other employers in the past. The second part is that an activist and veteran of such pitched battles would be its direct victim.
The main thrust of the judgment is its affirmation of the sanctity of the claimant’s employment contract and the rights pertaining to it; the other leg is its recognition of the prerogative of the employer to dispense with the services of an employee, but then only in a manner consistent with the rules of natural justice.
Great credit must go to Justice B.A. Adejumo, the president of the court, for encouraging the parties to resolve the dispute amicably. Both the NLC and Odah also deserve commendation for demonstrating good faith and large-heartedness in fashioning out the terms of settlement. That the matter had to be taken to court at all is unfortunate; but the bitterness it engendered among the rank and file of the labour movement would seem far worse. What the judgment has done is steer the parties from a losing course to a win-win one.
What are the lessons? First is the need for employers to scrupulously respect the rights of the individual whenever it becomes necessary to determine his/her employment. In other words, just as there can be no such thing as short-circuiting the rule of due process, there is also no room for a party in contract to willfully extinguish the rights of the other party. Although belatedly, the NLC appears to have appreciated this important point, hence its amenability to the settlement.
The judgment is a wake-up call for the NLC to put its house in order. For a movement that earned a reputation for the defence of the weak and the powerless, its cause is ill-served by such unfortunate distractions. It is as needless as it is avoidable.