Hopefully come Wednesday February 14th, the CHAN Eagles will be hosted by the government to officially appreciate their effort at the just concluded 5th edition of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in Morocco.
The Salisu Yusuf tutored side ably assisted by former Rangers coach and now Elkanemi Warriors of Borno sweat merchant, Imama Amakakpabo, went to morocco, saw but did they conquer?
Yes and No. Yes in the sense that they fought their way to the final for the first time, thus posting a better record from our initial first round and third place outings respectively.
That no doubt is a commendable outing even though a school of thought believes that on that rainy final of February 4th in Casablanca, the team had every opportunity to turn the table if they had gone the extra mile.
Another school of thought dismissed excuses bothered on rain, cold, general weather condition and the effect of having to play at all the four venues of Tangier, Agadir, Marakech and Casablanca compared to their final opponents who had the pleasure of playing all their matches in Casablanca.
To proponents of this school of thought, any team that qualifies for a championship like CHAN, Nations Cup, World cup, CAF
Champions League, CAF Confederation Cup etc should be prepared to play at various venues with its attendant challenges after all that is what competition is all about.
So it is either you play to win or lose since every competition is challenged by the same scenario.
Let’s simply say congratulates the Eagles and then focus on making amends for the future.
However the relevance or otherwise of the Supporters club and the cold war between it and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) came to the fore just before the final.
The supporters could not make it to Morocco and were bitter about it, though they were on hand to welcome the team on return after the final. The question is, would the presence of the Supporters club have made a difference? Could they have served as a ginger for a last minute turn around?
The questions were prompted by outburst by President General of the club, Rafiu Ladipo who accused the present Amaju Pinnick led board of the NFF of having a disdain for the supporters club and doing everything within its powers to strangle it.
According to him the board has total disdain for the club and is plotting and praying to see the club bite the dust. The NFF he further alleged scuttled the club’s plan to be in morocco by painting the black, thus making it difficult for its members to get passage to the championship.
Speaking on Raypower just before the final, an angry Ladipo said the NFF said they cannot guarantee anybody. Hear him “We don’t need their guarantee. They should leave us alone. Supporters club has been there for 62 years. We have worked with all past Presidents of NFF chairmen of NFA, this present board of NFF is not happy that we are united and is bent on destroying the club,” he submitted.
The Super Eagles have qualified for the World Cup in Russia and the Glass House taken by its words is doing everything to ensure that the usual squabbles over payment of bonuses and allowances which sometimes takes the shine off our participation and even affects performance indirectly are reduced in Russia if not eliminated.
Will the cold war between the supporters club and the NFF end before heading to Russia or will it like a virus to be allowed to grow into an unwanted distraction?
Prior to this NFF/Supporters club brouhaha, the supporters club itself has reportedly been in crisis with Rev Samuel Ikpea and Vincent Okumagba both laying claims to being in charge. While the Okumagba faction supported by younger ones want a change and departure from the 20 dominance by Rafiu Ladipo, the Ikpea faction want the status quo to remain. Perhaps this explains why the NFF is keeping the club at arms length in the hope that its crisis does not affect the Super Eagles and perhaps by extension the country’s image abroad, just perhaps.
All attempts made to get the Glass House reaction to this fresh allegation by the Supporters club proved abortive as calls and test message sent to the spokesman of the football ruling house went unanswered.
The no response posture of the football house could be well be interpreted that it does not wish to join issues with the supporters club.
Be that as it may, the manner in which the Super Eagles qualified for the World Cup in Russia has been likened to sweet melody by some Nigerians and they are hoping that the melody would continue. 
Whether Eagles fly in Russia or not is not the issue for now, they just want to enjoy the melody while it lasts and so any distraction from any quarter will be unacceptable. What this means is that the players who are the main actors of the Mundial, the NFF who administer the game in the country and the supporters club who pride themselves as being able to produce ginger to boost the fighting spirit when the going gets tough must all be at peace with themselves for the good of all.
The Nation’s image has always been a source of worry, interestingly sports has often been used to launder it especially when our athletes do well in international competitions.
Such intermittent goodwill should not be dented by any department or group which explains why any squabble no matter how little it is considered to be, must be addressed before heading to Russia.
Nigerians deserve to be spared unpleasant distractions during the World cup.
