Letter to FIFA- NIGERIAN FOOTBALL MUST BE FREED FROM THIS SELF-PERPETUATING CABAL

ATTENTION: SEPP BLATTER

I write this letter with a huge sense of responsibility. I write both in my capacity as a football fan and as a journalist. To understand where I’m coming from, I’ll just briefly give you a bit of my background. I was born into a family where football was king. My late father, Cyril Okosieme, was the first goalkeeper of Rangers of Enugu, one of Nigeria’s most accomplished football clubs. My elder brother Ndubuisi played for our U-20 team, the Flying Eagles and was a member of Nigeria’s squad to the1985 U-20 Championship in Moscow. He later played for the senior national team,the Green Eagles, now Super Eagles. My younger sister, Nkiru played for our senior women’s national team, the Super Falcons, playing in four women’s World Cups. So, you see, for me football runs deep. Now, as a journalist, it is my duty to ensure that the administration of the game is not only professionally carried out but transparently as well. This has informed my decision to write you this letter.

For any serious follower of football in Nigeria it will not be difficult to see that the game has witnessed a steady decline in the last one and half decades. Nigeria, which used to be a power house in African football and which used to strike fear into even the most accomplished football nations has become nothing but a joke in football circles today. Some of us still like to delude ourselves that we still pack a punch. It does not require much exercise of the imagination however, to know that we are nestling uncomfortably at the rung of both continental and global football ladder. I put down this development to maladministration.

The yearning of genuine football fans in Nigeria is that this situation should change. Football faithful inNigeria hanker after a period in the country’s history when football stadia across the land were packed full as fans watched their finest players weave velvety patterns with their feet on the turf. Today, the best Nigerian players play football outside the country. Fans want a change.

The forthcoming elections into the board of the Nigeria Football Federation ordinarily ought to engender that change. Sadly, I do not think that will happen and this, for this simple reason that the process has been rigged to ensure a particular outcome-the retention of the status quo. In a manner of speaking, the playing field has not been level. It has been designed in such a way that only those who have been part of the system, by which I mean those who have been in the saddle for the last fouryears, will remain in the saddle. The reason is simple-the statutes of the federation doctored by deposed president of the federation, Sani Lulu, who blinded by the ambition of remaining in office for another four years embarked on the nefarious project, will make it practically impossible for anyone who has not been part of the rot of the last four years to get in. I get down to specifics.

1.  In the 2005 statutes under which the outgoing board of the football federation was elected, there were 101 delegates representing interest groups in Nigerian football.

Lulu, to ease his return to office, pruned the number to 44. A lot of groups whose presence on the board would have added vibrancy and diversity were removed.

Many wonder why Lulu made thi smove. It became clearer to some of us much later when allegations started gaining currency that he sponsored all the chairmen of state football associations and Abuja numbering 37, to the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa and that he offered them bribe of N 5 million to retain him in office.

2.   Even though the chairmen acting through the congress ofthe federation, which met on July 9, 2010 in Abuja, have absolved themselves,the feeling persists in some minds that there may be truth to these allegations particularly in the light of the provisions of the federation’s statutes amended by Lulu. In the amendment to the 2005 statutes adopted in July 2008 in Makurdi, Benue State ( see attached statutes) article 21(3) m states:

“Each state Football Associationshall have its elective congress in

November/December succeeding theelective Congress of the

Federation within the senior FIFAWorld Cup year.”

To the uninformed, this article may appear harmless but it is loaded with meaning. What it means simply was that Lulu had peremptorily and single-handedly extended the tenure of the state association chairmen beyond the actual date they were supposed to leave office.Under the 2005 statutes, which ushered them into office, their election held before that of the executive committee. Indeed, they were part of the delegates who elected the present board into office. So, why would Lulu decide that they should stay beyond the expiration of their tenures till December? Precisely because he needed their votes to remain in office pure and simple. It gets worse.

3.    Following protests at this unilateral move of Lulu’s, the deposed federation boss set to work again on the statutes. This time, he expunged the whole of article 21. In the 2010 statutes submitted to FIFA there is no mention of state football association elections. The implication is clear-there is the tacit assumption that elections have already held into these associations when in reality we have individuals who were elected in 2006 for a four year period going to stay in office for eight years! That is if you let them get away with this crime.

FIFA has to make a pronouncementon this matter before the August 21, 2010 date of the election. The world football body must decide whether it will allow this act of criminality to stand. Nigerians demand a change in the way the game is administered; they want a breadth of fresh air from the asphyxiating incompetence that has characterised the running of the game. From the way things are going and based on Lulu’s sleight of hand there can be only one beneficiary of this scam and that is the present leadership of Nigerian football headed at the moment byAminu Maigari.

The malfeasance in Nigerian football administration has kept quality individuals away from the scene. Even those  who have ventured into the fray are being made to look stupid.

For an organisation that preachesfair play, FIFA’s acquiescence is indeed disturbing. It is sad that since June when Segun Odegbami, one of the candidates for the presidency of the federation wrote a letter to the Secretary General of the world football body outlining the flaws in the statutes, it has been silent on the issue. Are we to conclude then that FIFA is working in cahoots with a cabal to destroy Nigerian football by its silence on the matter?

It is interesting to observe that within the same period, FIFA has repeatedly warned Nigeria of sanctions if government interfered with the administration of football in the country. Is FIFA more concerned with the protection a tiny percentage of self-seeking individuals or the game, which brings joy to millions of Nigerians. As FIFA may already be aware because it has a lot of agents here who feed it with half-truths and repeatedly prod it to ban Nigerian whenever government demands accountability from people to whom it has entrusted public funds, concerned Nigerians have already headed for the courts to stop the election if elections are not held first into the state football associations. More will definitelyfollow if the Maigari-led board stubbornly refuses to do the right thing.

It is up FIFA to prove to Nigerians that it really means it when it preaches fairplay. From where I and millions of my countrymen stand, fair play means levelling the fields so that particular individuals do not get caught up in booby traps; it means following due process and finally it means standing up for the truth. Thank you.

Sent August 16, 2010

Eaglets in dance of death with Switzerland

After three weeks of exciting football, the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup draws to a close today in Abuja with the final taking place at the National Stadium.

It is going to be a contest of wills; a battle of epic proportions given the calibre of the teams that have made it to the final. In Nigeria and Switzerland, we have a contest between power and athleticism on one hand and organisation and finesse on the other.

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets, defending champions in the event, have overcome initial diffidence, which saw them go three goals down to Germany before rallying to draw level in their opening group game of the tournament, to make it to their fourth final since their first triumph in 1985.

After that scare against Germany, the team, coached by John Obuh, waxed stronger as the tournament progressed and crowned it with an emphatic display of brute power with their clinical dismemberment of a talented Spanish side in the second semi-final match of the mundial played on Thursday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

The performance sent Lagos fans and others across the country into ecstasy. It was a commanding display, which left no one in doubt that they mean to pick up their fourth title in the U-17 tournament.

No looking back

Their handler, Obuh, says this ambition is a realistic one. Noting that lapses observed in the match against Spain would be corrected, he said: “We want support like we got against Spain. This is a young team that will go places and by the grace of God we will carry the day.”

The Eaglets handler may be right in feeling so confident. After all, his wards have notched up 19 goals in six matches while letting in only six, half of which came in the match against Germany. However, if he feels that because of this, the Swiss are going to roll over for his boys to trample on them, then he clearly needs to think again.

Swiss threat

The boys from Switzerland have been the revelation of the tournament. As first timers, they were hardly expected to ruffle feathers. But they have done more than that. Playing in a group that included two former world champions, Brazil and Mexico, they signalled their intention of winning the trophy with a 2-0 defeat of Mexico in the opening game of the Lagos centre of the tournament, the Teslim Balogun Stadium. Further victories over Japan and Brazil, made them one of only two teams in the tournament to post a 100 per cent record in the group stage.

The Swiss, coached by Dany Ryser, play an entertaining brand of football, which they combine with serious organisation at the back with their strongest point being a quick counter attack. In Hassim Ben Khalifa and Haris Seferovich, who between them have accounted for nine goals, the Europeans have two deadly forwards that can stretch the Fortune Chukwudi-led Eaglets defence to the limit.

Emmanuel factor

While the Swiss have this deadly duo, Nigeria has a joker in Sani Emmanuel. The youngster, who plays club football for My People FC in Lagos, has carved a reputation for himself as a hit. Five goals in four matches, has put the lad, who has come from the substitute bench to score all his goals, in contention for the golden boot award. It is not clear whether Obuh will hand him a starting shirt against Switzerland today but, that notwithstanding, Emmanuel is looking forward to tasting action today.

He said after victory against Spain on Thursday: “I hope to be amongst the scorers when we win in the final.”

Today’s match is expected to draw Nigerian football fans in their thousands to cheer the Eaglets to victory.

Published on November 15, 2010 in NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper

The million dollar reasons why Eagles must excel in South Africa

From whatever angle you look at it, $30 million is a lot of money. With that kind of money, an individual who has battled poverty his entire life can look that situation squarely in the face and tell it to sod off.

For a football body like the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) perpetually whining about lack of funds to enable it properly administer football in Nigeria, it can amount not only to a big pay cheque but a lifeline.

Mouth watering jackpot

On Thursday in Robben Island, South Africa, Sepp Blatter, President of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), announced at a press conference attended by 250 journalists from around the world, that the winner of next year’s World Cup in South Africa would receive a whopping $30 million. The runners-up, he said, would pocket $24 million, half a million dollars less than the amount handed to Italy for winning the tournament in 2006.

According to the package semi-finalists would receive $20 million, quarter-finalists $18 million, second round losers $9 million and teams eliminated in the first round, $8 million.

Blatter also disclosed that all teams participating in the World Cup would receive an extra $1 million to cover costs of preparation for the tournament.

Taking advantage

These amounts are clearly incentives for a country to do well at the tournament. For the NFF in particular, this is a wakeup call for it to start serious preparation to ensure that the Eagles do well at the tournament. In naira terms, $30 million translates to something in the neighbourhood of N4.5 billion. This is apart from the other monies the Eagles would pick up if they scale every stage of the tournament. At the moment no country’s name is written on that money; not even the defending champions, Italy, or Brazil, currently ranked number one in the world, can confidently boast that the money is theirs. Only hard work and painstaking planning can ensure that a country collects this princely sum.

What it means, therefore, is that the NFF must begin to seriously prepare the Eagles for the tournament and not waste time on issues that are unprofitable particularly as our group opponents for the tournament are now known. As things are at the moment and as we saw from the qualifiers, our Eagles are as listless on the field of play as they are lacking in commitment.

Sani Lulu and his team at the NFF should ensure, while not doing Amodu Shuaibu’s job for him, that new players are injected into the squad to engender more competitiveness. It certainly would not help us if some players thought they had God-given right to be part of the team.

Apart from fishing abroad for new players, the NFF should ensure that Amodu gives players on the local scene some consideration. While the CAF Champions League lasted, Nigerians were able to see just how good some players of Heartland and Kano Pillars were. Players like Victor Namo of Pillars and Thankgod Ike showed with their performance that given the opportunity they can hold down places in the Eagles. They should not be denied that opportunity.

Helping our clubs

Apart from fortifying the Eagles ahead of the World Cup, one other important reason the NFF needs to have players playing in the Nigerian leagues in the squad is the fact it would help clubs boost their finances. In announcing the prize money for the World Cup, FIFA also said it would give to clubs whose players participate in the World Cup $1600 per day for the duration of the tournament.

For Nigerian clubs struggling to pay the wages of its players and execute other programmes, the sum of $1600 for thirty days would certainly raise their finances.

Published on December 6, 2009 in NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper

European football officials making a mountain out of a molehill

When Togo’s national football team settled for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a spot for last-minute preparation for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, which kicked off on January 10, 2010 in Luanda, Angola, they could not have imagined what the outcome of the decision would be.

As it is, that decision proved fatal with two members of its contingent dead after the vehicle conveying them to Angola from their camp in the DRC was attacked by separatists in Cabinda,

Angola’s troubled enclave moments after they crossed into Angolan territory on Friday, January 8. The driver of the bus also died with some other members of the Togolese injured.

Following that development and also what the Togolese government felt was the tardy manner in which organisers of the tournament, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), handled the tragedy, the government of Togo ordered the players home on the opening day of the tournament even though a number of players having overcome the shock of the attack, said they wanted to play for their dead compatriots.

The wolves shedding its clothing

The tournament is at the moment in full swing with the scalping of some of the continent’s ‘big boys’ underlining the growing unpredictability of the game in Africa. As Angola, Togo and indeed the rest of the continent try to forget the tragedy; there have been suggestions in the West that perhaps the incident in Angola may reflect the inability of countries on the African continent to take security matters seriously. Specifically, this year’s World Cup taking place in South Africa, has become the target of those in Europe who hold this view.

This thinking crystallised on Saturday, January 9, 2010 when Phil Brown, manager of struggling English Premiership side, Hull City said the attack on Togo’s national football team in Cabinda raises security questions about the World Cup scheduled for June this year in South Africa. Brown, whose team is currently in the relegation zone on the log of the Barclay Card Premiership, and who has two of his players, Seyi Olofinjana of Nigeria and Daniel Cousin of Gabon at the Nations Cup, said: “I am appalled. This throws a question mark against next summer’s World Cup.” He added: “You simply cannot put the safety of players, officials and fans at the slightest risk. That is totally unacceptable.”

Brown’s comments drew sharp criticisms from within and outside South Africa. Danny Jordaan, the CEO of the 2010 World Cup addressing a press conference last Tuesday said it amounted to double standards to suggest that South African was incapable of providing adequate security for the World Cup on account of the incident in Angola.

“Please treat us equally, treat us the same and don’t be judgmental and speculative. Be consistent in whatever you say.” He continued: “It doesn’t make any sense at all and I think we must be careful not to use double standards. If something happens in Germany, we don’t say we must cancel the Premier League. The England cricket team have been in South Africa for more than a month with no security issues. Every country must take responsibility for their security and if there’s a breach in that country that’s just what it is.” On Wednesday, football officials in Germany weighed in on the side of Brown. German football federation (DFB) president Theo Zwanziger, told German daily, Die Welt, that despite statements from Jordaan and others within South Africa that their country should not be judged on the basis of events in Angola, that such a link could not be dismissed.

“The tragedy gives cause for intensive reflection on what has been done for security at the World Cup and above all what has still to be done. The German federation will be looking closely at what can be improved ‘to guarantee maximum safety for our players as well as family, support staff and fans,” Zwanziger said.

His comments came two days after German Football League (DFL) president Reinhard Rauball had stated bluntly in respect of the attack on the Togolese national football team that:

“We must think about how we get a grip on security issues. We can’t simply say that South Africa is something else than Angola.” If Brown and the Germans are worried, Arsenal coach, Arsene Wenger, whose two players, Emmanuel Eboue( Cote d’ Ivoire) and Alex Song( Cameroon) are both on duty for their countries in Angola has called for caution on the part of clubs and football officials. The French man, who said immediately after the attack that he would not be asking for his players to return to England, says incidents like the one in Cabinda can happen anywhere:

“If you organise the European Championship and you have an incident like that – it can happen and has happened – you do not want all your players suddenly to move home,” Wenger said. He went further: “When you hear sometimes there’s unrest in the suburbs of London, you still live well in London. When I speak to my friends in France, they ask me: ‘is a revolution happening in London?’ It’s the same in Paris.

“You immediately think it’s a revolution everywhere. It’s not always the case. You have to judge the place, whether the competition can go on or not, and I don’t know enough about the situation.

Looking for a scapegoat

While it is important that security issues relating to the World Cup in South Africa be taken seriously, it certainly must be noted like Jordaan said that suggesting that participants and visitors to South Africa during the World Cup may not be safe on account of the Cabinda incident, may amount to mischief. Though the Southern African country will be organising its first football World Cup, it is quite experienced in handling major international tournaments.

In the period between its return from international isolation on account of apartheid and now, it has organised a number of high profile sporting events notably the Rugby World Cup (1995), the 1996 edition of African Cup of Nations, the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Last year it hosted the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) Confederations Cup as well as the Twenty20 Indian Premier League Cricket tournament, which was moved there following security concerns. All of these events went off without security glitches.

Sports and terror

One thing the tragedy in Cabinda shows is that for some time to come the sporting world may have to live with the spectre of terror. Given the increasing importance of sports as a platform for building bridges and the concomitant wide coverage given it by television and radio networks around the world, terrorists and other social deviants often find in it an avenue for advancing their cause. The most spectacular example of this was during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, then in West Germany. On September 5, 1972 while the games were on armed men representing the Black September group stormed the Olympic village and abducted some Isreali athletes. At the end of the hostage taking exercise, eleven athletes and coaches had been killed by the terrorists.

That act of terror shook the world and led to the immediate withdrawal of Israel from the games. Egypt, Philippines and Algeria followed soon after as well as American swimmer, the legendary Mark Spitz, who feared that being Jewish, there was the likelihood of his being kidnapped. Also, for the first time in the history of the modern games, organisers suspended the games. There were calls for the cancellation of the games spearheaded by Willi Daume, head of the Munich Organising Committee but International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, Avery Brundage, demurred, stating emphatically that:

“The games must go on, and we must… and we must continue our efforts to keep them clean, pure and honest” Twenty-four years later at the 1996 edition of the games in Atlanta, Eric Robert Rudolph, a former explosives expert, bombed the Centennial Olympic Park in Atalanta were thousands of people had gone to watch a late night concert. Shortly after midnight, the bomb planted by Rudolph went off killing two people and injuring over a hundred others. As was the case in Munich, the games went on.

Equal to the task

With incidents like this including the one last year when Sri Lankan cricketers were ambushed by gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan, Jordaan and his country don’t understand why they are being put under pressure by events in Angola. Jordaan believes it does not make sense at all.

South Africa’s National Police Commissioner, Bheki Cele, insists his country is not at risk. The security chief, who returned from Angola last Monday after attending a meeting of security chiefs of countries in the sub-region ahead of the Nations Cup.

He insisted there was no need for panic noting that developments within Angola, which is thousands of kilometres removed from South Africa need not lead people particularly those in Europe, to making wild conjectures. Recalling the bombings in Madrid in 2004 as well as the one in London the following year, Cele wondered why concerns were not raised as to the safety of intending visitors and participants at the 2006 World Cup later hosted by Germany.

“So why are they making noise now? The media has now shifted their focus from Angola and now questions South Africa’s security measures ahead of the World Cup. Why?” he asked at a press conference.

“Through this accident we have learned a lesson and we want to assure the world that South Africa is 100 per cent ready for the World Cup,” Cele added.

Published on January 17, 2010 in NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper

Former players wake from slumber

It was a gathering of some of the finest footballers to have played for Nigeria. They represented at least four different generations of Nigerian footballers.

They were all there-from the fiery but now subdued Peter Fregene, the swashbuckling Emman Tetteh, the staid and cerebral Segun Odegbami, the irascible Tarila Okorowanta; the self-effacing Mutiu Adepoju; the boyish Victor Ikpeba and Peter Rufai who looked as though he could still file out for the Super Eagles twelve years after he quit the national team.

They had converged at the Press Centre of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos on Thursday and had one burning desire-to rescue Nigerian football from maladministration.

These stars and others like Stanley Okoronkwo who starred for Enugu Rangers in the early 1970s, Edema Benson of the celebrated New Nigeria Bank, Nicholas Ukadike formerly of Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland FC), former internationals, Tajudeen Disu, Peter Nieketen, Jide Oguntuase, Loveday Omoruyi and many others had travelled from different parts of the country to Lagos for this purpose.

Indeed Disu and Nieketen had flown in the day before from the United States and England because they considered the matter serious enough.

Waking up from slumber

The immediate cause of the gathering was the decision of four illustrious members of their club – Christian Chukwu, Segun Odegbami, Mutiu Adepoju and Austin Okocha – to contest for seats on the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

For the former footballers to come together was a momentous decision given the disunity that has characterised their ranks. Indeed, many have held them partly responsible for the problems plaguing football given their indifference to developments on the football scene, a situation that allowed all manner of characters access to the commanding heights of the administration of the game.

Ikpeba, who spoke on behalf of the players, said they had turned a new leaf.

“The time for change has come. No longer shall we fold our arms and watch others who have done nothing in the game to continue to milk it and deny the genuine actors, the patriots, the heroes their rights,” he said.

“We must not fold our arms again and watch as people that are nothing in the game, have added nothing to it, contribute nothing to it, now become the greatest beneficiaries. These are people who have ridden on the back of us footballers to become stupendously rich, to occupy the best positions, become very fat and now the biggest detriment to the game.”

A story of neglect

One of the men who were at that briefing, Fregene, captures the essence of the players campaign. Fregene, who walked into the event on crutches aided by his wife, had come all the way from Sapele. The man, regarded as the most colourful goalkeepers to play for the national team, was stricken by illness and was bed-ridden for years. He was neglected by both the Nigeria Football Federation and the government of Nigeria until Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola through the entreaties of Odegbami, Tetteh and journalist, Yomi Opakunle, came to his rescue by picking up his hotel bills. He has since been living in Lagos and was brought to Lagos for the players’ gathering his long time friend and colleague, Tetteh.

At the event, Fregene looked tired and gaunt. Indeed, when his friend Tetteh tried recounting the former goalkeeper’s experience, he (Tetteh) dissolved into tears.

Odegbami, who is vying for the presidency of the football federation, said it was situations like Fregene’s that he wants to stamp out from football administration in Nigeria if elected. He said the running of the game in Nigeria must be re-focused to turns things around.

“There is no going back this time around. Even if I am the only one standing, I will fight to the very end. I will use everything that I have; every connection that I have, to ensure that at the end of the elections what is left is real,” Odegbami said.

A long hard road

The road to the Glass House, as the NFF is known, may be a long hard one for Odegbami and his fellow footballers given concerns about the composition of the electoral committee and the statutes of the federation under which the elections will hold.

Odegbami has complained about some of the provisions of the statutes, which he believes were tailored to exclude some individuals from the federation. In June he sent a letter to world football governing body FIFA detailing some of the irregularities in the statutes tinkered with by deposed president of the NFF, Sani Lulu. Curiously, the football body, which prides itself on fair play, has beyond acknowledging receipt of the letter kept quiet on the matter, which is threatening the election.

Published on August 6, 2010 in NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper

The paralysing search for a new Super Eagles’ coach

“I, Tunde Agbabiaka, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and an automobile mechanic by profession, formally put myself in the running for the post of Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles.” Sounds funny, doesn’t it? Well, that is how bad things have become. The position of head coach of the Super Eagles has been vacant since the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) fired Shuaibu Amodu on February 5 following the dour performance of the Eagles at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, which ended in Angola on January 31 and no replacement has been named more than two weeks after.

Since the Sani Lulu led group plucked up courage to fire Amodu and demote him to the less glamorous Home-based Eagles, confusion has been the name of the game. The football federation, forced by circumstances to move against the man Lulu said they would swim or sink with, has been paralysed by the responsibility of finding a new coach for the senior national football team.

Names at the drop of a hat

With just 110 days to the kick off of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Nigeria finds itself in the difficult position of not having a tactician to handle its national team. The football federation, lacking any clear plan of action has, rather than fill the vacuum created by the sack of Amodu, been dropping names of “world class” coaches it hopes would take over from the sacked Eagles handler.

After its February 5 meeting in Abuja where the decision to relieve Amodu of his job as helmsman of the Eagles was taken, Nigerians who had held the sacked coach responsible for the listless and unimaginative manner the Eagles played in Angola, looked forward to prompt action on the part of the federation in getting a replacement who would immediately commence the much expected rebuilding of the Eagles.

What they got instead has been the federation releasing name after name of foreign coaches they claim to make contact with on a daily basis. The names have been as diverse as they have been ridiculous. They include Hassan Shehata, the man who has guided Egypt to three back to back, Nations Cup successes, former Brazil and Portugal coach, Felipe Scolari, Serbia’s U-21 coach, Ratomir Dujkovic, Ireland coach, Giovanni Trappatoni, Bayern Munich coach, Luis Van Gaal, former Senegal coach, Bruno Metsu, Englishman, Peter Taylor, who was sacked last year by Wycombe Wanderers FC, a League One club in England and who has now been appointed coach of Bradford City, an English League Two club. In addition to these names bandied by the federation, there have been others like former England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, who was sacked by Mexico last year for imperilling its World Cup aspirations, Bonfrere Jo, former Eagles coach and Klaus Topmoeller, a former Germany international and one-time coach of Georgia’s national team, who volunteered for the job but got snubbed by the football federation.

Lies and more lies

The passage of time subsequently exposed the claims that they have made contact with these coaches as false. Dujkovic was first to puncture the lie when he said that not only was he not contacted by the federation, he was also not interested in the job:

“I am surprised at the way things are going; every day people keep calling to tell me I have been shortlisted for a position I am not interested in. As far as I am concerned, I have not spoken to anybody regarding this job. I am not happy at all. These rumours put unnecessary pressure on me, my family and almost everybody around me. I am not interested in the job,” he said.

Dujkovic’s bombshell was followed by revelations by Cees Van Nieuwenhiuzen, Hiddink’s agent on Tuesday that contrary to what the NFF’s claim that they had made contact with the Dutch coach who demanded a salary of N300million to take the Eagles to the World Cup, Lulu and his men never approached the Dutch who took Korea to the semi-final of the 2002 World Cup.

Van Nieuwenhiuzen told a Nigerian sports paper: “As the agent of Guus, I can categorically state that I have not been approached by your federation. So, how can we talk about a salary? In my opinion, whether the deal would be worth two dollars or two million, the first thing is to approach the person. This has not been done yet and when I read these stories, I just laugh because it is absolutely ridiculous”. He added:

“Please tell Nigerians that I am yet to receive any contact concerning the Nigerian job and I don’t know about it then who should know?”

Medicine after death

The federation finally contacted, via email, Van Nieuwenhiuzen later on Tuesday to initiate negotiations with Hiddink.

But only after the coach had sealed a two-year deal with Turkey to coach its national team after his contract with Russia’s national team expires in the summer! When this reporter sought to find out from the NFF whether it would still go ahead with its pursuit of the coach, its spokesman, Demola Olajire declined comment saying he was in a meeting.

For the time being, the list of coaches appears to be growing with the addition of former coach of Sweden, Lars Lagerback. The coach’s name made a dramatic entry on Wednesday with reports indicating that he is one of the coaches the NFF would be interviewing this week in London.

The delay by the NFF in getting a new coach is surprising given the facility with which communication can take place nowadays with daily improvements in information technology. Nigerians are surprised that it has taken this long to search for a coach when there are hundreds of them out there looking for a job. It becomes embarrassing when it is considered that it took Nigeria’s neighbour, Benin Republic to sign on a new coach after it fired Frenchman, Michel Dessuyer after Benin’s poor performance at the Nation’s Cup in Angola in January.

Godwin Dudu-Orumen, former member of the NFF Technical committee says the situation is unfortunate:

“The NFF’s action suggests that they are very unserious and that is the annoying thing about them. How can they start mentioning the names of these coaches on the pages of newspapers when they have not even had contact with some of them? Why can’t they just narrow their focus to one person who they know can do the job? It was the same thing when we were looking for a coach for the U-17 team. I recommended John Obuh out of the three people we selected but Lulu refused to give him the job until after 12 weeks. We should not suggest things to them. It is their job; they should give us a coach.” Dudu-Orumen says that whatever the NFF does regarding the matter, what Nigerians want at the end of the day, is a quality coach and not just another foreigner:

“The issue of coach should be taken as a business decision, not one based on sentiments. Even when the issue of getting an indigenous coach was on right from the beginning, I did not support it because I felt our coaches do not have the right managerial capacity. We should get a proper coach,” he said.

He added that in so far as he saw nothing wrong in the NFF travelling out of the country to meet with such a coach, he stated that it should be properly handled:

“They should be well co-ordinated; discuss the issues at hand and send one person. I am not in support of ten people going out because of that,” he said.

Published on February 22, 2010 in NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper

Wooden headedness

Whoever said that folly is bound up in the heart of a child clearly missed the mark. I think you will find, without exercising much imagination that it is actually in the hearts of Nigerian politicians or more correctly, our cabinet ministers that you find such stupefying folly.

Since I attained the age of being able to correctly discern issues, I have had little respect for the majority of our leaders not just because of their thieving ways but more for their daftness. However, I did have some measure of respect for Ojo Maduekwe, our current minister of Foreign Affairs for what I considered to be his high intelligence. That respect evaporated on Tuesday when I read his comments in the papers regarding the trip of some Nigerian cabinet ministers to Saudi Arabia.

The report quoted the Foreign Affairs minister as saying that the trip to Saudi Arabia was not to ascertain the state of health of our president, Umaru Yar’Adua but for the ministers to express their “deep appreciation to the King of Saudi Arabia for the excellent and generous attention the government and people of Saudi Arabia have given to our president who has been away for medical treatment”. As if he thought the reporters he was addressing were not smart enough to understand him, he added:

“We don’t want it to be on record that when our president comes back, that for three months he was there we didn’t go to Riyadh to thank the King. It is better to go physically to do the thanking. We can’t write a letter to thank him, but this is the king of Saudi Arabia and nothing less than what we are doing is adequate”.

If this isn’t sheer folly then nothing else qualifies. It is becoming clearer by the day why Nigeria is in such a mess. The Yar’Adua episode has more than anything else removed the blinkers from the eyes of Nigerians who have stubbornly clung to the idea that we had leaders directing affairs of state.

Years ago when the late American historian, Barbara Tuchman mused on the issue of folly in governance particularly why officials in government persistently acted in ways far removed from the urging of commonsense, she concluded that:

“Wooden-headedness is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government. Wooden-headedness consists of assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be confused by the facts.” Since November 2009 when President Yar’Adua was flown to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment, wooden-headedness has been a fixture of governance at the three tiers of government. The latest folly by Maduekwe and his colleagues is its more extreme expression. The folly exhibited by Nigerian leaders in the last three months has not only paralysed governance but has cast Nigeria deeper into the mire of international ridicule. We have come to appear as a people incapable of accomplishing simple tasks and engaging in rational thinking.

Indeed, we have somehow managed to make complex, simple tasks and then wring our hands in utter helplessness.

Surely, one of the most harrowing experiences today is to be a Nigerian living in this space where it has become very difficult to do the right thing. How people like Maduekwe can live with themselves knowing that he and his colleagues are daily destroying this country through chicanery simply beats the imagination. To waste taxpayers funds on such meaningless trip at a time millions of Nigerians can barely feed shows just how unfeeling these ministers are. It is made worse when we consider that the president on whose behalf they want to embark on the jamboree has not been seen or heard from by the people whose hard earned resources would be used in funding the trip.

Rather than fritter valuable national resources, would it not be better if Maduekwe and his colleagues in the Federal Executive Council plucked up courage to insist on an end to the charade where the Lady Macbeth currently barring high government officials from finding out how well or unwell our president really is, is brought to an end?

Published on February 25, 2010 in NEXT  Newspaper

A World Cup like no other

It is hard to imagine that one full month has passed.

From the moment South Africa’s Siphiwe Tshabalala’s magnificent strike against Mexico announced the start of the 2010 World Cup, till this moment when we await the final match between Spain and Germany, it has been one month of breathtaking football and nerve-wracking excitement.

The tournament, which cynics in the West had predicted would be a failure has turned out to be one of the best organised in recent times. It is Africa’s World Cup and indeed it has been spiced with African flavour and colour.

That Spain plays Netherlands in the final is testimony to the uniqueness of this year’s World Cup. Ordinarily there should be no surprise or bewilderment about this, after all these are two of football’s best ambassadors. Spain and the Netherlands have over the years managed to keep the game beautiful in the face of the sometimes mindless obsession with tactics by managers in Europe and elsewhere.

A record-setting tournament

Yet, their appearance in the final is something of a milestone. This is the first time in the history of the tournament that a World Cup final will be played without one of the ‘Big four’ nations – Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany – being one of the finalists.

The Netherlands, unlike Spain, are not appearing in the final for the first time. They were there in 1974 and 1978, and were denied on both occasions by Germany and Argentina. So, whatever happens today, a brand new champion (and the 80th in the series) will be crowned.

Outside producing a brand new champion, this tournament has recorded some firsts. Hosts, South Africa were the first to get into the record books. Before the 2010 tournament, no host nation had exited in the first round of the World Cup. Given South Africa’s impressive start to the tournament where they were held to a 1-1 draw by a youthful Mexican side, that record appeared safe. However, a combination of profligacy in front of goal and exuberance, cost them vital points and consigned them to a first round departure.

Believing Prophet Paul

Aside the football records, the 2010 World Cup will certainly be remembered for the influence a two-year Mollusc came to exercise during the latter stages of the tournament. Paul, an Octopus in a German aquarium, became a celebrity when it became known that he had correctly predicted the outcome of all Germany’s matches at the World Cup. On the eve of Germany’s semi-final clash with European champions, Spain, Paul picked Spain as winner of the tie, throwing Germans into deep apprehension.

Their worst fears came to pass when Carles Puyol’s well-timed header late in the second half, handed a final ticket to Spain.

While Paul became public enemy in Germany following the outcome of that encounter, he became the favourite of punters who are rushing to place bets on his latest prediction that Spain will edge Netherlands to become World Champions.

Vuvuzela is king

While Paul may be basking in his newfound status as celebrity, the real star of this tournament may just be the South African musical instrument, the Vuvuzela, which made its debut at the Confederation Cup last year.

The instrument, had by a few individuals in Europe who pushed vigorously for its use at the World Cup, is finding its way into many homes across the world, as visitors to the World Cup clutch a handful as they depart South Africa.

With its unique sound, which some fans say jangles the nerves, the Vuvuzela drowns out any other sound within the vicinity of the stadium. For those who believe that the instrument, which is gradually finding its way into some worship centres in Nigeria, is a one-tournament wonder, they may just need to have a rethink.

Scores of Brazilian fans seen at the OIiver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg travelling back home, say the musical instrument will definitely have a role to play during the 2014 World Cup to be hosted by their country. Even the inventive Japanese are already exploring ways to make the Vuvuzela less cumbersome to blow.

Of actors and handballers

One of the key spectacles of this World Cup has been the acting talent displayed by footballers and even coaches.

Together with their prodigious use of their hands either to assist in goal scoring (like Brazil’s Luis Fabiano) or Uruguay’s Luis Suarez (stopping a goal-bound shot), players in this tournament have proved that given a shot at acting, they can become leading men in Hollywood.

The spectre of players diving in their opponents’ halves as if they were involved in Olympic free style swimming, and then writhing in pain on the turf as if they had been run over by heavy duty vehicles, will remain some of the abiding images of the tournament. And who can forget the coaches too? Clearly, top marks should go to Brazil’s Carlos Dunga. During the Brazil- Cote d ‘Ivoire game during the group stage, the Brazilian team handler threw tantrums that led one foreign journalist to remark that the former Brazilian international was behaving as if the Ivorians brought machine guns onto the pitch.

Undoubtedly one of the villains of the tournament for most Africans will be Uruguay’s Suarez. The striker, who has notched up four goals in this tournament, broke African hearts with his handling of a goal-bound ball in his country’s quarter-final clash with Ghana.

Had that ball gone in, Ghana would have made it to the semi-final and would have being the first African team to do so in the 80-year history of the World Cup.

Blind refereeing

But it was not just players and their coaches that made headlines. Some referees also managed to raise the bile of spectators with their poor handling of certain matches. Some of the biggest culprits include: the Portuguese who was reprimanded by FIFA’s Referees Commission for failing to spot Walter Samuel grabbing Chinedu Obasi in the match between Nigeria and Argentina in Group B. Gabriel Heinze went on to score Argentina’s winning goal from that move.

If fans thought that was negligence, they were clearly mistaken. Jorge Larrionda was to give them something to talk about. The Uruguayan handling a round of 16 match between old foes Germany and England, ruled that Frank Lampard’s goal, which had crossed the goal line, was not a goal. It helped preserve Germany’s 2-1 lead and provided them latitude to finish off England in a 4-1 rout. Moments later in another round of 16 encounter, Italian Roberto Rosetti provided another talking point of the tournament when he failed to spot Argentine striker, Carlos Tevez off side in the game between Mexico and Argentina. Tevez gave Argentina the lead from that move.

Both incidents led to renewed clamour for goal line technology to assist referees in spotting infringements and prevent the mistakes such as the one in the match between Germany and England.

The fans come in droves

Despite referees’ blunders, it has been an exciting tournament, with fans lapping up every minute of it coming to the different centres in huge numbers. Estimates released by tournament organisers indicate that this is the third best-attended World Cup. With a total attendance of 2.997 million for 61 matches and an average of 49, 134 per game, it ranks only behind the United States 1994 World Cup (3.59 million) and Germany 2006 (3.36 million).

Published on July 11, 2010 in NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper

Football’s biggest show rolls out in South Africa

When host South Africa takes to the field against Mexico on June 11 at the Soccer City Stadium, it will be the 708th game in the FIFA World Cup’s history.

A momentous occasion it will be not only for the South Africans but the whole of Africa as the biggest football show on earth is finally taking place in Africa eighty years after the first edition held in Uruguay.

For Danny Jordaan, CEO of the Local Organising Committee of the World Cup, it will be mission accomplished after four years of painstaking planning and organising. Four years during which Western media sustained pressure, through fiercely critical reports, on FIFA to rethink its decision to hand South Africa hosting rights of the tournament.

The battle has indeed been fierce. From security concerns raised by the media in the West, which has created fear in the minds of tourists in that part of the world, the gang-up against the Vuvuzela, which was only resolved last week after Jordaan assured that the decibel levels are not such as would make it difficult for team benches to communicate with their players, the organising committee faced immense challenges.

Jordaan and the South African government can justifiably feel proud of their accomplishment. The $4.6 billion reportedly spent on hosting the tournament, including costs of building and renovating ten world-class stadia, have clearly not been in vain.

The 32 teams are now in town and the party is about to begin. Africa will be on fire for the next one month. In South Africa, Nigeria and elsewhere on the continent, people will talk about nothing other than football.

Festival of football

Indeed, it will be a festival of football as the best players on the continent converge on African soil to titillate football fans with their vast array of football skills.

Never has Africa been host to such deluge of football talent and it may be a very long while before such constellation is seen here again. Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Kaka, Franck Ribery and Ji-Sung Park are some of the foreign talent that will set Africa at the Mundial. So also will our African brigade of Didier Drogba, Osaze Odemwingie, Samuel Eto’o, Rafik Saifi and Kwadwo Asamoah.

Our own Super Eagles, long derided by their countrymen for their listless performance under former coach, Shuaibu Amodu, seem to be sputtering into life under new coach, Lars Lagerback. In the two friendly matches they played last week under the direction of the Swede, Nigerians got to see the Eagles coming together gradually as a unit. Tonight’s game against North Korea, presents Lagerback another opportunity to firm up his strategies for the tournament. With the Eagles’ final squad known, the Nigerian coach can now turn his attention to sorting out those minor details, which have a way of unhinging even the most carefully thought out plans if unchecked.

In the case of the Eagles, the defence is a key sticking point. With the reliable Onyekachi Apam failing to make the cut through injury, Lagerback is working round the clock to ensure that he melds the defence, which includes Rabiu Afolabi returning to the squad since his stint with the team in the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan; a match rusty Danny Shittu, who sat out the entire season on the bench at Bolton and Joseph Yobo who did not enjoy enough playing time in his club, Everton, into a tight unit.

The African challenge

The Swede is a wily tactician and has been sounding confident about his squad’s chances at the tournament. Upon the Eagles’ arrival in Durban on Wednesday, Lagerback told reporters: “We have a very tough group, the quality of the opposition is very good, and what I know is that all the teams want to win. The Super Eagles are ready to take on the world’s best. We know there are high expectations, especially from our fans. If we give our 100 per cent, we can beat any team. But I am happy with everything so far.”

Lagerback’s confidence notwithstanding, the Eagles have their work clearly cut out. Their progress in the tournament clearly would ride on the outcome of their opening game against Argentina on June 12. The South Americans have a formidable squad and are among favourites for the title. To get past or even to survive them, the Eagles have to be at their best, something Lagerback is hoping to achieve.

Aside the Eagles, Africa’s other teams are hoping to make a statement, none more than hosts, South Africa. The Alberto Parreir-coached squad, which went on a training tour of Brazil and Germany, returned confident of their chances in the tournament. The team’s Brazilian coach returned to South Africa in a dilemma after home-based players in his team improved massively during the training tour.

Despite their new found form, pundits are not expecting them to go through in their group, which includes two former world champions, Uruguay and France as well as Mexico. However, given their performance at the Confederation Cup, which they hosted last year, it may just be a mistake to write them off.

Africa’s other gladiators, Cote d ‘Ivoire, Algeria, and Ghana, are also not going to the mundial to make up the numbers. The Didier Drogba-led Ivorians, who exited in the first round at the last edition of the World Cup in Germany despite boasting what was considered a decent squad, are eager to make a statement this time round.

Ghana’s chances of making it out of their group appear very slim given the absence of key players like Laryea Kingston and the inimitable Michael Essien, who was finally ruled out following his failure to recover from a knee injury which hit since January this year.

Algeria, lumped with England, USA and Slovenia face an uphill task in that group. On the surface, the North African side will find it difficult to break out of this group; however, the Algerians are nobody’s fools and on a good day can mess up things for even the most technically balanced side. Their major weakness seems to be getting them to rein in their exuberance. Here, coach Rabah Saadane, has serious work to do.

Powerhouses weigh in

On the whole, it promises to be an exciting tournament with traditional power houses-Brazil, Germany and Italy expected to be threats to their opponents. The Brazilian squad is, as usual, oozing class. Such is the quality of the team that t wo-time World Footballer of the year, Ronaldinho, failed to get a look in from Dunga despite switching over to Milan to resurrect a flagging career.

The German team, including exciting young forwards like Lucas Podolski, Bastian Scheinsteinger and Toni Kroos and the experienced Miroslav Klose, will give their group opponents, Ghana, Serbia and Australia, enough to chew.

Published on June 6, 2010 in NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper

The truth about Amodu and his journeymen

Shuaibu Amodu says he is going to shed blood in Mozambique. I have no problem with that as long as it is going to be his own blood.

Nigerians have shed enough blood and tears for Amodu and his laggards in the Super Eagles. It is time for them to pay back. Not that it would matter anyway. The truth is that only the incurable optimists, mischief makers and the incompetent administrators in the NFF still hang onto the belief that Nigeria will make it to South Africa next year for the World Cup.

The rest of us think we blew that opportunity long ago and have since lost interest. The point was made eloquently on Sunday in Abuja when only a handful of spectators, perhaps for want of something better to do, showed up at the National Stadium in Abuja to watch them play Mozambique. The rest opted to do something more useful with their time.

No surprises

I was not in the least surprised with the outcome of the match against Mozambique. The scoreline could have been worse. That the Eagles could only manage a goal after all the filibustering in the days leading up to the match, shows just how drab the team is. How then are we to believe that this same team can go to Nairobi or wherever the match will be played, and get a draw? If they failed to beat Mozambique in Maputo, what is the assurance that they will beat Kenya away?

I was at the Abuja National stadium in June when we beat Kenya 3-0. That scoreline did not accurately reflect the effort of the Kenyans. On more than one occasion, they struck the crossbar with Enyeama looking on helplessly. Against them in Nairobi or wherever, we haven’t got a prayer. At least not with Amodu in charge and certainly not with these ninnies he has in his squad.

Just for the sake of argument we say that the Eagles manage through some ‘tactical’ ingenuity on the part of Sani Lulu and Taiwo Ogunjobi, to qualify for the World Cup; what exactly would they be doing there? Playing boju-boju or hide and seek as the game our children play is called?

For those who fail to acknowledge the truth, the Eagles we have at the moment is not a World Cup squad. We will only go there to get butchered and our already dented reputation sullied further.

If Amodu cannot outwit and outthink the middle of the road coaches handling the squads in his World Cup qualifying group, would he be able to look Capello and Dunga in the face? Let’s face it; the man will be out of his depths.

Eagles without class

Which brings us to the question – why did the NFF engage a man so patently incompetent? A man who since he was fired from this same job seven years ago has not achieved anything meaningful. I have taken time to assess the Eagles under Amodu and have come to one conclusion, which I am sure discerning followers of the game will too – that the

Eagles under him are listless. They lack the commitment of the 1980 squad, the quality of the 1994 set and the verve and finesse of the Atlanta 1996 squad.

Amodu’s Eagles lack class. And the reason is because their coach has been unable to impose his authority or style on his team the way Fabio Capello has done with the England squad.

Save for Osaze Odemwingie, there is perhaps no player in the squad of quality that can fight for a first team shirt in the Ivorian or Ghanaian squad and succeed. I may be wrong on this score but I stand to be corrected.

So, I ask again, why did the NFF hire Amodu? Precisely because the men manning the federation are themselves incompetent. How else do you explain this decision and also the fact that where coaches elsewhere have been fired for bungling the assignment handed to them, Lulu and his men have been over protective of Amodu?

The situation we find ourselves in at the moment could have been averted had the NFF the commonsense to relieve him of his job. The Mexican football federation did not allow itself to be taken in by Sven Goran Eriksson’s credentials. When the former England coach failed to deliver, they promptly showed him the door. Here, the NFF has cuddled Amodu and have wasted millions of naira on a team whose players know next to nothing about commitment.

When, during the first phase of qualifiers, Nigerians pointed out to the NFF that despite the Eagles’ run of victories that something was wrong with both the squad and the coach, Lulu waved such concerns aside preferring instead to bask in the spurious title of “winning president” conferred on him by is army of praise singers within and outside the NFF.

Now, the chicken has come home to roost.

Published on October 18, 2009 in the RED CARD column of NEXT on SUNDAY Newspaper