FOOTBALL, LOVE AND CORRUPTION

                    

The thought came quickly as it went. I didn’t want to think about it at all, but it kept coming back. There is a twist in each tale concerning my dear country Nigeria.  The first is, take it or leave it, we are champions of Africa. The recently concluded African Cup of Nations proved that we have all it takes to compete and surpass achievements of countries like South Africa, Angola and step up to be like Australia, Finland, Switzerland, Iran etc. (I have intentionally omitted the USA not because I do not like the suave, smooth talking President Obama or his government but because when you hear one thing, another thing is happening. It is like the abracadabra kind of thing. The more you look, the less you see. I had to praise the team creative and graphic designers for that designed the Pepsi advertisement a day after we won the trophy. From a professional point of view, the picture showing the eagle clutching the trophy was simply classic!

However, the twist in the tale is the quick resignation of the coach Stephen Keshi. At first, I didn’t hear or read about it but a friend and former colleague of mine posted a link on his Face book wall and when I read it, I was not surprised. One wonders why a successful coach should resign at the peak of the moment. I left a comment on my former colleague’s wall saying “He left when the ovation was loudest. It is not his fault. The blame goes to the old hags in NFF who know nothing about football administration and rather than contribute to its growth in the country, have continuously being clogs in the wheel of football development in the country”.I left this comment even before Keshi came out to say that his resignation stemmed from the treatment meted out to him by the same ‘old hags’ in the football house. The minister of sports intervened and he rescinded his decision to quit the national team.

The first lesson to learn from this development is that we are our own failure. Some of these football administrators have been in juicy positions for 19 years and counting not minding what trophy the nation wins. But they smile to the bank and cut corners to make ends meet at the cost of the nation’s football growth. They are not ashamed. They are among the lot that were holding ‘crucial’ meetings day and night threatening that Keshi will be sacked if he does not win this match or that game. But in their official files, they are yet to get one commendation letter in their long years of service. They are the lot that have kept football in Nigeria in the doldrums. If anyone should be sacked, it should the officials in NFF. I think there should be a massive ‘clean up’ in NFF. In case FG does not know where to start, start from the head and flush them out. If they are looking for an excuse, they should invite Ibrahim Lamorde’s EFCC to probe the finances of the Federation. I heard from grapevine that they went into a huge debt on the heels of recently concluded AFCON tournament. Nigerians would like to know how and what went where.

The second lesson to be learnt from the South African outing is that we have all it takes to achieve what we want. Many people including some of those old men argued that a local coach will not deliver. They were quick to forget Berti Vogts. From South Africa, after his dismal outing with the team many years back, he went home without coming to Nigeria to give account of his stewardship. What utter disregard. Yet they still want a foreign coach. Enter Siasia. Highhandedness and alot of other factors were against him so he was sacked. Keshi came, saw and conquered Africa. He adopted the For Us By Us (FUBU) strategy. With a huge chunk of the players coming from the Nigeria Premier League, Keshi proved that what we are looking for in Europe and England is in our backyard. He trained them very well and added to their thirst for glory, they rose to stardom. We should not lose hope in our own folks. The best Mr President and the minister of sports can do is to work out modalities on how to encourage grassroot development of sports not just football and create an enabling environment for more investors to come in and sponsor the NPL.

On the flipside, these same dim wits are at it again. As if the havoc they have wrecked is not enough, they have started a media blackout. Today, it happens to be two journalists and two media houses. Who knows how many more journalists they will blacklist. The two journalists Mr. Ezeocha Nze of the Guardian Newspapers and Mr. Romanus Ugwu of The Soccer Star a tabloid from the stable of The Sun Newspapers were accused of “campaign against the NFF Board and Management”. In the words of the NFF General Secretary, Alh. Musa Amadu:

“The NFF considers all journalists to be stakeholders of the game and we love and respect them as professionals, and even go to some length to ensure they do their job without any hindrance or molestation”.

(To this, I say, hey man, you are doing journalists no favour. They are carrying out their responsibilities as enshrined in the constitution of the country so to hell with your babysitting).

Amadu continued: “However, we have found out over the course of time that Messrs Nze and Ugwu are committed to hate campaign against the NFF Board and Management, and we find no reason to continue to accommodate them at our events and programmes,”.    

But in a swift reaction, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, FCT Council, gave the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, 24hours to rescind its decision.

The council in a statement signed by Comrade Chuks Ehirim, chairman of the NUJ FCT Council, described the alleged ban as a hangover of the dictatorship that has become the bane of football development in the country.

Ehirim said 14years after military rule, the NFF is yet to come to terms with democratic norms of freedom of speech and rule of law, warning that the union will not watch idly by while journalists are subjected to the whims and caprices of few individuals and or agencies.

He noted that there is no law in the country that gives the NFF such powers to bar any journalists from carrying on with his official duties, stressing that the constitution gives them the right to hold any government official accountable and monitor governance on behalf of the people.

It is more than 24 hours since then and we are yet to hear about the lift of the ban on the said journalists. We know how NUJ barks without a bite.

But the most important point is that this move by the NFF is taking us as a country back over 50 years. It is unacceptable. It is baseless. It is undemocratic. It is an affront on the image of the Nigerian press; an insult on the intelligence of the media. The NFF should tell Nigerians what they are hiding. I think Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN should as a first step, boycott all NFF activities.

While I thank God that Femi Adesina has been made the president of Nigeria Guild of Editors, I expect that as a proactive move he should work out modalities to use his strategic position to put paid to this tyranny. The NFF is going too far and should be stopped now.

Recently, the first lady Patience Jonathan was testifying the handiwork of God in her life. According to her, she was dead for seven days. I remember that many media sources said that she was actually dead and they were surprised to see her come back to the country, alive. But what no reporter, journalist or newspaper reported is the source of the funds that paid her bills. What Jonathan will not do is to look at the poor health care services in the country and work out modalities that will make the country’s health care sector one of the leading in the leading in the world only second to Cuba apart from encouraging medical tourism.

Recently, a court suit ruled in his favour that he can contest for the 2015 presidential election. This is not the issue. It is the hope of Nigerians that this should spur him into some real action.

February just ended, signalling the end of the reign of the Papal Father, emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. The month is well known to be the month of love. But of course we have the duty, obligation and responsibility to show love all year round. Love is a nice thing and when you fall in love with the right person, bliss is the word.  But in the last three weeks, I heard a lot of things and read squeaky trash in the name of St. Valentine’s Day. I do not want to join issues with anybody but I’d like to clear some issues. First, why must a lady hide her gift and wait till her guy or husband gives her a gift; and if the man in question does not buy any gift for her, she hides the gift forever. Why not take the initiative of giving first? Is it in gift giving that it changes from ladies first to men first? Why can’t you as a lady use your initiative to drive him to buy you a gift if he didn’t buy one for you? Buy an expensive perfume, a designer shirt, a tux or a designer shoe to tell him you really appreciate him. He will definitely order some nice stuff for you to tell you he appreciates you too. You do not need to frown all day, hide your gift and refuse picking his calls. That’s quite selfish and the exact opposite of the love you claim. Again, though it has been said in many quarters, must you buy some cheap underwear for him (singlet or boxers)? Don’t get me wrong, you mean well. It shows some form of intimacy but truth is when you buy him these, do you expect a car, a house, plots of land, Blackberry or Apple phone or some expensive perfume? Your guess is as good as mine. Treat him the way you will love him to treat you.

On the flipside, love daily. Don’t wait till it’s St. Valentine’s day before you show love or appreciate your partner. Communicate with him or her always so that you will know immediately something goes wrong. Buy gifts that you love to see him or her wear or use.

If you know the history of St. Valentine you will understand that it is a Roman Catholic celebration. I will not take the pains of giving you a lecture in history of St. Valentine. Do a little reading and get the drift. Readers are leaders. My grouse is that while everybody accepts St Valentine’s Day as a global phenomenon, many are yet to accept the culture and traditions inherent in the Catholic Church. The fact that Catholics honour Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ; many are yet to also accept the Holy Trinity; a huge chunk still believe that Catholics worship Virgin Mary and religious Statues. Similarly, many still believe that The Catholic Church is not a bible believing church. I do not engage in religious argument. I will not try to convince you, the only thing I say to them is you cannot be outside and know everything that goes on inside the Church. Get baptised, attend Catechism classes, receive Holy Communion, attend masses, join a society and see if you will say these heresies again. On a particular Sunday while in Church, a young man joined the queue of those who receiving communion. When it was his turn, he made the sign of The Cross the wrong way and he was told to leave and go back to his seat. For the records, the Holy mass is celebrated for everybody but Holy Communion is for Catholics who are IN A STATE OF GRACE. Catholics DO NOT WORSHIP but rather HONOUR Virgin Mary. Catholics DO NOT WORSHIP IMAGES.

I have not stopped wondering how come Nigeria has degenerated to one week one bribery scandal. The worst is that it is always connected to either the red or green chamber. Don’t ask me what the red or green chamber is, Google might help. While I do not see any tangible thing that those randy pot bellied men and lazy cougars have achieved since they came in, I strongly believe that Nigeria does not need such chambers that work like an ant and enjoy a large chunk of the national budget like an elephant. It is even worse when they don’t bite but bark from morning till night.  Forget the Maina case. The man just stepped on toes and refused to ‘settle’, thus his predicament.

While I join well-meaning Nigerians to commend FG for purging the judiciary, I still believe that more should be done in this line to restore the sanctity of the judiciary.

Did you hear that the judge handling the Jimoh Ibrahim vs Ray Ekpu case (concerning Newswatch) threatened to leave the case if some ‘parties’ stop sending him gifts? Na wao...