Our sports administrators, politicians and so called administrators are killing Nigerian football at a fast pace. It has become very obvious that their so called interest in developing our football remains a selfish and greedy project as the recurrent football crisis further exposes the ambition greed of these sets of people.
The present NFF crisis could have been averted if the right set of individual had made recourse to the statutes of the football body while advising the sports Minister Tamuno Donagogo and the presidency into decisions which we have been shamefully forced to reverse.
This same scenario happened immediately after the World Cup at Germany 2006 or prior to that where Ibrahim Galadima was the fall guy for failure to qualify the country for the World Cup after Angola stopped Nigeria. In 2010 in South Africa, the same scenario took place this time with the Sani Lulu led board which almost plunged Nigerian football to eternal crisis with the litany of court cases which football plummeted to the Mrs Baribote case where a High Court in Jos set the present crisis which our football administrators failed to advise our new minister before the FIFA suspension came hanging on our necks before the deadline last week.
One crisis after another, immediately after every World Cup and it boils down to a successor crisis as various interests continue to clash in who gets the advantage at the next elections.
I have stated boldly that Sani Maigari and his board have done exceedingly well in their tenure and while not identifying with their short comings with regards to allegations of misappropriation of funds, they deserve with regards to the FIFA statutes to serve their tenure by next month.
I am still ashamed by the role our football administrators in the various State Football Federations participated in the shambolic congress suspending the Maigari led board when they should know better and advice.
It is pertinent to state that the football structure of our country will continue to rot with the likes of football administrators in Nigeria with exception and much respect to the likes of Anthony Kodjo Williams, Amaju Pinnick, Paul Bassey, Segun Odegbami and a host of others who cautioned on the blind move by the minister and his disciples.
Another display of ignorance by these misguided and disillusioned sports administrators was the waste of tax payers’ money on a fruitless trip to Brazil to “convince” FIFA on why their actions needed to stand.
The intense negotiations by the sports ministry officials and Mrs. Baribote have given way for the vacation of the earlier court order which is the foundation of the present crisis.
Even the House of Representatives urged the sports minister to parley with all parties involved in the issue with a view to resolving the matter.
We hear that the principal actor Ramson Baribote and the two rival factions of the NFF met to concede for some peace to prevail and avoid the FIFA hammer before the deadline. The unending circle of disputes, court cases and FIFA suspensions threats may have put the preparations of our various national teams in jeopardy as teams may have suspended their plans, training session in view of the crisis.
The South Africans we learn were neck deep, putting pressure on FIFA to go ahead with the ban so that their female Under 20 side would replace Nigeria at the World Cup starting early next month.
When the national team should be building on whatever gains it achieved or failed to meet at the just concluded World Cup, our sports officials and administrators are shouting about the high handedness of the Maigari board and corruption after four years in office.
The questions are why were all these allegations not made bare right from time and at each incident ‘as alleged’? How clean are football administrators on their own path?
All these issues are highly distractive, irrelevant, time wasting and a gross insult on the intelligence of Nigerians and FIFA for we continue to make ourselves a laughing stock as a set of people administering our football with inept ideas and failed visions.
Sports Minister, Tamuno Donagogo should realize that even if the Federal Government is funding football, FIFA abhors interference by government in any form and the enforcement by the minister by appointing an acting scribe for the NFF and subsequent dissolution of the NFF Executive and the Congress was a step too far.
That action is capable of destroying our football development and the infamous path of his decision could retard the path of many generations in the development of our football. He failed to consult widely without adequate knowledge of how things are done at the ministry. The minister’s tenure may just be about led than ten moths and we should advise him not to use his position to retard Nigerian football with such shameful decisions.
We should be thinking about the talents we should be building for the future and a competent successor for Maigari and consolidating on his legacies. What we are seeing in Nigerian football today could even scare away sponsors to the national team and we should refrain from soiling our path in public.
When other countries are busy with new long term plans for the World Cup in Russia in 2018, our sports administrators are fighting dirty with selfish and greedy reasons at the global stage.
At a time, we should be focusing on a new technical crew for the Super Eagles and chart a new way forward with the national team, we are busy beating drums of disaffection, sowing seeds of deep hatred and planning how to embezzle more public funds in next administration.
As African Champions, Nigeria needs to be a role model not only on the pitch but even in administrative matters whose structure may be built on integrity, professionalism and transparency as we work towards developing our football.
Let us pray that with the present embarrassing scenario, our sports administrators will have learnt some very shameful and embarrassing lessons and avoid such selfish acts in the future that would position our great country in the eyes of global ridicule.
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