Eduok: Rising star plagued by controversies

Something similar happened in 2005 when Mikel John Obi was at the centre of a major row at the time with both Chelsea and Manchester United claiming to have agreed to sign the Nigerian.The dispute dragged on for more than a year and was eventually settled when Chelsea agreed to pay £16m in compensation – […]

Something similar happened in 2005 when Mikel John Obi was at the centre of a major row at the time with both Chelsea and Manchester United claiming to have agreed to sign the Nigerian.
The dispute dragged on for more than a year and was eventually settled when Chelsea agreed to pay £16m in compensation – £12m to United and £4m to Lynn. Chelsea would later sue Lyn Oslo and their Director Morgan Anderson to recoup the £16m transfer fee they paid for the player after the director was convicted of fraud and making false accusations and given a one-year suspended jail sentence by an Oslo court.
After Mikel Obi, another Nigerian player, Sunday Mba after shinning at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa got entangled in a messy transfer deal which has left him languishing in the third division in France.
Going by Udok’s transfer saga, many are of the view that the flight of the left footed Akwa Ibom born football player who took the Nigerian Premier League by storm last season may crash shortly after take-off.
He scored a total of 20 premier league goals to emerge second highest goals scorer. He scored Dolphins only goal in their Federation Cup loss to Enyimba FC and was voted the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Before then, he had his greatest moment when he scored the only goal against the Black Stars of Ghana to emerge the first player to score in the Akwa Ibom ultra-modern stadium. So even before the season ended, he was widely tipped for greatness.
Consequently, it was no surprise when news came out that he was on his way to Norway to sign a deal. That eventually happened but within a twinkle of an eye, he was in Tunisia to sign for Esperance and that began the transfer controversy which is threatening to consume his career.
Udok has since come out to say he actually signed for Sarpsborg o8 but had to back out of the contract when he realised that his club Dolphins was not taken along by the agent who brokered the deal. He does not believe it is professionally and morally right to sideline Dolphins who have paid his wages for four years.
On the other hand, the aggrieved Norwegian club have threatened to take both the player and his agent to FIFA, if he fails to return after Home-based Eagles friendly matches in Abu Dhabi.
But the latest twist in the saga is that Eduok who returned home to join his Home-based Eagles team mates in camp in Abuja was expelled by the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick who was quoted as saying the controversy over the player’s transfer is not good for the image of the national team.
This transfer row and the action of the NFF are definitely not good for the image of the player who was recently dropped from the National U-23 team following discrepancies over his age. That no doubt soiled his fast rising profile and the ongoing transfer controversy will surely rub more salt into his festering wounds.
The decision by Pinnick to send the player packing has attracted mixed reactions. While some are of the opinion that it will serve as deterrent to other players, others believe the federation was hasty in its decision.
President of Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria, ex-international Dahiru Sadi has hailed the decision to throw Eduok out of camp.
“I completely agree with the NFF president. We cannot continue like this. It is the right step in the right direction. After all he is not banned from the team. All that the president wants is for the player to go and clear himself.
“He is free to come back to the team when he has sorted himself out. I am sure that decision was taken because even if he is allowed to stay in camp, he won’t be able to concentrate. So I don’t see it as a harsh decision,” he said.
However, football analyst Uche George Egbe said “while it may be true that the controversy being generated by Eduok’s transfer saga – involving Sarpsborg 08 of Norway and Esperance of Tunisia – could be a distraction not only to the player while in camp but also to the team in general, the final decision on the players’ fate in that regard rests with the team’s administrators and technical crew.
“Pinnick not only acted ultra vires in sending the former Akwa United forward home, but also undermined the authority of the team’s managers both internally and in the eyes of the ever watchful and critical public by usurping their power and administrative function in the national team”.
 Former Golden Eaglets and Super Eagles coach, Fanny Amun also said the decision was taken in haste without putting into consideration some key issues.
He said what the player needs most at the moment is the support of everyone for him to get out of the present situation which he said is not healthy for the player’s development.
“I am not saying they don’t have the right to do what they did but I think it was done hastily. I believe the best is for them to rescind the decision because from what I can understand the boy is already being persecuted even when the parties involved have not started their official complaints.
“We cannot be destroying our upcoming stars. This is what happened to Sunday Mbah. After all he did to help us lift the 2013 AFCON trophy, we didn’t take him to the World Cup because of the same transfer issue. The NFF were in too much haste sending Eduok out of the camp,” Amun said.
Opinions are sharply divided over Eduok’s transfer row but the general conclusion is that the latest incident only goes to show the wretchedness of the Nigerian Premier League. It is said the unattractive nature of the league forces every good player to look to Europe for greener pastures.
On his part, former NFF presidential aspirant, Lumumba Dah Adeh said “The Nigerian Premier League has not live up to expectations. It surprises me when I hear people say our league is either the best or one of the best in the continent. We still have a long way to go.
“Any league that cannot keep its best talents for up to two seasons to me is no league. Every good player in our league is eager to sign any kind of contract abroad. This tells you that the league is still not professional”.