JOHN OBUH: FROM KABUKABU DRIVER TO ANOTHER WORLD CUP

How did you get started? I finished at secondary school and started with professional courses when I decided to pursue a career in coaching. I attended the National Institute for Sports in Lagos, Nigeria. I have also done online courses on physical and tactical training. I have attended FIFA high and medium level courses, CAF […]

How did you get started?

I finished at secondary school and started with professional courses when I decided to pursue a career in coaching. I attended the National Institute for Sports in Lagos, Nigeria. I have also done online courses on physical and tactical training. I have attended FIFA high and medium level courses, CAF high level as well as administrative courses. I also have a DFB license from Germany.

Before taking up coaching, you also played football to a top level.

I played for most of the top teams in Nigeria, like Enyimba, Sharks, Udoji United, Rangers, Abiola Babes and Julius Berger.  I was a striker who came in from either the left or right side of attack. I was a forceful striker, a striker defenders did not wish to see around them. I had a good shot with both legs and I was good aerially. I was energetic and scored goals with ease because I enjoyed good service from the midfield. Some of the players who were in my generation are Davidson Owumi, Victor Igbonabare, Tarila Okorowanta, Sunday Oliseh, Hilary Chimezie, Basil Okocha, Tyson Balogun and Tony Emeodofu.

Some of the players you mentioned played for the national team. Were you not good enough to also do so?

I played for the national team too but I did not establish myself there. I was invited by Clemens Westerhof once or twice, but I was also at that time looking at possibilities of playing overseas. On one such occasion I received an invitation have trials in Athens, Greece. For a long time I was undecided about whether to make football a career and I was instead looking at openings to go back to school. A player like Sunday Oliseh left the university to play football, while I was looking at going in the other direction. It was only when I realised that football was very much a part of me that was when I finally gave everything to the game.

You mentioned going on trials in Athens?

Richard Edewor took us to Cyprus, where we played against Panathinaikos of Greece, who then invited me, Hilary Chimezie and Emoedofu for trials. We arrived Athens only to find out that there was now a new management at the club, not the one who invited us. And the new Yugoslav coach came to the club with his own set of players.

Would that rate as one of your biggest disappointments?

No, because I always believe that there will be a second option. I have tried my hands in so many things. I built myself in such a way that if something does not work, another thing will surely work. When we were stranded in Greece, the other players said they won’t come back, but I came back with Davidson Owumi. I’m a Nigerian and there are so many other things I could do to earn a living, so there was no need to hang around Europe illegally.

When did you finally make up your mind you will be a coach?

This happened even when I was still playing football. Those around me knew I was organising the group I belonged to. I was called adviser…barrister… because I was doing a lot of things while I was playing. Even when I was not the captain of the team, I was always called upon to be part of decision making.

Coach Alabi Aissien predicted at a time that I will make a coach and he warned me not to refuse the calling. Also (Kashimawo) Laloko made a similar comment while I was playing at Enyimba. He asked me to quit playing so as to assist him as coach of Enyimba.

My older brother, Sam Obuh, insisted I should stay in the game as a coach because I have the potentials. Lawrence Akpokona who was coach at Enyimba also advised me to attend coaching courses. At that time I thought they were just trying to find a way of getting rid of me at Enyimba. Akpokona gave me three of his coaching handouts and after the initial reluctance, I decided to pursue a coaching career. But the problem was not with going to NIS, but with my job at Enyimba. I had just got married and my wife was based in Abuja and if I now quit the game, how will we pay our bills. What Nwangaga did was to make sure my salary at Enyimba was still running while I was still in school. It was not a lot of money but the club also assisted in so many other ways to ensure I was okay financially. I enjoyed myself in coaching school and I was one of the top three of my set, which included the likes of top stars like Henry Nwosu, Samson Ozogula.

So, what happened after you graduated from NIS?

The challenge of being a coach was who did you know to hire you as a coach. There are a lot of clubs and also a lot of unemployed trained coaches. In my time, you are a coach because of who you know, they just hire you because your brother or friend was in charge. So, it was very difficult for me after I finished my course at the NIS. It was not the same back at Enyimba because those who supported me while I was in school, were now no longer there. In the end, I was asked to leave. I left for Lagos and bumped into Laloko at the NFA lobby. He promptly got me into the Nigeria football academy in Abuja. Monday Sinclair was the technical director and I was asked to assist him. I just wanted to be back in the game and to put into practise what I learnt at the NIS. I was not interested in a contract. I enjoyed the experience even when I was not being paid.

But the reality on the ground soon caught up with me – I had bills to pay and no money. I used my car to do kabukabu (taxi). This was only known to me and my wife. I would also travel to Aba most weekends to cut some materials to make suits and come and sell in Abuja. At a time those at the NFA knew me as a tailor, they did not consider me a coach because I was trying to make ends meet.

Before long there was an Under-14 competition as a prelude to the World Cup in France and coaches were appointed, Sinclair would be the head with the likes of Ladan Bosso. I was not. Then at another time, the federation set up another U-14 camp in Osogbo. I was the second assistant in this camp preparing for a tournament in Spain. About the same time, the coaches in the Under-17 team led by James Peters and Emmanuel Okalla were dropped about five months to the 1999 African junior championship in Guinea, Conakry. I was formally requested to go to Otta and assist Musa Abdullahi with the team.

Thys Libregts then in charge of the Super Eagles was also in Otta. There was not much for me to do there as there were other coaches also working with the team but I kept myself busy by working with the players who were not part of the main programme.

Libregts took interest in me and in his report to the NFA, he recommended that the association should support me because I will be a good coach. His advice to me was that I put into writing whatever coaching drills I was doing with the players so as not to forget them. There are so many training drills in Nigeria today that are my creations. Bitrus Bewarang also helped to modify some of my training drills. I worked for 14 months without getting a kobo. I asked to be employed, but it was really very difficult.

It was at that time that then NFA chairman Abdulmumini Aminu asked me to assist his club Katsina United. I worked with Justin Tenger and Alphonsus Dike.

But there was no money at the club. I received the least salary, it was not even enough to transport me from Katsina to see my family in Abuja. My 5,000 naira bonus was also shared with the doctor, curator among others and in the end I would end up with 1,500 naira.

Dike encouraged me not to leave despite the difficulties. I took the team for an away game against Bendel Insurance because both Tenger and Dike were not available. I won the game. I would win three games in a row. We qualified Katsina United for the CAF Cup that season.

Dike would then ask me to join him to be his chief coach at Sharks. I got my first-ever sign-on fee of 500,000 naira. We gave it our best shot. But at a time Dike had a problem with the fans and he had to leave and I was now left all alone with the club. Godwin Izilien from Dolphin and I ensured Sharks escaped relegation.

For the next season, Kadiri Ikhana was hired. He did not need my assistance. I returned to Abuja, resumed my tailoring service, doing some trading, all in the hope of making ends meet. I bumped into Abdulmumini Aminu while doing my kabakabu. He asked me to take over his team Katsina United, who have now been relegated to the lower league. I was engaged as chief coach.

There was no money at the club, we were only patching things up. I remember a night my wife visited the hotel the club were putting up in and she began to cry. The hotel was really not good. But what can one do? I needed a job, I needed to show what I can do as a coach. We escaped relegation and Kano Pillars approached me.

My wife was transferred to Kaduna, but we decided against it and she was paid off. The money from this pay-off I bought a V-boot Mercedes Benz and put it at the airport for car hire. I had also attended interviews at JC Raiders and SEC Abuja. Pillars were now my focus as they are a bigger club than either of them. I enjoyed my time at Pillars. The chairman, Kabiru Baita, supported me all the way even though there were those who wanted to trample on this young coach. We were fourth on the table by mid-season and Baita asked for Bitrus Bewarang to come and be my boss. I was interested in working with such a household coach and before long we were the best of friends.

Bewarang moved after that season to Wikki and asked me to join him there. He negotiated my two million naira sign-on fee and my salary of 250,000 naira monthly salary. He is a wonderful man. Cash was a problem at Wikki and he would leave. He enjoyed a good relationship with the Bauchi State Governor and the board members were therefore not very comfortable with him.

It was a sad experienced when I returned to Wikki as Musa Abdullahi was appointed chief coach and he brought his assistant, Bosso. Musa eventually got a deal in South Africa (with Free State Stars). It was at that time I resolved to get a team where I will be head coach. I applied for Ebonyi Angels but at the point I was to be given the job, there was a rethink and in the end Kelechi Emeteole was hired instead. I left for Heartland to assist Ufere Nwankwo and featured in the CAF Cup. Nwankwo later left and not long after, I was also sacked. I soon got a contact to coach Niger Tornadoes. I made changes at Tornadoes and by my second season the club were top of the table with four rounds of matches to go. But there were several leadership changes at the club about the same time too, we had three different chairmen at the time. I was top of the league but coaches were coming around hoping that as soon as we win the championship, they will come and lead the team in the CAF Champions League. There were rumours and speculations all over and before we knew it, we had lost focus and we finished fourth.

The next season, they appointed Zakary Baraje, an indigene, as chief coach. I had offers from Nasarawa United and Kwara United. I opted for Kwara even though they were playing in the lower league. I was ready for the challenge, I wanted to do something different. I won them promotion to the NPL. It was at Kwara that I was given my first brand-new car, a Toyota Corolla, and two million naira for getting them back to the top flight. That inspired me. He made me to realise that there are many prospects in football coaching.

It was from Kwara I moved to take up the national Under-17 team. Before then, I was one of the 12 local coaches who were interviewed for the Super Eagles job on account of me leading the league with Tornadoes. I was interviewed for the Under-17 team job along with Kadiri Ikhana and Stanley Eguma. I was about to again be overlooked for the job even though I did well at the interview but Dudu Orumen, one of the members of the technical committee, insisted the best man be given the job.

How many months to the 2009 Under-17 World Cup were you appointed coach?

It was about two, three months. It was a very short time to prepare the team but I was very, very positive even if I had been given the job a week to the World Cup. I just wanted to just go out there and do it.

Was it an act of desperation?

I wanted to prove a point I can do it. Even If I failed, people would see my contributions within that very little time.

Why you surprised with how well the team eventually did, reaching the final only to lose to Switzerland by the odd goal?

No in the sense that If God blesses you, nothing is impossible.

Time is very important to prepare a team for such major competitions, people have been given three years and they failed. Some have been given a short time to prepare and they succeeded. I will be one of those given short time and who go on to succeed. I believed I will succeed. This was my time and may this short time never be a hindrance. I was never negative even when the issue of the MRI scan came up.

The NFF president at the time, Sani Lulu, stood by me at this time even when I was beginning to think there was some conspiracy against me and the new team I was building. At a time, I had three players for each position just in case any one of them failed the MRI scan. In the end I had my team. We prepared well in Qatar. We were jeered at the Lagos airport on arrival because at that time the other national teams including the Super Eagles were struggling. I assured my players we only have to work hard to win the confidence of the fans. Then for our opening match, we were losing 3-0 to Germany. And we were drawn in a group tagged ‘Group of Death’, along with Germany and Argentina.

Fans began leaving the stadium after we conceded two goals in the first half and then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan (now President) came into the dressing room and told the players that he wished he was a player because with what I had just told them, the team will not only draw level but go on to win the match.

Two minutes after the restart, we conceded a third goal. I walked up to my first assistant, Monday Odigie, and asked him, ‘How can I be disgraced like this?’ He told me not to worry because this game will put your name where it should belong.

Then it was 3-1…3-2…3-3…

My wife’s experience was worst than mine. She was at the stadium with my children and reverend. The fans were shouting me down any time I stood up to pass on instructions to the players. My wife could not take all the insults and had to rush into the toilet. She was throwing up, crying and praying. When we drew level she rushed back to the stands like some mad woman. My reverend told the woman who was very vocal against me about people with little faith. She could not say a word.

And then we went all the way to the final. After raising the hope of the whole country, every Nigerian at least expected your team to win the U17 World Cup. Three things actually happened – Nigeria believed we had won even without any effort and that transmitted to the team, the players did not believe that they needed to play to win. They thought they had already won going by the massive support they enjoyed.

Secondly, the scouts and agents had penetrated the team, deceiving them that cup or no cup the next day they will travelling to their various new European clubs. They were not concentrated. Thirdly, selfishness in front of goal denied us the cup. Sani Emmanuel, Omoh Ojabu and Stanley Okoro were very selfish in front of goal.

The Golden Eaglets were rewarded with promotion to the U20 team. We were promoted wholesale. But most times, the players were never available for the U20 team because they were always junketing overseas in search of clubs. I asked them, ‘how can you play seven good matches and your agents could only get you trials?’ That means what the agents were telling you were just lies.

We had to bring new players because of this. All the same my dream is to see that at least 10 of these players from the U17 team go on to play for the Super Eagles, but the problem is that these boys are not stable and consistent.

Are you satisfied that nine of your players from the U17 are here with you for the U20 World Cup?

If they had stayed back and we worked together from the onset, I would have had no less than 13, 15 players here with me. I find it difficult to forget what I have, unless if it must be. There must be too much difference before I will drop what I have because I believe in continuity.