Lessons from Madrid

Last Saturday’s final of the UEFA Champions’ League between Real Madrid and city rivals Atletico Madrid was a classic. Atletico all but had the game in the bag, leading 1-0 with less than two minutes on the clock. Then tragedy struck in the shape of Sergio Ramos who netted the equaliser some 90 seconds to […]

Last Saturday’s final of the UEFA Champions’ League between Real Madrid and city rivals Atletico Madrid was a classic. Atletico all but had the game in the bag, leading 1-0 with less than two minutes on the clock. Then tragedy struck in the shape of Sergio Ramos who netted the equaliser some 90 seconds to the end of added time. Dead bones rose again as the game dragged into extra time and Gareth Bale put Madrid in front. Three minutes from time Marcelo made it 3-1 as the game started becoming farcical. Ronaldo scored the fourth for Madrid from the penalty spot at the dead of time. The result was not a true reflection of what transpired on the field of play. It seemed cruel
that a team which had held on to a 1-0 lead for all but three minutes should end up as a 4-1 loser.
As in soccer, so in life. Never say never. When in trouble, identify the source of your problem and work together as a team to get over it. Deploy intellectual muscle and strategic thinking in aid of the collective dream. When coach Ancelotti made a double-substitution of Marcelo and Isco, the game changed with Madrid soaring while Atletico was on the back foot most of the time. That double-sub was a game-changer.
The coach did not start quarrelling with his back room staff when the going was rough. He did not start blaming the players even though he must have given them some roasting during the break. He reached deep, deploying his knowledge of the game and issuing specific instructions.
That did it.
Had he opted to live in denial when his team was one goal down, that wouldn’t have changed anything. He changed tactics and some personnel and the result is that Carlo Ancelotti has become just the second man after Liverpool’s Bob Paisley to lift three European Cups. His team, Real Madrid has become the first team to win the continental championship a record 10 times.
Just as is done in soccer, we should put a good team together to prosecute our game plan against the current wave of terrorism. Rather than living in denial (that the Chibok girls may not be missing after all, or that their parents are in cahoots with their state government to hide them as some idle conspiracy theorists have suggested), we should be looking at new ways of doing things since the old ways have failed. Denial will not bring the girls back. The president should, like Coach Ancelotti, effect several substitutions in critical areas of governance so that new ideas and new talent can be placed at the disposal of the team.
We have to have enough self-belief in our own capabilities. We can malign the Nigerian armed forces all we want, but that will not restore them to the level of professional excellence for which they had hitherto been known. Have we suddenly forgotten how the military regimes of the past consistently pillaged their primary constituency to ensure coup-less regime survival? If, as has been noted in the international media, our armed forces need retraining in the light of current challenges, so let it be. Why are we wasting time on sterile debates? Boko Haram terrorists don’t debate; they bomb, slaughter, shoot…
It is unhelpful, for example, to tell protesters in Abuja  to take their protest to Boko Haram rather than to President  Jonathan.
Nigerians voted for Jonathan to be their president. They did not vote for Boko Haram. Whether the times are good or bad they will make recourse to their president. It is not necessary to personalise their protest as if they have become enemies simply by drawing consistent attention to the plight of the Chibok girls.
There will always be room for playing politics but we shouldn’t do so with human lives. Politicians simply can’t help themselves. Even in the US some Republican congressmen are accusing Hillary Clinton that it was under her watch as Secretary of State that Boko Haram festered in Nigeria. They want to link that with the unfortunate assassination of the US Ambassador in Benghazi to prepare the grounds for claiming that Mrs Clinton cannot be trusted with American security if she ever attempts to contest the presidential elections.
Over here we can’t afford the luxury of playing politics with Boko Haram. Yes, we have elections coming next year but there first has to be a country before there would be elections. As much as Americans routinely play politics with many things, they stood resolute across party lines in their fight against terror after the 9/11 attacks. The abduction of the Chibok girls is our own equivalent of 9/11. More than 3,000 people died following the 9/11 attacks but Boko Haram has killed more than 12,000 already – and still counting.
While not discountenancing foreign technical support, I agree with Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s contention that African countries have to fashion out home grown solutions to their security problems. Far from displaying unnecessary romanticisation of Africa’s past, I am persuaded that the person who takes care of your security may eventually transmogrify into your slave-master if care is not taken.
The more sustainable path is to build capacity and take the right decisions to ensure that each African country can take care of its own security.
Anyone who thinks that our case is too far gone for any meaningful remedy should go and watch that match between Atletico and Real again. Although it is tempting to join the bandwagon and say this house that Lord Lugard built has fallen, the sensible thing to do is what Ancelotti did: analyse the problem; study the opposition and its tactics; effect change of personnel where necessary; stay connected with the people as the coach did with his club’s fans so that their loud support would propel the troops to victory….
Can we summon the single-minded will to do the right thing?