Oliseh: A sane man in an insane country

Former coach of Nigeria’s senior soccer side the Super Eagles, Sunday Oliseh, once described Nigerian soccer followers who criticised him for failing to satisfy the expectations of Nigerians as ‘’insane’’. I think the failed coach is right to some extent. This is because it is only in an insane soccer-crazy country like Nigeria that the […]

Former coach of Nigeria’s senior soccer side the Super Eagles, Sunday Oliseh, once described Nigerian soccer followers who criticised him for failing to satisfy the expectations of Nigerians as ‘’insane’’. I think the failed coach is right to some extent. This is because it is only in an insane soccer-crazy country like Nigeria that the football authorities will hire a man whose greatest coaching credential lies in his being a pundit or arm- chair coach on the football channel Super sport to coach a very important team as the Super Eagles. Perhaps, if someone like a humble me who have been an ardent soccer follower for decades have had the kind of opportunity which Oliseh had to be a commentator on a major sports channel, my punditry would have so impressed the NFF that they would have gone for me even ahead of Oliseh.
Until he was made coach of the Super Eagles, Oliseh had not coached any team of note anywhere in the world. Yet our people relied on his ability to analyse matches to make him the number soccer team manager in Nigeria.
Oliseh has not only proved to be the only sane man in this insane country, he has also demonstrated that he is one of the smartest living Nigerians. After coolly collecting an impressive percentage of his accumulated salaries and allowances owed him by the NFF, Oliseh threw in the towel. I feel that the smart guy has the ability to see tomorrow. He has foreseen that given his inadequate expertise; the lack of support by the NFF technical committee and the lack of prayers and solidarity he enjoys from millions of Nigerians following that ‘insanity’ incident, he is not likely to overcome the threat the Pharaohs of Egypt pose to his qualifying the Super Eagles for AFCON 2017. He knew that if he falls to Egypt, nothing on earth would have stopped his sacking so better to take the more honourable path by resigning and cutting short his losses. That is how one moment of his sanity saved him from sure sack.
For me, the lesson this insane country should learn from the Oliseh saga is that we as a people must learn to change our recruitment criteria by placing emphasis on aptitude and demonstrable abilities. So far, we tend to favour people who can talk; people who have what we Nigerians call swagger rather than those who are quiet but have the sagacity to get things done and done very well. In almost all sectors of our national life, we tend to go for men and women who are fast talkers, smooth talkers, loud talkers and boastful talkers; those who immodestly boast about their knowledge, competence and ability and those who look impressive in fine clothes and accessories. People who are like that easily get noticed and are often given some of the most prominent positions in society way beyond their actual competencies.
If Deng Xiaoping, the man who was the real architect of China’s rise to world dominance today were a Nigerian, he would not have ‘smelled’ that position. You know Deng was only about 4 feet tall. In Nigeria a man of such spare status is likely to be overlooked for leadership positions.  You need to look tall, strong and handsome to be a presidential or gubernatorial ‘material’ in Nigeria. It is not what you have upstairs and the patriotism in your heart that count in our dear country; it is your impressive looks and your ability to talk and act big that make impression on those who do leadership recruitment here. Oliseh was just an analyst, a commentator, a man who tells you what has been done or what ought to be done but cannot do it to get positive results if you give him the chance.
But Oliseh cannot possibly be a lone sane man in an insane country. The insanity of his compatriots will surely rub off on him. And it did. Immediately Oliseh took over the team, I watched what educationists call a teacher’s entry point behavior in order to make an assessment as to whether or not he will be a good coach of the Super Eagles. And what was his first entry point behavior? He had the wisdom to sack Vincent Enyeama as captain and goal keeper for apparently no sane reason other than to send a message that he was now in charge. How could any sane coach do what Oliseh did? Sack Enyeama who is a living legend of the team and who at that time was, and still is, one of the best goal-keepers in the French Division One league and in the world as a whole? What point was he seeking to make? It is the type of point we students of my generation used to call pointless point. I just told a soccer lover friend of mine that this man will not be a successful coach of the Super Eagles and that he will not last long on the job. I have been proved right.
The reason he later gave for dealing with Enyeama in such an unfair and unjust manner was that he wanted younger players in the team and a younger person as captain. If that is what he wanted, must he have his way by treating Enyeama in such a shabby manner? Would he have liked it if he was treated like that when he was captain of the Super Eagles in his time?
If Oliseh were a sane man he would also have known that soccer is so dear to Nigerians and that a man who is privileged to be named the coach of their senior side will do everything to carry stakeholders along with him or else he will fail miserably as he has eventually done. Nigerians are too passionate about the beautiful game and will make a hero of anyone who succeeds with the Super Eagles or a villain of one who fails to manage the team to great successes. Soccer is the only thing that seems to drive away the many sorrows of Nigerians. One of my respected pastors once told me that soccer is one of the inventions of Satan to distract people. I told him that incidentally soccer is the only thing of Satan that I personally like and enjoy! He was shocked and told me, “even you?”