The plots against NFF

Indeed, those who hatch plots against NFF are clearly executing their obnoxious agenda through a battalion of foot soldiers. Indeed, the common denominator among the elements in high and low positions who have made it a point of duty traducing NFF is that all of them have clubs in hand, fighting tooth and nail, just […]

Indeed, those who hatch plots against NFF are clearly executing their obnoxious agenda through a battalion of foot soldiers. Indeed, the common denominator among the elements in high and low positions who have made it a point of duty traducing NFF is that all of them have clubs in hand, fighting tooth and nail, just to ensure that the task of restoring the glory of Nigerian football by Maigari and his team has been aborted. The essence of the unfolding serial machinations is simply to deny the new helmsmen at the NFF the opportunity to write their names in gold.

My attention has been drawn to the clandestine warfare being waged against the FIFA recognized and democratically elected body in charge of the Nigerian football. The war on NFF is declared by those whose duty is to appropriately advise our President. Instead, they have decided to deceive President Goodluck Jonathan. Going by their intentions and actions, they want Mr. President to take a very wrong decision against NFF. They did before and they want to do it again. In not too distant past, they hoodwinked Mr. President into making the mistake of pronouncing the withdrawal of Nigeria from all international football tournament without due consultation with FIFA. And in reality such action cannot be taken arbitrarily without convincing FIFA beyond reasonable doubts that the action is justifiable and is carried out in good faith. But even before that unfortunate incident, FIFA, in anticipation of arbitrariness and undemocratic posturing of political authorities of some of its member countries, has clearly spelt out the processes to be followed by member countries to address grievances or to resolve conflicts in its widely publicized statutes. Consequently, any official of member countries that decides to resort to arbitrariness without following due process should be prepared to incur the wrath of FIFA.

Methinks that after such an encounter with FIFA, our dear President Jonathan should have learnt one or two lessons. One, he must learn to be very careful not to take rash decisions because the buck always stops at his table. Two, he must also understand the implications of taking decisions without recourse to due process and established principles governing the operations of organizations, national and international, including FIFA. In this regard, I also want to remind Mr. President that the creation of the Presidential Committee for the qualification of Super Eagles to South Africa was more of a distraction to the team and a duplication of NFF functions. To say the least, the Committee is part of the problems Nigerian football faces today.

Once again, the advisers of Mr. President on public affairs should have done their homework thoroughly by, at least, going the extra mile to ensure that the sanctity of the person and the office of Mr. President are safeguarded. Before advising Mr. President on any matter which directly or indirectly affects the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens or the image of the country they should always make it a point of duty to weigh the pros and cons of the actions or inactions of Mr. President, especially in carrying out his constitutional responsibilities.

But whatever reasons and interests that propel those whose duty it is to give sound counsel to Mr. President on sports administration in Nigeria, it appears they did not do their work honestly and diligently, especially where our relationship with FIFA and FIFA established protocols is concerned. Otherwise, FIFA would not have smelt a rat over the actions taken by the Nigerian President. You can’t act in that manner simply because our country had failed to make it to the round of sixteen at the South Africa FIFA World Cup competition. All nations of the world equally wanted to be in South Africa for the prestigious Cup.

In any case, when our President asserted his authority in the manner he did FIFA was then left with few options outside forcing our President to recant his decision. The President was unceremoniously made to reverse the withdrawal of Nigeria from international competitions. Perhaps, FIFA has perceived a trace of highhandedness from the action of our President. FIFA was always determined to ensure transparency in the actions of its member countries. It therefore stood firm and resolute in its decision against the withdrawal of Nigeria from international competitions and the perceived highhandedness of the President of Nigeria.

Eventually, when the faceoff between FIFA and Nigeria died down I thought the least President Goodluck Jonathan should have done afterwards was to route all the culprits that prepared the memos that led to his terrible goof. However, despite our President’s misadventure in the withdrawal saga, I still strongly believe in the innocence of our unsuspecting leader. I believe that our President was mischievously corralled into such an unfortunate event which caused both personal and collective anguish to the person of the President as well as the generality of Nigerians. As the Hausa would say, ba a mugun sarki sai dai mugun bafade.

However, I was completely flabbergasted over the whole episode and; in particular, over the refusal of President Jonathan to read riot act on the battery of officials in government and those hovering in the corridors of Aso Villa who had collaborated to deceive him and caused Nigeria such a gargantuan national embarrassment. Instead of clamping down on them he decided to behave as if that episode did not take place here in Nigeria. Frankly speaking, if I were in the shoes of President Jonathan all the top officials of our National Sports Commission/the Ministry of Sports who are either directly responsible or who are in the picture of events leading to Nigeria finding itself in that mess, I would have ensured that all of them must have paid dearly, one way or another, for their ill-motivated advise.

The apparent silence of Mr. President over the misdemeanor of his officials is however sending very wrong signals. The people that should be hiding their faces in shame are now at it again. Of course, they are going back to their old game of blackmail because the President has refused to sanction them the first time. In fact, they think that they have the sympathy of Mr. President. These people have totally forgotten that they are responsible for Mr. President’s altercation with FIFA over the withdrawal of Nigeria from international tournaments. They have also forgotten that they are responsible for causing national embarrassment to Nigeria. They are right now hatching all sorts of plots against the NFF in order to discredit the institution. Snippets of media attacks are systematically being targeted at the person of Aminu Maigari and the entire Management of the NFF despite their selfless efforts to take Nigerian football from the neglect it suffers in recent years to a respectable height.

In fact, any ardent observer of the politics surrounding Nigerian football will readily agree with me that hardly a week passes by without these people planting carefully orchestrated articles and reports that are, for all intents and purposes, misrepresenting issues, facts and reality in one or two major national newspapers and magazines. What is that intended for? Obviously, it is intended to give a dog bad name in order to hang it. In addition, there are without doubts other sinister motivations on the part of all those forces that are out to destabilize Maigari and his team. Looking at the identity configuration of the major players that are specifically aiming at NFF’s jugular, one cannot help but read ethno-religious, regional and sectional motivations as the drama of the absurd unfolds itself. Sadly that is precisely the unfortunate dimension that everything is assuming