Nigeria’s football crisis - No end in sight
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- Category: Sports
- Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY
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So, Davidson Owumi’s case was finally dismissed by the Federal High Court in Lagos last Wednesday. Any celebration by those who may think they have won against him may turn out to be premature. When you look closely at the issues involved in the dispute that took Owumi to court in the first place you will find that his removal as the Chairman of the NPL board compounds and complicates the whole matter rather than resolve it. Needless to go into the details of his nomination, election, the resultant dispute with co-contestant for the Chairmanship, Baribote, the decision of the NPL’s Appeal Committee, the intervention of the previous NFF Executive Committee and their setting up of an Arbitration panel, the interference of the present illegal NFF Executive Committee and his final recourse to the courts. It has been a long and torturous journey for all stakeholders. Unfortunately, rather than Nigerian football moving on from this point onward, the situation is that of the completion of one small battle in a sea of seemingly unending wars. There are several challenges already. Who now heads the NPL board? Baribote? The gentleman that contested the elections with Owumi has himself been removed as Chairman of the club on whose platform he contested the elections. Add to all this the new dimension of sponsorship of the NPL’s most priced possession - the Premier League. That matter, bungled by some very elementary decisions, may make the entire matter of the NPL unresolvable for the rest of the season. The big question is: where is FIFA? Why is the body not threatening fire and brimstone that a football matter has been taken to a normal court? Or is the matter of sponsorship not a football matter? Why is the NFF not spitting fire too? The impression has always been created in the minds of Nigerians that it is an anathema for football matters to be taken to court, and most Nigerians have allowed gross illegality to sustain based on this misconception. Even now, there are voices, including some from the seat of power, that are clamouring for a withdrawal of all cases from courts without proffering a means of their resolution outside them. In such an atmosphere ‘polluted’ by ignorance and vested interest I ask: where can one get justice but in a neutral court?
The rumour and stories making the rounds is that all parties that should have settled the matter have been compromised and would take blind sides with one or the other of the contending parties. We wait and watch the drama unfold in the following weeks and maybe, months! I see no end in sight.
My football fatigue
Last Wednesday morning a journalist was in my office. He is a known friend that has been helping for years with the coverage of the annual All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup. This year’s edition has already started in several parts of the country and the States’ finals will soon take place mid-February. At this stage of the championship, when schools play each other at the grassroots level, publicity and followership is not much. The sponsors, NNPC/Shell, get involved when the last two schools qualify to play the State finals. It is at this time that some funds are provided organisers in every State to support the organisation of the final match ceremony to make it befitting. Over the years most Local and State governments hardly ever got involved in the inter-secondary schools matches at the grassroots level whereas that is where their interest should be paramount so that within their local government areas and States they will be able to stimulate some football interest in the schools, discover talented players amongst the students, and assemble the best of them to be better trained and to represent the local governments and States in national competitions beyond the NNPC/Shell Cup. That way every body contributes to developing grassroots football and engaging students in structured sports programmes at the lowest levels. This way also, schools are challenged to organise football games within their grounds and are compelled to provide some basic facilities in order to be able to do so. That is the way children would have the opportunity to play and to discover their natural talent in sports.
So, my journalist friend was in my office. He casually asked to be granted an impromptu interview. Not intending to be rude, I told him I was on a sabbatical from interviews on football matters and asked him nevertheless what he wanted to know or ask. Naturally, he patronised me by saying he wanted to ask me about the NNPC/Shell Cup and how it has impacted Nigerian football in the 12 years since its inception. He also said he would want us to chronicle the players that went through the Shell Cup experience and may now have become professional players either in Nigeria or abroad. I was impressed with his line of thinking. Those surely would be good subjects to discuss. But then, the look on his face told me he wanted to say more, and so I waited to hear more. I could see he was thinking seriously about this and may have been debating how to put it without offending my decision to stay away from discussing the NFF and their activities.
He stuttered and stumbled through his initial words. ‘Em..well..em. What about our domestic game and the several problems it is enmeshed in at the moment?’. He did not wait for me to answer before he blurted out ‘Sorry i know even that matter is in court, so we cannot even discus that’.
He kept thinking and stammering. ‘Em…..what about the Elections into State Fas and other bodies like the National league, women’s league and so on that were conducted by the NFF?’.
‘You know I cannot discuss anything about an NFF. I am challenging the legality of the Executive Committee in FIFA and I must not be seen as having anything to do with the body until the matter is settled by the Disciplinary Committee of FIFA where the hearing of my petition is still pending or by the court of Sports Arbitration should I fail to get justice in FIFA’, I remind him.
‘Okay’, he said. ‘What about the Nigerian Premier league? At least you can discus what’s going on there’. Then he remembered. ‘I mean the players and the teams. I know the NPL have been dragged to court over sponsorship and discussing that matter will offend the courts. Na wa o. So, what can one discuss these days that is not before the court?’.
‘You are the journalist that wants an interview, so you tell me’.
He stared hard at me. ‘You know, Big Seg, this is the worst period in the history of Nigerian football. Football has never had it this bad. There is nothing of interest happening to the game. Our entire football is enveloped in very dark clouds. There isn’t even a silver lining anywhere. All the people that set us on this terrible retrogressive path, that the country clamoured for their removal, are successfully plotting their way back into football administration and we are all watching like dummies and no one is doing anything about it. Even the government seems to be supporting them. I heard even the new sports minister defend the indefensible the other night. Instead of treading gingerly as a new man to the position, he plunged into the mire and started interfering in the affairs of the NFF and of football generally even before the hit the ground. Na wa o’
I reminded him. ‘My friend, the new minister is my friend o. Are these the things you want me to comment on? You want to put me in more trouble than I am already?’. I asked him.
“Big Seg, I understand you. Look, you said it perfectly some weeks ago in your column when you wrote that Nigerian football is in jail. Look at the mess the interference of sports ministry has caused the premier league. The league is ‘finished’ for this season. The league will not be able to survive the cash crunch that has hit it presently. There are no funds to run any aspect of the league. Why interfere and bring external influence to bear in a simple matter that had been previously resolved? Now only God knows how long this case in court will drag for. I thought some people were saying you cannot take football matters to court? Why are they not saying the same thing now?. So football matters can actually go to court and FIFA will not come clamping down on a country’s FA?’.
‘Well, what is good for the goose is not good for the gander. That is the fallacy we are fed with by those driving their personal agenda ahead of our national interest. I am waiting for FIFA to warn the NFF to warn the litigants in court that unless they withdraw their case Nigeria will be banned from all FIFA competitions’.
The Nigeria Referees Association - setting the right standard and procedure.
I am very delighted to read a report two days ago about the Nigeria Referees Association. The body has met and have set a date for the elections into their Executive Committee. I hear their General Assembly will hold sometime this February or March where members will conduct their elections without any directive or interference by any external body including the NFF. That’s how it should be! Well done NRA.
As for all the others I have this to say. The present NFF Executive Committee is an illegal body. Nigerians will soon wake up to that reality when it becomes absolutely inevitable that the rule of law will prevail. Look at what is going on in Nigerian politics at the moment and you will start to understand that for as long as there is one person challenging the disrespect of the rule of law, justice will come to haunt those that have abused it. So, I know without any iota of doubt that the day is coming soon when the entire apparatus of the present NFF Executive Committee will be dismantled with one pronouncement either by FIFA or by a Nigerian court. Mark my words that part of the pronouncement shall be that all the decisions taken by the Committee since its illegal assumption of office shall be null and void! I hope Nigerians appreciate the implications of that before it happens.
Articles
Nigeria’s football crisis - No end in sight
Category: Sports Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY Hits: 510
So, Davidson Owumi’s case was finally dismissed by the Federal High Court in Lagos last Wednesday. Any celebration by those who may think they have won against him may turn out to be premature. When you look closely at the issues involved in the dispute that took Owumi to court in the first place you will find that his removal as the Chairman of the NPL board compounds and complicates the whole matter rather than resolve it. Needless to go into the details of his nomination, election, the resultant dispute with co-contestant for the Chairmanship, Baribote, the decision of the NPL’s Appeal Committee, the intervention of the previous NFF Executive Committee and their setting up of an Arbitration panel, the interference of the present illegal NFF Executive Committee and his final recourse to the courts. It has been a long and torturous journey for all stakeholders. Unfortunately, rather than Nigerian football moving on from this point onward, the situation is that of the completion of one small battle in a sea of seemingly unending wars. There are several challenges already. Who now heads the NPL board? Baribote? The gentleman that contested the elections with Owumi has himself been removed as Chairman of the club on whose platform he contested the elections. Add to all this the new dimension of sponsorship of the NPL’s most priced possession - the Premier League. That matter, bungled by some very elementary decisions, may make the entire matter of the NPL unresolvable for the rest of the season. The big question is: where is FIFA? Why is the body not threatening fire and brimstone that a football matter has been taken to a normal court? Or is the matter of sponsorship not a football matter? Why is the NFF not spitting fire too? The impression has always been created in the minds of Nigerians that it is an anathema for football matters to be taken to court, and most Nigerians have allowed gross illegality to sustain based on this misconception. Even now, there are voices, including some from the seat of power, that are clamouring for a withdrawal of all cases from courts without proffering a means of their resolution outside them. In such an atmosphere ‘polluted’ by ignorance and vested interest I ask: where can one get justice but in a neutral court?
The rumour and stories making the rounds is that all parties that should have settled the matter have been compromised and would take blind sides with one or the other of the contending parties. We wait and watch the drama unfold in the following weeks and maybe, months! I see no end in sight.
My football fatigue
Last Wednesday morning a journalist was in my office. He is a known friend that has been helping for years with the coverage of the annual All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup. This year’s edition has already started in several parts of the country and the States’ finals will soon take place mid-February. At this stage of the championship, when schools play each other at the grassroots level, publicity and followership is not much. The sponsors, NNPC/Shell, get involved when the last two schools qualify to play the State finals. It is at this time that some funds are provided organisers in every State to support the organisation of the final match ceremony to make it befitting. Over the years most Local and State governments hardly ever got involved in the inter-secondary schools matches at the grassroots level whereas that is where their interest should be paramount so that within their local government areas and States they will be able to stimulate some football interest in the schools, discover talented players amongst the students, and assemble the best of them to be better trained and to represent the local governments and States in national competitions beyond the NNPC/Shell Cup. That way every body contributes to developing grassroots football and engaging students in structured sports programmes at the lowest levels. This way also, schools are challenged to organise football games within their grounds and are compelled to provide some basic facilities in order to be able to do so. That is the way children would have the opportunity to play and to discover their natural talent in sports.
So, my journalist friend was in my office. He casually asked to be granted an impromptu interview. Not intending to be rude, I told him I was on a sabbatical from interviews on football matters and asked him nevertheless what he wanted to know or ask. Naturally, he patronised me by saying he wanted to ask me about the NNPC/Shell Cup and how it has impacted Nigerian football in the 12 years since its inception. He also said he would want us to chronicle the players that went through the Shell Cup experience and may now have become professional players either in Nigeria or abroad. I was impressed with his line of thinking. Those surely would be good subjects to discuss. But then, the look on his face told me he wanted to say more, and so I waited to hear more. I could see he was thinking seriously about this and may have been debating how to put it without offending my decision to stay away from discussing the NFF and their activities.
He stuttered and stumbled through his initial words. ‘Em..well..em. What about our domestic game and the several problems it is enmeshed in at the moment?’. He did not wait for me to answer before he blurted out ‘Sorry i know even that matter is in court, so we cannot even discus that’.
He kept thinking and stammering. ‘Em…..what about the Elections into State Fas and other bodies like the National league, women’s league and so on that were conducted by the NFF?’.
‘You know I cannot discuss anything about an NFF. I am challenging the legality of the Executive Committee in FIFA and I must not be seen as having anything to do with the body until the matter is settled by the Disciplinary Committee of FIFA where the hearing of my petition is still pending or by the court of Sports Arbitration should I fail to get justice in FIFA’, I remind him.
‘Okay’, he said. ‘What about the Nigerian Premier league? At least you can discus what’s going on there’. Then he remembered. ‘I mean the players and the teams. I know the NPL have been dragged to court over sponsorship and discussing that matter will offend the courts. Na wa o. So, what can one discuss these days that is not before the court?’.
‘You are the journalist that wants an interview, so you tell me’.
He stared hard at me. ‘You know, Big Seg, this is the worst period in the history of Nigerian football. Football has never had it this bad. There is nothing of interest happening to the game. Our entire football is enveloped in very dark clouds. There isn’t even a silver lining anywhere. All the people that set us on this terrible retrogressive path, that the country clamoured for their removal, are successfully plotting their way back into football administration and we are all watching like dummies and no one is doing anything about it. Even the government seems to be supporting them. I heard even the new sports minister defend the indefensible the other night. Instead of treading gingerly as a new man to the position, he plunged into the mire and started interfering in the affairs of the NFF and of football generally even before the hit the ground. Na wa o’
I reminded him. ‘My friend, the new minister is my friend o. Are these the things you want me to comment on? You want to put me in more trouble than I am already?’. I asked him.
“Big Seg, I understand you. Look, you said it perfectly some weeks ago in your column when you wrote that Nigerian football is in jail. Look at the mess the interference of sports ministry has caused the premier league. The league is ‘finished’ for this season. The league will not be able to survive the cash crunch that has hit it presently. There are no funds to run any aspect of the league. Why interfere and bring external influence to bear in a simple matter that had been previously resolved? Now only God knows how long this case in court will drag for. I thought some people were saying you cannot take football matters to court? Why are they not saying the same thing now?. So football matters can actually go to court and FIFA will not come clamping down on a country’s FA?’.
‘Well, what is good for the goose is not good for the gander. That is the fallacy we are fed with by those driving their personal agenda ahead of our national interest. I am waiting for FIFA to warn the NFF to warn the litigants in court that unless they withdraw their case Nigeria will be banned from all FIFA competitions’.
The Nigeria Referees Association - setting the right standard and procedure.
I am very delighted to read a report two days ago about the Nigeria Referees Association. The body has met and have set a date for the elections into their Executive Committee. I hear their General Assembly will hold sometime this February or March where members will conduct their elections without any directive or interference by any external body including the NFF. That’s how it should be! Well done NRA.
As for all the others I have this to say. The present NFF Executive Committee is an illegal body. Nigerians will soon wake up to that reality when it becomes absolutely inevitable that the rule of law will prevail. Look at what is going on in Nigerian politics at the moment and you will start to understand that for as long as there is one person challenging the disrespect of the rule of law, justice will come to haunt those that have abused it. So, I know without any iota of doubt that the day is coming soon when the entire apparatus of the present NFF Executive Committee will be dismantled with one pronouncement either by FIFA or by a Nigerian court. Mark my words that part of the pronouncement shall be that all the decisions taken by the Committee since its illegal assumption of office shall be null and void! I hope Nigerians appreciate the implications of that before it happens.