Nigerian football in jail!
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- Category: Sports
- Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY
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Conversation with Osasu Obayiuwana
His name may not ring a bell immediately, but for listeners of BBC’s Fast Track, the most authoritative sports program on radio, it should sound distantly familiar. He was for many years a journalist with the BBC. Since leaving the organisation he has ventured into other media interests. He is presently the Associate Editor of the UK-based New African Magazine, Africa’s oldest pan-African magazine in English, editing its sports insert, and also consults for SuperSport. His long sojourn in the media is, however, anchored to his background as a lawyer, called to the bar some 20 years ago. I thought of him this past week when in trying to write this week’s column I realised that Nigerian football is really in ‘Jail’. For the first time in the history of the country the game is littered with several court cases that are threatening to strangulate it if nothing drastic is done to halt the slide. In the past one year alone there have been more court cases on football than in all the years put together since the game arrived our shores.In Enugu there are Ray Nnaji’s cases still pending in court. In Abuja there is the case of Sam Sam Jaja. In Lagos, there are at least five cases in the State and Federal High courts. There is a pending petition before FIFA instituted by me. There may also still be the case instituted by Sani Lulu and co before CAS. Never in the history of Nigerian football has the level of discontent across the entire spectrum of football administration been this high. To many people the present situation is a reflection of the depth and quality of administration in the system recently. To others it is the army of those that ordinarily should have no business in football running its affairs.
This plus the news that Nigeria lost two of its great football heroes, my close friends, in the space of one week made everything so frustrating that I had to call up anyone that could possibly ease my pain with some explanation. Thats when Osasu came to my mind. The man is so frank and down to earth that you do not want to hear him talk football unless you are prepared for the bitter truth. One minute into our conversation I realised he was reeling out views that I must share with the public. So I requested he grants me the unusual request of publishing his views. I was pleasantly surprised that the master interviewer agreed to be interviewed and published for my page this week.
I sent him a short questionnaire and he responded within hours. I surrender my column today to Osasu Obayiuwana as he examines several in our courts without offending or abusing any legal sensibilities (I hope). Let me stress that these are entirely his personal views and I do not necessarily share them all. Enjoy! My questions are in parenthesis.
1. The recent crisis between the NFF and the NPL on the Chairmanship of the NPL. A court has intervened.
Recourse to the civil courts regarding this matter, which ordinarily, I DO NOT support – as football matters should and ought to be resolved within the juridical structures of our game – has, unfortunately, become a necessary tool of last resort, for those unable to receive fair and just treatment within the Nigerian football family.
Although The Nigeria Premier League (NPL) is an affiliate of the Nigerian Football Federation, it is an INDEPENDENT body, with its own rules and conflict resolution mechanisms. The Nigerian Football Federation has no right to interfere in the NPL’s election processes or set up an arbitration panel to review the conduct of the election that saw Davidson Owumi emerge as its chairman.
The proper procedure, for anyone that is unhappy with Owumi’s election - and has the Locus Standi to contest the result – is to exhaust the appeal procedures within the NPL rules and, if that is not satisfactory, go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland for a final ruling.
Anything outside these legal parameters is illegal, period.
2. Glo are in court.
The decision of Globacom to contest the award of the Nigeria Premier League marketing rights to MTN - bidding through it’s proxy Total Promotions Limited (TPL) - is unfortunate. No one is unaware of the fact that Globacom had running battles with the NPL over the irregular payment of sponsorship fees, according to the time stipulations stated in the contract signed. While I am not disputing that the NPL could and should do more to assist sponsors in ‘activating’ their commercial deals, Globacom’s public statements, stating clearly that they were fed up of sponsoring the league and Nigerian football in general, has done little to endear them to the fraternity.
In my view – and that of a good number of people in the Nigerian football family - our domestic football should not be made to suffer from any brickbats in court.
The League is currently operating without a sponsor. Players from several clubs are being owed signing fees and wages, whilst the referees have not had their emoluments, some of which have been owed from last season, fully settled – which will compromise the quality/integrity of officiating this season, if it has not done so already.
Is this a situation that we can continue to tolerate? Certainly not! Nigerian football is in the “intensive care unit”. And that’s NFF president Aminu Maigari’s statement by the way, not mine.
3. Harrison Jalla’s NANF has gone back to court following claims that the settlement agreements have been breached by all the parties.
Harrison Jalla’s decision to return to court is the inescapable consequence of trying to make peace without justice. Let’s be brutally honest. The NFF should not have held its “elections” last year, in direct contravention of a court order barring them from doing so. And as we all know, the untidy manner in which the Jalla/NANF case was settled in a Federal High Court is now the subject of a separate case by Jiti Ogunye, also in the Federal High Court. We keenly wait for the court’s ruling.
But if my conversation on the legal issues with my old classmate – now an Anambra State High Court Judge - is anything to go by, we should gird our loins for another round of palaver.
In his view, the Federal High Court judge made some basic procedural errors that will invalidate the settlement and bring us all back to square one. But that’s just one legal school of thought, I suppose. Let’s wait and see!
4. The Legality of the present NFF is still unresolved in Nigerian courts. Should this NFF be acting when the matter is unresolved?
A good but multi-layered, complicated question! In my view, they should not – bearing in mind what I mentioned earlier. But whether we like it or not, FIFA, the supreme, all-powerful football body, ruled that the last election, bringing Aminu Maigari and his board to office, was valid. As the final authority on this matter, we have no choice but to abide by their ruling, regardless of the well-founded reservations some of us have on the matter. One thing is certain though – the palaver that will result from all our unresolved problems and unfinished/resurrected court cases will compel FIFA to revisit the Nigerian matter very soon. I hope a subsequent intervention, in which they will hopefully display more wisdom, will bring a just and lasting resolution to our problems.
5. The new Minister has been reported to have directed that all those that have taken their cases to court should withdraw them. Then he would intervene to resolve them. Knowing Nigeria and how promises are never kept do you think that is the way to go?
In Latin, we have a saying – “Res Ipsa Loquitor” (the facts speak for themselves). Everyone has been a witness to what has happened over the last few months. Is there any indication that promises made, especially by those that run the NFF, will be kept?
From what I can see, there will be no real and sustained change in Nigerian football unless those fighting for truth and justice are prepared to fight to the bitter end – No retreat, no surrender. It is either they settle for total victory or crawl back into their foxholes and complain no more.
6. The missing NFF funds remain missing and no one is held responsible. Once impeached Officials are un-impeached. What do all this mean?
For the NFF, at its last Annual General Meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to grant “amnesty” to former president Sani Lulu, former vice-president Amanze Uchegbulam and former board member Taiwo Ogunjobi, beggars belief and mirrors the rot that has eaten deep into the fabric of our football and society in general.
$236,000 grew wings and vanished from the NFF’s safe during their tenure. No one was held accountable for the loss.
$250,000 was wasted on a World Cup hotel booking that was never used. Who is to be punished for this?
A chartered flight from the UK, also costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, was paid for but not used. And that’s a matter to be wilfully ignored?
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as we all know.
May I remind you, and my fellow Nigerians, that the aforementioned people granted “amnesty” are under an EFCC-driven criminal indictment for the way they managed the NFF during their four-year tenure, for which they are currently facing trial in an Abuja Court?
That Taiwo Ogunjobi was recently elected as the chairman of the Osun State FA, whilst under a criminal indictment, is mind boggling and throws me into deep despair. What does it say about the football community and the quality of those responsible for electing people into offices of public trust?
While I am not pronouncing them guilty before the judge’s ruling, should the NFF not have waited for the determination of the criminal case before deciding to grant them amnesty?
7. The NFF is preparing to conduct the elections into the boards of Women’s League and Amateur League. Should the NFF conduct elections into the Executive Committee of any of its members?
My answer is similar to the one given previously, regarding the NPL palaver. Affiliate bodies to the NFF are independent and have their own rules and regulations with regards to the conduct of their affairs and elections. The NFF should stay out of the conduct of those elections.
Articles
Nigerian football in jail!
Category: Sports Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY Hits: 780
Conversation with Osasu Obayiuwana
His name may not ring a bell immediately, but for listeners of BBC’s Fast Track, the most authoritative sports program on radio, it should sound distantly familiar. He was for many years a journalist with the BBC. Since leaving the organisation he has ventured into other media interests. He is presently the Associate Editor of the UK-based New African Magazine, Africa’s oldest pan-African magazine in English, editing its sports insert, and also consults for SuperSport. His long sojourn in the media is, however, anchored to his background as a lawyer, called to the bar some 20 years ago. I thought of him this past week when in trying to write this week’s column I realised that Nigerian football is really in ‘Jail’. For the first time in the history of the country the game is littered with several court cases that are threatening to strangulate it if nothing drastic is done to halt the slide. In the past one year alone there have been more court cases on football than in all the years put together since the game arrived our shores.In Enugu there are Ray Nnaji’s cases still pending in court. In Abuja there is the case of Sam Sam Jaja. In Lagos, there are at least five cases in the State and Federal High courts. There is a pending petition before FIFA instituted by me. There may also still be the case instituted by Sani Lulu and co before CAS. Never in the history of Nigerian football has the level of discontent across the entire spectrum of football administration been this high. To many people the present situation is a reflection of the depth and quality of administration in the system recently. To others it is the army of those that ordinarily should have no business in football running its affairs.
This plus the news that Nigeria lost two of its great football heroes, my close friends, in the space of one week made everything so frustrating that I had to call up anyone that could possibly ease my pain with some explanation. Thats when Osasu came to my mind. The man is so frank and down to earth that you do not want to hear him talk football unless you are prepared for the bitter truth. One minute into our conversation I realised he was reeling out views that I must share with the public. So I requested he grants me the unusual request of publishing his views. I was pleasantly surprised that the master interviewer agreed to be interviewed and published for my page this week.
I sent him a short questionnaire and he responded within hours. I surrender my column today to Osasu Obayiuwana as he examines several in our courts without offending or abusing any legal sensibilities (I hope). Let me stress that these are entirely his personal views and I do not necessarily share them all. Enjoy! My questions are in parenthesis.
1. The recent crisis between the NFF and the NPL on the Chairmanship of the NPL. A court has intervened.
Recourse to the civil courts regarding this matter, which ordinarily, I DO NOT support – as football matters should and ought to be resolved within the juridical structures of our game – has, unfortunately, become a necessary tool of last resort, for those unable to receive fair and just treatment within the Nigerian football family.
Although The Nigeria Premier League (NPL) is an affiliate of the Nigerian Football Federation, it is an INDEPENDENT body, with its own rules and conflict resolution mechanisms. The Nigerian Football Federation has no right to interfere in the NPL’s election processes or set up an arbitration panel to review the conduct of the election that saw Davidson Owumi emerge as its chairman.
The proper procedure, for anyone that is unhappy with Owumi’s election - and has the Locus Standi to contest the result – is to exhaust the appeal procedures within the NPL rules and, if that is not satisfactory, go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland for a final ruling.
Anything outside these legal parameters is illegal, period.
2. Glo are in court.
The decision of Globacom to contest the award of the Nigeria Premier League marketing rights to MTN - bidding through it’s proxy Total Promotions Limited (TPL) - is unfortunate. No one is unaware of the fact that Globacom had running battles with the NPL over the irregular payment of sponsorship fees, according to the time stipulations stated in the contract signed. While I am not disputing that the NPL could and should do more to assist sponsors in ‘activating’ their commercial deals, Globacom’s public statements, stating clearly that they were fed up of sponsoring the league and Nigerian football in general, has done little to endear them to the fraternity.
In my view – and that of a good number of people in the Nigerian football family - our domestic football should not be made to suffer from any brickbats in court.
The League is currently operating without a sponsor. Players from several clubs are being owed signing fees and wages, whilst the referees have not had their emoluments, some of which have been owed from last season, fully settled – which will compromise the quality/integrity of officiating this season, if it has not done so already.
Is this a situation that we can continue to tolerate? Certainly not! Nigerian football is in the “intensive care unit”. And that’s NFF president Aminu Maigari’s statement by the way, not mine.
3. Harrison Jalla’s NANF has gone back to court following claims that the settlement agreements have been breached by all the parties.
Harrison Jalla’s decision to return to court is the inescapable consequence of trying to make peace without justice. Let’s be brutally honest. The NFF should not have held its “elections” last year, in direct contravention of a court order barring them from doing so. And as we all know, the untidy manner in which the Jalla/NANF case was settled in a Federal High Court is now the subject of a separate case by Jiti Ogunye, also in the Federal High Court. We keenly wait for the court’s ruling.
But if my conversation on the legal issues with my old classmate – now an Anambra State High Court Judge - is anything to go by, we should gird our loins for another round of palaver.
In his view, the Federal High Court judge made some basic procedural errors that will invalidate the settlement and bring us all back to square one. But that’s just one legal school of thought, I suppose. Let’s wait and see!
4. The Legality of the present NFF is still unresolved in Nigerian courts. Should this NFF be acting when the matter is unresolved?
A good but multi-layered, complicated question! In my view, they should not – bearing in mind what I mentioned earlier. But whether we like it or not, FIFA, the supreme, all-powerful football body, ruled that the last election, bringing Aminu Maigari and his board to office, was valid. As the final authority on this matter, we have no choice but to abide by their ruling, regardless of the well-founded reservations some of us have on the matter. One thing is certain though – the palaver that will result from all our unresolved problems and unfinished/resurrected court cases will compel FIFA to revisit the Nigerian matter very soon. I hope a subsequent intervention, in which they will hopefully display more wisdom, will bring a just and lasting resolution to our problems.
5. The new Minister has been reported to have directed that all those that have taken their cases to court should withdraw them. Then he would intervene to resolve them. Knowing Nigeria and how promises are never kept do you think that is the way to go?
In Latin, we have a saying – “Res Ipsa Loquitor” (the facts speak for themselves). Everyone has been a witness to what has happened over the last few months. Is there any indication that promises made, especially by those that run the NFF, will be kept?
From what I can see, there will be no real and sustained change in Nigerian football unless those fighting for truth and justice are prepared to fight to the bitter end – No retreat, no surrender. It is either they settle for total victory or crawl back into their foxholes and complain no more.
6. The missing NFF funds remain missing and no one is held responsible. Once impeached Officials are un-impeached. What do all this mean?
For the NFF, at its last Annual General Meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to grant “amnesty” to former president Sani Lulu, former vice-president Amanze Uchegbulam and former board member Taiwo Ogunjobi, beggars belief and mirrors the rot that has eaten deep into the fabric of our football and society in general.
$236,000 grew wings and vanished from the NFF’s safe during their tenure. No one was held accountable for the loss.
$250,000 was wasted on a World Cup hotel booking that was never used. Who is to be punished for this?
A chartered flight from the UK, also costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, was paid for but not used. And that’s a matter to be wilfully ignored?
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as we all know.
May I remind you, and my fellow Nigerians, that the aforementioned people granted “amnesty” are under an EFCC-driven criminal indictment for the way they managed the NFF during their four-year tenure, for which they are currently facing trial in an Abuja Court?
That Taiwo Ogunjobi was recently elected as the chairman of the Osun State FA, whilst under a criminal indictment, is mind boggling and throws me into deep despair. What does it say about the football community and the quality of those responsible for electing people into offices of public trust?
While I am not pronouncing them guilty before the judge’s ruling, should the NFF not have waited for the determination of the criminal case before deciding to grant them amnesty?
7. The NFF is preparing to conduct the elections into the boards of Women’s League and Amateur League. Should the NFF conduct elections into the Executive Committee of any of its members?
My answer is similar to the one given previously, regarding the NPL palaver. Affiliate bodies to the NFF are independent and have their own rules and regulations with regards to the conduct of their affairs and elections. The NFF should stay out of the conduct of those elections.