Wuru-wuru to the answer (part 4)
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- Category: Sports
- Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY segunodegbami@mathmatical7.com segunodegbami@hotmail
- Hits: 875
There is some good news at last. My writings are attracting some very serious attention with the views I have expressed on this page these past three weeks or so. The vast majority of reactions have been expressions of appreciation for the illumination the articles provided about the entrails of elections into the NFF. One reader wrote that if the situation is really the way I say it is then something drastic obviously needs to be done to shake up the system and get it working correctly. I surely must have stirred the hornet’s nest as the bees have, since then, being on a stinging rampage. I am told that stakeholders from different parts of the country are taking a look at the veracity or otherwise of my opinions and that there is a gathering storm. It is immaterial whichever way the storm blows, what matters more is that an intellectual discourse has been generated as a result.
Having said that I want to clarify that my motivation for stating the facts as I see them is not borne out of any altruistic agenda but rather of a conviction that history would not be kind to me should I remain silent in the face of such blatant exploitation of a people’s ignorance by a few amongst the leadership of the NFF. The truth must be told where people’s emotions are endlessly been toyed with and their game, the beautiful game, is allowed to lie prostrate, wasting in an oasis of abundant talent. The facts are always the facts, constant as the Northern Star.
Like everyone else in the football fraternity, we all have our different dreams and ambitions, plus the unalienable right to pursue them to a logical end. No one has the right to deny or truncate them. That’s why in any game, once the rules are set and clear, and the field is level, every player can participate and have a chance to win! That’s why also I shall not be deterred by threats or antagonism, by criticism or cynicism, by abuse or intimidation, but rather shall be strengthened by them, having paid more than my fair share of my dues to the game. In 38 years of an unbroken relationship with football at national and international levels and in various capacities I have traversed the entire spectrum of the game, gathering experiences and invaluable perspectives to the game. In my humble self-estimation, even now that I still know little, yet even that provides me with the platform and the right to seek even the highest office in Nigerian football should I choose to do so. Hewn properly in the best traditions of sport, I play fairly, always, respecting the opposition, never fearing him, determined always to win without any fear, to fail when failure comes as it inevitably does in the life of every man; and then to rise again. Particularly now, as I contemplate the immediate future of Nigerian football, with a mirror of the past before me, I am charged and determined to do my very best before I become too frail and old to be useful anymore, to advance the cause of the game and its practitioners. That’s why I shall not be silent. That’s why I shall continue to state the facts and hope that they will stir up (as they are doing now) the hornet’s nest and enhance the possibility of a better future. That’s my motivation.
Why State FAs must hold their elections now
I state the following again for the umpteenth time only for clarity, emphasis and for better understanding by those who may miss the point of my argument two weeks ago:
1. All State Football Associations are independent organisations. They are created by State governments and they regulate the activities of their affiliates that include football clubs, local football councils, the Coaches Association, Referees Association and any others in their states. They are independent of any third party interference in their activities including the NFF.
2. Who funds them, how they elect their officers, how they organise their local competitions, what competitions they organise within their environment, all are entirely their affair, provided they do not violate the basic tenets of association football as practised all over the world.
3. The State FAs organise their board elections at different times but surely before the national federation elections to elect principal officers of the Federation. The last one the States did was some four years ago, before August 2006 in order to identify and assemble the electorate for the August 206 election! That means that, at the latest, the life of all the boards of all the State FA’s will expire before the expiration of the NFF Board’s tenure on August 27, 2010. This means also that, legally, no board of a State FA shall exist beyond August 2010 unless given the mandate of an extension by the general assembly of the State! No external body, not even FIFA, and definitely not the NFF, has the authority and the power to extend the tenure of a State FA. In the same way not even FIFA has the power or the right to extend the tenure of any national federation. To make matters even clearer, in order for a particular board not to take advantage of the power of incumbency and perpetuate itself in office using the power of its general assembly to grant an extension, FIFA frowns seriously at any attempt to openly or covertly elongate the tenure of any national federation for extraneous reasons outside force majeure. That’s why in the recent case of South Africa, following disagreements where an incumbent board sought FIFA’s support to elongate its tenure ‘so that the elections do not cause a distraction for South Africans in their effort to put together a great World Cup and to perform creditably, FIFA refused to support the South African Football Federation and advised it that elections should be held when due. The elections into the NFF Executive Committee are correctly timed for August 2010. The elections into State FA boards must be conducted before August 2010! And the NFF or the general assembly has no power to change it. Period.
All the members of the board of the NFF must return to the constituencies they represent on the board to seek new mandates to return to the board and to be part of the delegates that will appoint a new President and Executive Committee in August 2010. The electorate or any part of it that elected the out-going board four years ago cannot now be the same electorate that will elect a new board in August 2010. It is preposterous. It defies common sense and logic! Anything to legitimise this shall be vigorously challenged in the appropriate ‘court’ of jurisdiction.
Chief Nathaniel Idowu goes home
By the time you are reading this the remains of late Chief Nathaniel Idowu would have been laid to rest in his ancestral home, Ibadan. For other pressing family matters I am unable to be at his burial, but I know that Nigerian football would have done enough on the occasion to demonstrate his immense contribution to Nigerian football. Although I spent the formative years of my football career in Ibadan in the early 1970s and spent the better part of 16 years of my life in the ancient city, it was not in Ibadan that I first met Chief Idowu. I had joined the camp of the national team in Lagos. Chief Idowu was a member of the board of the Nigeria Football Association under the Chairmanship of Sunday Dankaro. On that board were Chief Sunday Dankaro, humble, quiet but dignified; Chief J.K Tandoh, the showman, suave, charming, classy and a great orator; Chief Nathaniel Idowu was the action man providing all the motivational ammunition for the players. The players loved him for that.
He was Vice-Chairman of the board at one time even as he was also the Chairman of Bhojson situated in Lagos. Members of the then Green Eagles made Chief Idowu’s office a regular port of call whenever they went to the Island. His office was always open to players. He was known to have left several board meetings to attend to visiting players in his office. He was so generous that players took advantage of his generosity and would demand endlessly for an arm and a leg. To give never frightened him! He would always oblige. The first time I was taken to meet him in his office on the Marina, as I was leaving he presented me with a bundle of cloth made by Bhojson Stores. It was the late Muda Lawal that took me there for the first time. After that I started to notice how well he was loved by the players. Every player that had a domestic problem would find in Chief Idowu, a listening ear. He never refused to lend a helping hand. Once you asked he gave! The number of stories told by players to get Chief Idowu to give then money, gifts, clothing items and so on would fill a whole book. Most times he knew the players were lying but he would always give them the benefit of doubt and give them what they wanted.
It was when Shooting Stars were preparing for the 1976 Africa Cup-winners Cup and the team was preparing in Ibadan, that I linked Chief Idowu with Ibadan. He hosted the team in his palatial Ibadan house after the famous victory against Roger Miller’s Tonnere Kalala FC. Chief Lekan Salami introduced him as a patron of Shooting Stars, a die-hard follower of the game of football and one of its great funders and motivators. No NFA board for decades since Chief Idowu left the board could do without his unbridled financial support. He would always provide funds for the national association on loan even though most of the loans were hardly ever repaid. To show his meticulosity he has kept with him in files the details of every kobo he gave to the NFA for various programmes and matches1 As he retired from public life in the past few years he became a part of several grassroots youth football programmes teaming up with young men with ideas about moving the game forward. He was also an unrepentant critic of several NFA boards that came after him. Even at that, although he might criticise them, he was willing to support them once they asked.
Chief Idowu had an unfortunate brush with the military junta of Sami Abacha, It left him partially paralysed for many years before his death.
He loved football with a dedicated passion and could give anything to extract a good game from his teams.
As Chief Idowu lies peacefully at last, fond thoughts of his warmth and helping hand lingers. This is my small way of paying tribute to this man, to whose greatness and humanity I gladly testify.
Articles
Wuru-wuru to the answer (part 4)
Category: Sports Written by ODEGBAMI ON SATURDAY segunodegbami@mathmatical7.com segunodegbami@hotmail Hits: 875
There is some good news at last. My writings are attracting some very serious attention with the views I have expressed on this page these past three weeks or so. The vast majority of reactions have been expressions of appreciation for the illumination the articles provided about the entrails of elections into the NFF. One reader wrote that if the situation is really the way I say it is then something drastic obviously needs to be done to shake up the system and get it working correctly. I surely must have stirred the hornet’s nest as the bees have, since then, being on a stinging rampage. I am told that stakeholders from different parts of the country are taking a look at the veracity or otherwise of my opinions and that there is a gathering storm. It is immaterial whichever way the storm blows, what matters more is that an intellectual discourse has been generated as a result.
Having said that I want to clarify that my motivation for stating the facts as I see them is not borne out of any altruistic agenda but rather of a conviction that history would not be kind to me should I remain silent in the face of such blatant exploitation of a people’s ignorance by a few amongst the leadership of the NFF. The truth must be told where people’s emotions are endlessly been toyed with and their game, the beautiful game, is allowed to lie prostrate, wasting in an oasis of abundant talent. The facts are always the facts, constant as the Northern Star.
Like everyone else in the football fraternity, we all have our different dreams and ambitions, plus the unalienable right to pursue them to a logical end. No one has the right to deny or truncate them. That’s why in any game, once the rules are set and clear, and the field is level, every player can participate and have a chance to win! That’s why also I shall not be deterred by threats or antagonism, by criticism or cynicism, by abuse or intimidation, but rather shall be strengthened by them, having paid more than my fair share of my dues to the game. In 38 years of an unbroken relationship with football at national and international levels and in various capacities I have traversed the entire spectrum of the game, gathering experiences and invaluable perspectives to the game. In my humble self-estimation, even now that I still know little, yet even that provides me with the platform and the right to seek even the highest office in Nigerian football should I choose to do so. Hewn properly in the best traditions of sport, I play fairly, always, respecting the opposition, never fearing him, determined always to win without any fear, to fail when failure comes as it inevitably does in the life of every man; and then to rise again. Particularly now, as I contemplate the immediate future of Nigerian football, with a mirror of the past before me, I am charged and determined to do my very best before I become too frail and old to be useful anymore, to advance the cause of the game and its practitioners. That’s why I shall not be silent. That’s why I shall continue to state the facts and hope that they will stir up (as they are doing now) the hornet’s nest and enhance the possibility of a better future. That’s my motivation.
Why State FAs must hold their elections now
I state the following again for the umpteenth time only for clarity, emphasis and for better understanding by those who may miss the point of my argument two weeks ago:
1. All State Football Associations are independent organisations. They are created by State governments and they regulate the activities of their affiliates that include football clubs, local football councils, the Coaches Association, Referees Association and any others in their states. They are independent of any third party interference in their activities including the NFF.
2. Who funds them, how they elect their officers, how they organise their local competitions, what competitions they organise within their environment, all are entirely their affair, provided they do not violate the basic tenets of association football as practised all over the world.
3. The State FAs organise their board elections at different times but surely before the national federation elections to elect principal officers of the Federation. The last one the States did was some four years ago, before August 2006 in order to identify and assemble the electorate for the August 206 election! That means that, at the latest, the life of all the boards of all the State FA’s will expire before the expiration of the NFF Board’s tenure on August 27, 2010. This means also that, legally, no board of a State FA shall exist beyond August 2010 unless given the mandate of an extension by the general assembly of the State! No external body, not even FIFA, and definitely not the NFF, has the authority and the power to extend the tenure of a State FA. In the same way not even FIFA has the power or the right to extend the tenure of any national federation. To make matters even clearer, in order for a particular board not to take advantage of the power of incumbency and perpetuate itself in office using the power of its general assembly to grant an extension, FIFA frowns seriously at any attempt to openly or covertly elongate the tenure of any national federation for extraneous reasons outside force majeure. That’s why in the recent case of South Africa, following disagreements where an incumbent board sought FIFA’s support to elongate its tenure ‘so that the elections do not cause a distraction for South Africans in their effort to put together a great World Cup and to perform creditably, FIFA refused to support the South African Football Federation and advised it that elections should be held when due. The elections into the NFF Executive Committee are correctly timed for August 2010. The elections into State FA boards must be conducted before August 2010! And the NFF or the general assembly has no power to change it. Period.
All the members of the board of the NFF must return to the constituencies they represent on the board to seek new mandates to return to the board and to be part of the delegates that will appoint a new President and Executive Committee in August 2010. The electorate or any part of it that elected the out-going board four years ago cannot now be the same electorate that will elect a new board in August 2010. It is preposterous. It defies common sense and logic! Anything to legitimise this shall be vigorously challenged in the appropriate ‘court’ of jurisdiction.
Chief Nathaniel Idowu goes home
By the time you are reading this the remains of late Chief Nathaniel Idowu would have been laid to rest in his ancestral home, Ibadan. For other pressing family matters I am unable to be at his burial, but I know that Nigerian football would have done enough on the occasion to demonstrate his immense contribution to Nigerian football. Although I spent the formative years of my football career in Ibadan in the early 1970s and spent the better part of 16 years of my life in the ancient city, it was not in Ibadan that I first met Chief Idowu. I had joined the camp of the national team in Lagos. Chief Idowu was a member of the board of the Nigeria Football Association under the Chairmanship of Sunday Dankaro. On that board were Chief Sunday Dankaro, humble, quiet but dignified; Chief J.K Tandoh, the showman, suave, charming, classy and a great orator; Chief Nathaniel Idowu was the action man providing all the motivational ammunition for the players. The players loved him for that.
He was Vice-Chairman of the board at one time even as he was also the Chairman of Bhojson situated in Lagos. Members of the then Green Eagles made Chief Idowu’s office a regular port of call whenever they went to the Island. His office was always open to players. He was known to have left several board meetings to attend to visiting players in his office. He was so generous that players took advantage of his generosity and would demand endlessly for an arm and a leg. To give never frightened him! He would always oblige. The first time I was taken to meet him in his office on the Marina, as I was leaving he presented me with a bundle of cloth made by Bhojson Stores. It was the late Muda Lawal that took me there for the first time. After that I started to notice how well he was loved by the players. Every player that had a domestic problem would find in Chief Idowu, a listening ear. He never refused to lend a helping hand. Once you asked he gave! The number of stories told by players to get Chief Idowu to give then money, gifts, clothing items and so on would fill a whole book. Most times he knew the players were lying but he would always give them the benefit of doubt and give them what they wanted.
It was when Shooting Stars were preparing for the 1976 Africa Cup-winners Cup and the team was preparing in Ibadan, that I linked Chief Idowu with Ibadan. He hosted the team in his palatial Ibadan house after the famous victory against Roger Miller’s Tonnere Kalala FC. Chief Lekan Salami introduced him as a patron of Shooting Stars, a die-hard follower of the game of football and one of its great funders and motivators. No NFA board for decades since Chief Idowu left the board could do without his unbridled financial support. He would always provide funds for the national association on loan even though most of the loans were hardly ever repaid. To show his meticulosity he has kept with him in files the details of every kobo he gave to the NFA for various programmes and matches1 As he retired from public life in the past few years he became a part of several grassroots youth football programmes teaming up with young men with ideas about moving the game forward. He was also an unrepentant critic of several NFA boards that came after him. Even at that, although he might criticise them, he was willing to support them once they asked.
Chief Idowu had an unfortunate brush with the military junta of Sami Abacha, It left him partially paralysed for many years before his death.
He loved football with a dedicated passion and could give anything to extract a good game from his teams.
As Chief Idowu lies peacefully at last, fond thoughts of his warmth and helping hand lingers. This is my small way of paying tribute to this man, to whose greatness and humanity I gladly testify.