WAR IN NIGERIAN SPORTS
BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU
THE NIGERIAN CONTINGENT AT THE RIO GAMES JUST ENDED IN BRAZIL
The war over years of rot or decay in Nigerian sports which
became very evident with the epileptic preparations of virtually all the
Federations that took part at the just concluded Rio De Janeiro Olympic Games
will eventually cripple sports development in the land if this is not fixed.
Checks by the News Office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia
in Lagos, suggests that the nation did not just get to this shameful level today but that this was long on the
cards if a fresh revelation now
available to this reporter is anything to go by.
In a long drawn interview with a competent source over the
decay in Nigerian sports ,it was discovered that the war with the National Olympic
Team and the Nigerian Football Federation on one side and the Under 23 Football
team on the other side.
He Pointed out that the jurisdiction on the Olympic Games at
any particular point in time was always in the domain of the National Olympic Committee
and has nothing to do with the Nigerian Football Fedration [N.F.F] and this was
why the brand logo of the N.F.F. did not appear in the jersey of the Dream Team
but that of the N.O.C due to its legal and brands advertising implications .
A source while explaining to this reporter insisted that after the Nigerian
Football Federation took the under 23 Football Team,otherwise known as the
Dream Team to Atlanta,Georgia in the United States of America ,it was the
National Olympic Committee of Nigeria that was supposed to have taken over the
airlift and other arrangements of the team to Rio De Janiero,Brazil for this year’s
Olympic Games that had just ended recently.
He recalled that the N.O.C actually made arrangements for 25 soccer players in the male category of football
but that the nation took at least 30 people to represent her and among this
includes the alternate members of the team who were not officially accredited
for the games by the International Olympic Team.
He hinted that it was indeed very true that some top shots
within the Nigerian Football Federation [N.F.F]actually wanted to collect the
monetary donations of about 390,000$given to the footballers by a Japanese born
surgeon,Katsuya Takasu as they were not happy that the cheques were made in the
names of Samson Siasia and Skipper for the team:John Obi Mikel.
His words:”it was three airlines on ground in America as that team was sponsored to
Atlanta ,there was chartered Delta Airline to take them to Atlanta and then to Brazil”
“the whole Team Nigeria was taken to Brazil from Nigeria
save for the rower as the Minister said they did not have money for any form of
training and yet we were dreaming of winning medals that was not there”
“N.F.F. because of what they had with the sponsors for the trip
to the United States of America who wanted to sell players insisted on the foreign
trip as against the Ministerial order”
“Now when you are talking of any forms of sponsorship at any
level what this means is that somebody somewhere is picking up the bills ,so if
the under 23 team left at the right time they should have been in Brazil at
least two whole days before the games begun”
“the players rejected the 30 man private aircraft arrangement
from the stables of Delta Airlines and
it was at this stage the government got into the picture of what was playing
out in America”
“N.O.C said that they had booked for all the participating
athletes but insisted that since under 23 was under sponsorship they could not
intervene except if they return back to Nigeria which was not cost effective
though”
The source added that the Nigerian Basketball team which was
in the United States of America at the time preparing for the same Olympic
Games however made it to Rio De
Janeiro about the same time with the rest
of the team save for football and wondered why.
He warned that except Mr Amaju Pinnick was made to leave his
position as the helmsman of the Nigerian Football Federation he was afraid it
was going to be long day for sporting development in the land while taking his
time to list the litany of woes in football in the Amaju Pinnick era in the
glass house in Abuja,Nigeria.
He lamented the legal fiasco between Amaju Pinnick and Mr
Chris Giwa saying that even this was
weighing down on football development in the land as he chided the football
fraternity for the dubious polity they played against Mr Giwa who has been
fighting for justice as far as football was concerned.
He noted that while the Nigeria would have made a lot of
money if the Olympic games was well marketed to the organized private sector by
the N.O.C ,it was practically impossible for the same body to start looking for
sponsorships for the individual athlete as it was the job of each of the
representing federation at the Olympics.
He wondered why a football team like Arsenal Football Club
where Alex Iwobi plays released Serge Gnabry for the German team and yet
refused to hand over iwobi to the Dream Team to help the nation prosecute its
football campaigns at the Rio Olympics.
He listed such greats in the sporting community like Sheyi Akinwunmi,Shehu Dikko and Nduka
Irabor as those that were strong enough
intellectually to lead the next look Nigerian Football Federation as he urged
Mathematical Segun Odegbami to go to the
basics in soccer administration as he suddenly became quiet when he lost out in
the race for the F.I.F.A Presidency at the beginning of the year due to N.F.F.’s
filthy politics over the affair.
This reporter also learnt that big brewer ,the Nigerian
Breweries Plc are about press time preparing to unveil its brand sponsorship
package for the League Management Company in Nigeria.
