WAR IN NIGERIAN SPORTS

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.