By By Victor Enyinnaya on April 25, 2022

To keen observers and followers, Nigerian football has been at the cross roads even before the botched Qatar 2022 World Cup play-off ouster by the Black Stars of Ghana inside the main bowl of MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.

Truth is that when this present executive committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) led by Amaju Pinnick cunningly over ruled the decision of the then technical committee led by its former chairman, Barrister Chris Green who recommended outright employment of a quality, high caliber and first rate technical adviser for the national team was sadly ignored by Amaju Pinnick. The President (Amaju Pinnick) chose to convene with whomever to support the employment of lesser coach, Gernot Rohr.

Those resultant effects are still lingering in our football at the Super Eagles coaching level till today. It has not only been bitter pills that leaves soured taste in the mouth but has also left devastating memories in our football scene till this moment.

We have seen the dead end of that infamous decision taken by Amaju Pinnick and gang. This columnist believes that Chris Green who is jolly riding high with Rivers United FC of Port-Harcourt in the NPFL may be laughing his heart out on the mess Amaju and his gang plugged the country’s supposedly flamboyant football.

That crisis still lingers on. It has been one step forward and many steps backwards. The fragile/ flash on the pan victories the country recorded when Eagles was under his (Gernot Rohr’s) watch were like from the blue moon that fades quickly with time. Nigerians are already tired.

What is happening today in the Super Eagles team is manmade crisis. It is one crisis that came off greed and want. We are all aware that the integral part of the crisis was due to act of doing wrong things the usual way of self-first, there Nigerian football lie. Crisis if you like is self-inflicted injuries by NFF executive committee.

Such obviously avoidable crisis has eaten deep into the fabrics of the Super Eagles. The once upon a time highly mobile national football team has long became shadow of itself today. The Super Eagles we used to know is no longer in place and so no longer performs. How time changes. Eagles’ team suddenly became a lame duck side, Haba!

It has been so worrisome to objective close followers of the team. But what is uppermost in the hearts of the current executive committee is how they will return to their seats. Anything that would facilitate the vivid restart of the Super Eagles is secondary to them. They are self-centered all. The flagship side of Nigeria is presently wingless and must be of serious concern.  The present Super Eagle team is down and if you like the squad can no longer fly, the side has been frightened by the defeats from Tunisia in AFCON and Ghana in World Cup playoff.

To tell how callous the present executive committee members think. Only Amaju Pinnick who gave himself soft landing the other time would not contest, but others are keenly jostling for one position or the other.

What beats this columnist hallow is the fact that in a house of commotion these men are having field day nursing their ambitions even though the house is not in order. They are all failed football administrators.  Coming to think of it, what new thing will they bring vividly to the table?

Without much ado or prejudice, the NFF has torn Nigerian football into sheds as All Progressive Congress (APC) has done to the entire country. Nothing is working. As if that is not enough, the dubious body discarded the recommendation of its rubber stamped technical and Development committee four foreign coaches to be picked from for the Super Eagles top job, singled out only the Portuguese, Jose Peseiro for the job without given the rest three a chance of interview.

I won’t border you dear readers any more on the story of Peseiro we all knew his story before the last AFCON.  Now NFF went straight and dusted him up for employment side lining the other three more qualified candidates. It was on that note that Sports Minister; Sunday Dare issued a tensed statement directing the NFF leadership to ensure that a level playing ground is put in place in the run up towards the engagement of Super Eagles technical adviser.

It was after that NFF bigwigs sat up and one believes that the process of interviewing the others is on. Dare in that statement told NFF in clearer terms that the shortfall from the salary for the technical adviser would be provided by the Federal Government therefore a sound hand that would turn the Eagles around must be employed no more half-baked coach for a high profile team of the Super Eagles status, the Sports Minister’s statement added.

As that process is believed to be still on, last week a group of concerned football fans organized a protest march starting from Federal Secretariat Abuja to Unity Fountain where their leaders addressed the audience on what they called popular demand for the resignation of the entire NFF executive committee.

According to the protesters Amaju Pinnick and his executive committee have outlived their usefulness and so must resign forthwith. The group went further to tell Nigerians that football fortunes especially at the Super Eagles level have been on steady decline. Therefore, the present NFF executive committee has no more new ideas to offer and the best would be for them to throw in the towel and give way for people with fresh ideas on how to lift Nigerian football higher instead of what obtains presently.

The group informed that if the NFF fail to resign, they will see what they described as “Mother” of all protests in no distant future; group was quoted to have insisted.

As that was ongoing, a rival group believed to be hurriedly gathered/ assembled by the Amaju Pinnick NFF and led by an unnamed ex- junior international that is said be a known beneficiary of NFF contracts awards was in charge of the rival group to counter the valid group, but thanks to the Nigerian Police that immediately nipped it on the bud thereby averting bloody clash.

We can see how desperate the current NFF is on its bid to cling to power. The organization of a rival protest group to counter the genuine group spoke volumes of the kind of men that are in charge of the administration of our football today. This image is exactly what we have been witnessing in the larger political scene.

It must be condemned strongest terms and all hands must be deck to ensure this group of men in NFF is routed out of our football system because they are bad news.

Nigerians are resolute on their quest that this current NFF regime must resign. They have like their APC counterparts in the country failed the nation. It is now left for Nigerians to device democratic means and ease out this failed NFF gangster in the name of football administrators out of office before their tenure termination timeline. So enough of these. We will as usual be on top of this developing trend. Keep shooting hard till next week as the struggle continues!!

Source Daily Sports Nigeria

Posted April 25, 2022

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