Friday, November 13, 2009

FIFA please do not come again




As I sit on my desk typing out on the key board of my computer, I cannot help but try to imagine what on earth is going through the minds of FIFA chiefs right now.

The World Cup is just five days old (eight days old by the time you read this) and they have already been through so much trauma to last them a life time.

Do they regret coming here? Do they wish the World Cup would just fast forward and end their night mare? Can somebody help me here and tell me what is going on in the minds of the FIFA chiefs?

Ok. I agree. I raise up my hands in admittance. Before the World Cup started I harassed people on the social networking site, Face book because they were looking out on only the negatives of Nigeria’s hosting.

I also made my thoughts known on various sports shows across the country that Nigerians should see the positive more than the negative in our hosting of the World Cup.

But please, people, tell me, how can you see only the positives when the negatives keep following you around the whole place?

I remember Nigeria hosting the FIFA Youth Championships in 1999 and reports of huge sums of money walking away “with no assistance”

I also remember the power failure in one of the centers, I remember various state governments borrowing computers to equip the respective media centers to impress FIFA and how the media centers were empty shortly after.

Really a lot of things that shouldn’t have been happened at that World Cup but what happened? The world did not give up on Nigeria.

They brought the All Africa Games to Nigeria in 2003 and please let us not talk about that one because I was there.

Did Nigeria win the games? Or was there, as they say in local parlance, Wuru Wuru in the final medals table? I hear the Egyptians are still complaining up till now that they won that AAG of 2003.

What happened? Did they let us rest? No!

FIFA insisted on an African quartet- the Confederation Cup, the Youth Championship, the U17s and of course the World Cup but why Nigeria? Why?

And this Jack Warner chap, is he as straight forward as he should be? How come one day is he complaining about Nigeria and the next he is praising us to the high heavens?

The Warri center always claimed they were ready even though we saw rains turn the Super Eagles game into Water Polo but what happened? They claimed they had worked on the drainage.

Then Kanu took his Heart Foundation Game to the same Stadium and what happened? Water Polo and the more shocking was that a member of the LOC who should have known, rather than blame their inadequacies, blamed rain doctors for sabotage.

We still believe in Nigeria that there are certain people with powers to determine when it should rain and when it shouldn’t so I wouldn’t blame that influential member of the Warri LOC or whatever it was called then.

But Warri continued to claim they were capable until the gun shots somewhere close but they convinced the FIFA chief that the shooting happened five hours away from the stadium and five hours away should be Owerri, Uyo or some other state and not Delta State.

FIFA believed because they really wanted the World Cup in Nigeria and Warri but the day they were supposed to do their last inspection the rain makers “drew the rain” and the Stadium was so flooded that folklore say Jack Warner almost drowned at the stadium gates.

Warri was off the list but not Nigeria.

Jack Warner later said we were ready and even apologised for ever saying some centers were not ready but what have we seen so far?

In Kaduna State, I read in the Guardian Newspaper of Tuesday, October 27 how a commissioner physically manhandled a journalist who made the mistake of asking at the secretariat for his accreditation tag holder.

Funny thing was that as soon as the commissioner started beating him, his security aides joined and even threatened to destroy the AIT camera as they were recording the proceedings.

They probably forgot AIT are the host broadcasters.

In Kano, there was power failure twice in one match.

Some of us might argue that power failure happens every where and it has even happened in a UEFA Champions League match.

That is true so I won’t want to dwell much on that, but power failure in a World Cup match? Let us think about this.

In Enugu, a game was stopped because it rained.

Because it rained? Did Noah (of the Bible Sunday school stories) visit the town?

No he did not. It only just happened that somebody did not check on the drainage situation at the Stadium.

The water was nor draining out and formed air or water bubbles on their new synthetic pitch.

I tried to search history if the rains have ever stopped a FIFA World Cup game since after the Second World War and except I am poor at searching out the internet, I did not see any such thing, so this must be a first.

In Lagos the government had to buy up all the seats at the stadium to ensure people fill them up, in Abuja people decided to stay away and even when the government threw the gates open in match day 2, only about a third of the seats were taken.

FIFA, please leave us alone.

Unless there is something untoward going on that we do not know about, leave us alone. We do not want to host the World Cup; we do not want to host any event because we do not have what it takes.

Yes we have the money to build stadia and buy equipment but we do not have the organisation to run any serious event.

Like I said earlier, the World Cup is just five days old. We are yet to see the mother of scandals.

At this rate nothing will surprise me anymore about Nigeria and this hosting, but what is the worst that can happen?

Could angry MEND members storm a venue and kidnap someone? Maybe a player will drown in a stadium flood? Maybe a country will miss a game stuck in traffic?

 I just cannot think up the next disappointment but I know it will come much sooner than later.

But I certainly am not holding my breath.


Obaseki please tell us

I read a report in one of the Sunday papers two weeks ago revealing how the Nigeria Premier League is run.

The reporter who did that story must have got his facts right or else he would not publish.

But what bothers me now is that he claimed Chief Oyuiki Jackson Obaseki used these words, “Any person saying so is an idiot… tell the person that he is a fool… tell the person I said he is a big fool… Do you even know how a league is run? I do not bother reading your newspaper because it is nonsense… I can’t read that useless paper…bye bye. Don’t talk to me. Nonsense!

Did Obaseki really use these words?

Then I think it is wrong.

It would make sense if the chief answers to the allegations against him rather than resort to insults.

I am confident Chief Obaseki will call me before the end of the week to react to this.

My take is that, those are not the words to use on people, especially journalists who want to hear your side of a story.




Adokiye Amiesimaka is a patriot

Adokiye Amiesimaka is a patriot

I am still in a state of shock. And that is because Nigerians have in
the past one week proved to the world that cheating has been so
embedded in our lives that it is not just a part of us, but we want to
kill or lynch anyone who speaks against it.

Adokiye Amiesimaka is not an unknown name to Nigerians.

As a university student he played for the Green Eagles in the 70s and
80s. He also played for Rangers and then ended his career at Sharks.

He later rose to become the Team Manager of Sharks and then chairman
of the club.

He was chairman of Sharks until late in 2003 when the board was
dissolved by the Allwell Onyesoh led Rivers State Sports Ministry.

So it is safe to say Amiesimaka has been in Nigerian football for at
least three decades.

His contributions to Nigerian football are also well documented so it
may be tautology for me to attempt to reel them out here.

But Nigerians are not happy with the man known as the Chief Justice of
Nigerian football.

Amiesimaka made scathing allegations last week that the captain of
Nigeria’s U-17 team, Fortune Chukwudi may not be the age he claims to
be.

According to Amiesimaka, he was chairman of Sharks in 2002/03 and also
doubled as coach of the feeder team of the club.
He said the feeder team concept, the way he wanted it was still new
around these parts so he took an active part in coaching the team.

Fortune Chukwudi, according to him was in that team and claimed to be
18 years old so how on earth could he be 17 years old 7 years later.

Adokiye’s comments caused a furore   around the country with majority
of Nigerians saying he shouldn’t have spoken up and the comments of
some of them can even make you cry.

•       Why Adokiye go talk that kine thing? Abi na bad belle?
•       Adokiye was right but why now? Why didn’t he say it long ago? Why in
the middle of the tournament?
•       I think this is sabotage. Adokiye just wants cheap publicity.
•       I suspect Adokiye is angry with the boy. Maybe they had a deal when
the boy was at Sharks and he wants to get back on him.
•       Does he know if this is the way God wants to bless the boy? Why him
one spoil the boy choppings?
•       This is wickedness of the highest order. Would Adokiye talk if it
was his own son involved?
•       So because he know s the boy is powerless he wants to embarrass him.
What if the boy was the son of a militant leader, would Adokiye have
spoken?
•       After all other countries are cheating. Look at players from so so
and so country. Are they not over aged? Why he no talk about them?
•       Is Adokiye clean? What of all the atrocities he committed at Sharks?
•       But the major one came from the NFF- Adokiye may be jealous of the
boy since he never played in a World Cup
•       Adokiye wants our jobs in the glass house so he wants to do anything
to discredit us.

I have taken time to follow this argument through my email, from radio
programs and through the social networking site, Facebook and I
wonder, is anybody even addressing the issue he raised?

Shouldn’t the question be whether Amiesimaka lied or told the truth?

How come Adokiye did not say the whole team is over age? How come he
mentioned the only one name he knows- Fortune Chukwudi?

Then again, when is it too late to tell the truth?

So because he was not found out before the competition, his now
automatically becomes the right age?

Do you know that because of people like Fortune Chukwudi, a real U17
player is at home watching the World Cup? When will he get his turn to
play? When he is 28?

Then again, if Adokiye Amiesimaka is right and not mistaken, how real
or good is the MRI test?

My take on this is simply that we must strive to wipe out age cheating
from our football.

The fact that Chukwudi did not mysteriously get injured and dropped
from the team that played against New Zealand means the NFF are
unrepentant and insist he is 17.

I will just watch with a smirk on my face.

But I have a message for Nigerians- anybody mistakenly believing that
this team will metamorphose into the Green Eagles some day.

Most of these boys will be retired before the 2014 World Cup.

We want corrupt politicians arrested and we want the same for other
aspects of the economy but when it comes to corrupt footballers we
want our country people to keep quiet.

It is a crying shame that Nigerians actually think like this.

Personally, I believe Amiesimaka is a patriot and should not be
treated the way he has been.

And again it does not matter how clean his hands are. This time he
spoke the truth.

It is time we wipe out men from kids competitions.

And the MRI? I think it has been compromised. But who am I? The FIFA
doctors and scientists ratified it didn’t they?

I will watch the remaining matches of the World Cup and even be in
Calabar for the quarter final match between Nigeria and Korea.

But will I be celebrating if Nigeria win the World Cup? Certainly not!
I cannot celebrate with cheats.

One day I believe someone out there will prove to Nigerians that 17
year olds can play football.