Sunday, October 10, 2010

Bio should do the honourable thing

Isa Bio

The last couple of days in Nigerian football have been the most dramatic in a long time.

First the news came on Monday afternoon of a letter from FIFA suspending Nigeria from all her activities because of what they termed government interference.

They broke it down into talking about the sports minister, Isa Bio deciding on his own that there will no longer be relegation from a league that ended three months ago, the removal of Musa Amadu as NFF’s General Secretary and the annulment of the elections into the board of the Nigeria Football Federation.

Two different reactions from Nigerians met the decision- one group thanked God for the suspension because they felt we had it coming and the other group believed that Nigeria were too big a country to be suspended by FIFA.

In the words of one person I remember very well, “FIFA will call us back in 48 hours”

FIFA however, showed people like that Nigeria is not that big a footballing nation that cannot sanctioned and that sanction actually humbled us in a way we haven’t been in a long time.

But aside the news of the suspension which I don’t want to bore you with as we all followed events, I was amazed at the speed with which we began to right the wrongs.

The suspension was on Monday evening and by Wednesday Musa Amadu was called back to his position as General Secretary.

The same day, Harrison Jalla, mysteriously agreed to settle his matter out of court thereby allowing the “sacked” NFF board to be reinstated.

This is the same Jalla who had been threatening fire and brimstone and also threatened to stop the league from starting?

How did they get him to withdraw the case? Was he settled? You know this is Nigeria?

Was he promised an appointment? Or was he threatened? All these happen daily in Nigeria.

It will be good if Jalla coes out to tell us why he decided to withdraw the case because all that rubbish they told us of considering the nation and the youth who would not have an opportunity to play football are what my 15 month old son will not even believe.

Then on Thursday, the NPL congress met and decided to continue with the 20 team format for the league reaffirming the relegation of Bayelsa United, Wikki Tourists, Gateway and Ranchers Bees.

The same NPL board that could not utter a word of protest when the minister made his decision?

Then conveniently, CAF, through its communications director, Suleiman Habuba announces that the game between Guinea and Nigeria has been postponed indefinitely.

Did the Nigerian government have a hand in this?

Does the drama ever end in Nigerian football?

By the time you read this piece, maybe FIFA would have recalled Nigeria into the fold or maybe the matter will still be in deliberation but all will end well as it usually does.

However, we should be asking ourselves some questions- how come every four years we get problems like these? How come every time there is a problem in Nigerian football the name of one man, Babatunde Aremu is always mentioned (even though he now goes by another more popular name)? How come every time we have NFF or NFA elections, the same people the public loves to hate win the elections?

There should be changes in Nigerian football; we have always craved changes in Nigerian football but how come we hardly see these changes?

God willing, from next week I will be dealing with the long term solution to Nigerian footballing problems.

Baribote gone for good?

On Saturday evening last week, I was relaxing at home alone when my phone rang and I saw the name “Baribote Rumson” on my screen.
Baribote Victor Rumson

I bet he never thought I had his number and he first introduced himself and started on his mission for calling me.

In a few short words, he said I hated him; he also accused me of being compromised by Davidson Owumi and some other people to tarnish his reputation.

He wondered why I always wrote negative reports about him and never positive and In the next one hour and forty six minutes Baribote told me about the Bayelsa United issue, the NPL chairmanship issue, the financial misappropriation allegations against his name and some other things that we plain personal and should not be published.

What I understood from my talk with Baribote Victor Rumson was that he is a man who takes up a cause and fights for it until the end.

He did his best to clear the air on a lot of issues that I would have loved to discuss on this page but funny enough, he has been removed as chairman of the club and even though some of us believe he was removed because of the negative press the club has been getting in recent times, the sports commissioner, who announced his removal has said it was just routine.

My question now is this- With Baribote Victor Rumson gone as chairman of Bayelsa United what happens to his desire to unseat Davidson Owumi as chairman of the NPL?

Will he still fight it or will he no longer be eligible since he is no longer a club chairman and Bayelsa United are no longer in the Premier League?

But before we answer that, I want to remind Nigerians that when Chief Oyuiki wanted to seek re-election as NPL chairman, Bendel Insurance, the club with which he used to come on board were no longer in the Premier League.

Then again, the current Chairman of chairmen, Davidson Owumi is not a club chairman yet he was elected as chairman of chairmen.

So maybe with these, Baribote may just spring a surprise and still want to continue his fight but I believe only time will tell.


Has Bio resigned yet?

I was sincerely thinking that by the time I finish typing this piece, Isa Bio would have resigned as sports minister but it seems that the sit tight attitude of Nigerians and Africans is also in him.

Does he know the kind of embarrassment he caused Nigeria?

Does he know the gravity of what he did?

And Patrick Ekeji who claims to be a graduate, an ex-international and many other things shold have advised the minister rightly.

People like Isa Bio should not be seen anywhere close to a sports administrator’s desk because he does not have the first idea.

The most embarrassing of them all was his decision not to relegate any club from the Premier League.

I believe Nigerians should push this case until Isa Bio is removed as Nigeria’s sports minister.

It is not like a more credible person will be brought in anyway, but we must get rid of the man who has publicly shown himself to make imbecilic decisions.



This piece was written just before FIFA called back Nigeria to the fold "provisionally"