AMAJU SELLING LIES TO NIGERIANS

Chief Ekeji, can't listen to charlatans on Egbunike

I have not pretended about the mismanagement of Nigerian athletics by the President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Mr. Solomon Ogba. So, during the games in Maputo, I vowed on this blog that I won’t issue comments on the performance. I forced myself to keep the vow.
During the period, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, the Executive Chairman of Delta State Sports Commission said in Maputo what is wholesomely false.

Newspapers reported Amaju as having said: “Great credit must go to Chief Solomon Ogba (President Athletics Federation of Nigeria) on the achievements of Track and Field here. I have seen his personal commitment make impact. We have US based athletes here and sometimes they want to eat things like pizza to feel good and compete well. Ogba personally goes to buy them Pizza and other things. He is a great motivator and I’m proud of what he has done here. I’m also proud that Delta athletes are doing well and have won many medals. The 4X100m relay team that won the gold comprised of Delta athletes throughout. I’m happy.”

LIE NUMBER ONE: All the athletes that won the 4x100m women gold medals are NOT from Delta State. It is fraudulent to have made this claim and publicly too. This formed the basis of the first lie.

Of the quartet, only Okagbare looks Delta. She is Delta by birth. Those who know who I asked told me that Okagbare’s roots is coach Tony Osheku. That reinforces my earlier position that Osheiku MUST be in the team of coaches to determine a useful future for Nigerian athletics. Another source reliably informed me that when Osheku brought out the latent potentials in the talented athlete, he recommended her to coach Bob Kittens of University of Texas, El-Paso (UTEP).

LIE NUMBER TWO: Gloria Asumnu is another member of the 4x100m team. An official of the AFN confided in me that, Asumnu had no contact with Nigeria. She was said to be an American of Nigerian parents. “She was recruited to come to Nigeria by Pat Itanyi. This re-confirms my list of coaches whose talents will hone Nigerian athletics’s future.

If what this official told me is true, which I believe, that means Maputo was the first time she will be presenting Nigeria. Can some one ask Mr Pinnick, how does she become a Delta athlete?

LIE NUMBER THREE: Damola Osayomi I know is an Ekiti athlete, based in the United States, but she runs for the Nigerian Civil Defence and Security corp.  She is a staff of the agency. How come she is a Delta athlete? Was Amaju Pinnick dreaming? This is his third lie.

LIE NUMBER FOUR: Agnes Osasuwa is the only one I don’t know in the quartet. Google and IAAF facts showed she is from Edo State. Independent sources said she trains in Ogun State. How come Ogun and Delta are the same? As it is with Nigerian administrators, I wish Amaju Pinnick will claim the journalists who reported him misquoted him.

LIE NUMBER FIVE: As the CEO of sports when he was in the Delta State Sports commission, it was clear that Mr. Ogba had a deep passion for sports. The fact that he claims he spends his money does not translate to the fact that he does not collect same back later (probably with interest). By extension, he is not spending his money. If he were spending without asking for being reimbursed, his statement would have been true. He was even quoted some time ago that he is being owed over N60million. Uhm!

OGBA’S CRITICAL ERRORS:

But our sports does need men and women who spend their money on sports, because what happens if they wake up one day and decide to stop spending, the sports will go down like Abiola Babes, Nkoyo Ibori Athletics Championship, Folawiyo Athletics Championship, Dan Ngerem U-18, Odogwu Athletics Championship and many others, what athletics need is men and women that will harness the resources available to the nation with population of 150 million and build institutions that will outlive all us, just as IAAF will function with or without Lamine Diack, just the way Guaranty Trust Bank is working after Fola Adeola and Tayo Adenirokun. While we welcome moneybags, what we really need are moneybags, that will build institutions.

THE GANG-UP AGAINST EGBUNIKE:

It is certainly not enough to be an ex-international to be a coach. You must betrained in the art and science of coaching to be a coach especially at the national team levels. When Ogba’s AFN brought out the list of its plethora of coaches, I screamed and made it clear that many of them DO NOT have the training or credentials to be called coaches. One good thing Mr. Ogba did for themis believe in themdespite their obvious deficiencies because again they will be amenable to do the bidding of the piper (Ogba).

Ogba due to his messianic complex will not be able to stand the guts of independent minded people. That is why the likes of Egbunike, Itanyi, Osheiku, et al will not be welcome in the national teams. Ogba’s journey men got the opportunity to coach the national team. In saner climes, they would have started brushing up their credentials with education in the classroom and on the field. This is what I found out later that Gabriel Opuana started but lied he was a grade three coach!

With my findings, Maputo was and remains a terrible field to measure these coaches. For national interest, I believe strongly too that, the very best available human resource must be given tasks of coaching our national teams, including athletics.  This is where the Director General of the NSC, Dr. Patrick Ekeji, MUST stand and be identified with what is fair and just. We need to jettison sentiments and be pragmatic. Egbunike is the way out. Anything short is lying to the nation. What do we need the three Cubans for? Or do we need the emergency whites Ogba imported for the team in Daegu?