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| Sacked Super Eagles coach, Siasia |
If feelers from within the Glass House is anything to go by, then, very soon, the nation will wake to hear that the gale sweeping that house is an ongoing one. It is authoritative that there was and remains a silent war between two senior officials of the NFF over tips meant for the match officials of the Nigeria-Guinea game.
Chairman of a strategic committee in the NFF was mandated to deliver $100,000 to the match officials as their ‘social support fund.’ The chairman of the said committee, a South-South person was alleged did not deliver the money.
Whilst the more senior official of the federation asked, why and how the refereeing team did not render minimal support especially the penalty to Nigeria. However, like a calculating soldier, the more senior official decided to play the Siasia sack saga out first before reconstituting the committees including this particular one.
The chairman of the said committee who sees himself as central and indispensable in this administration is now feeling the heat that he has been used to destroy his South-South brother (Siasia) and wants to be dumped for some others whilst the big boss feels with the situation of things, as the Sheriff in the house he must call the shots and take all the credits and hollows.
The Sheriff was seen as a weakling for calling on the members of the factional NFA led by Jarret Tenebe to join the current board in the renewed bid to salvage what is left of Nigerian football. However, a secret move is ongoing to mobilise members of the 15-man board, especially the three newly admitted ones to impeach the sheriff. The nation will hear more if some other forces do not take off the affairs of football in the new week.
CAN ATHLETICS BE NIGERIA’S GRACE IN LONDON 2012?
At the last All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, Nigeria Sports Commission officials would have been so grateful to the sport of athletics for bailing out the country from a deep rooted embarrassment she would have tremendously suffered with bad planning.
After the event, Sports Minister, Yusuf Suleiman, indicated that the country’s athletes will be given all the required support to excel at the London 2012 Olympics. Part of the measures was the employment of Mr. Innocent Egbunike who is expected to use his experience to salvage what is possible in the London games but gets a four-year coaching deal as national coach to have a long term plan for Rio 2016.
Those who know warned the nation to abandon any hope as it is as good as saying the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, (AFN) and the National Sports Commission, (NSC) have no agenda for the London Games at the moment. And from all reckoning it is going to be the usual last minute hustle, bustle and shuffle.
Two weeks ago Suleiman mandated his lieutenants to work in conjunction with AFN officials to fashion a winning strategy for London. AFN officials were not and are still not forthcoming with comments on the progress that has been made.
Athletics buffs have always harped on the need to prepare early for the big Games, but nothing will as a tradition be done until the 11th hour.
“This has been our regular practice and it seems our administrators feel comfortable with it. Our participation at the last World athletics Championships in Daegu was a clear indication that we would fail in the Olympics next year,” said a veteran coach.
JOHN OBUH AND HIS SICK EMPLOYERS:
By all rational applications, John Obuh remains the most successful coach in the employ of the Nigeria Football Federation. He is being owed 13 months salaries. The man asked for his entitlement. The fraudulent employers now asked for his contract. Whereas, the idiots in the Glass House know they were fraudulent to all intents and purposes and knew they had used him to achieve such noble goals and ask for a contract they never signed with the coach.
This is sad and very unprofessional. They also claimed to have sacked Uche Eucharia citing also too that she has no contract. This is definitely an official 419-mode they use to cheat on their staffers. Can somebody tell me why these coaches will ever trust them and not be encouraged in such circumstances to take ‘tips’ from agents and even players?
Thanks Jide for your piece on Obuh. Maigari has shown that he is bereft of ideas and does not know anything about administration. How can he say Obuh is not on contract and so can't pay him, because he would be accused of misappropriation of funds. He however foolishly said they paid Obuh his allowances for the matches he prosecuted, how daft. So money paid as allowances can't be accounted for. Does he know that administration is a continuum? Whether Obuh was employed by his regime or not, the NFF is condemned to pay him. That is how they cheated Godwin Izilein and have refused to pay him his entitlement since 2004 after leading the Falcons to victory in the AWC. They hid under the cover that he instigated the girls to demonstrate with the Biafran flag. If they had said Edo flag, I wouldn't have argued but Biafra when he is not a member of MASSOB? The cries of people like Izilein will continue to haunt the NFF and they will continue to fumble. My only surprise is how some senior journalists continue to help Maigari to be talking without reasoning instead of advising him properly. Maigari is the worst thing to ever happen to our football, I knew this the day he called on Nigerians to proffer the way forward for our football. When he couldn't tell Charles Ojugbana's panel during the pre election interview the number of teams in our league, I didn't bother much but calling on Nigerians to suggest ways out of the wood for our football, shows that he is just in the NFF to complete the number, and making him the head, spells disaster for football. That is exactly what we are getting now. God bless
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