Porn, Rape allegations: Gaiya has to resign from the Sports Committee

Hon. Gaiya

I read the two allegations against the Chairman, House of Representatives committee on sports, Godfrey Gaiya. Like the prescriptions of our laws, you ain’t guilty until so proven.

As a well trained journalist, I had to search for his telephone number and sent him an SMS to help me to deny or confirm the allegations against him. He refused to reply nor acknowledge the receipt of the SMS which may mean ‘go write any nonsense you want’.

By virtue of the fact that al my youth and adulthood has been about sports. Knowing also that models are the ones needed in sports for the kids and youths to aspire to be like, the chairman of the law making agencies (Senate and the House of Representatives) like their members have a duty to be models both in their private and public lives, Hon. Gaiya may have failed to have that correct record.

Therefore, Nigerians of merit and worth need to ask the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Ibrahim Tambuwwal to please for the decorum of the nation, employ the powers imposed on his office to please ask Hon Gaiya to step aside until proven otherwise.

In this case, we demand a panel to be put in place to investigate and report this matter for public interest. For now, he cannot continue to remain and be addressed as the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee o sports as that will also rob off on me as a likely rapist and porn watcher which I am not.

Therefore, we shall cause a public petition to ask for Gaiya to be relieved of that position until investigated and proven otherwise.

This is a recap of the report in one of the latter issues of the pornography. That of the attempted rape was earlier published on www.olajidefashikun.blogspot.com

London 2012: Rep got Gold in pornography

*Paid N60,000

There is no doubt that with the Paralympics, the London Olympics has come and gone. While the nation struggled and could not raise a medal of any colour in the main Games, the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Hon. Godfrey Ali Gaiya got a medal.

He got the medal in a non-scoring event – pornography. He was allegedly said to be busy enjoying himself at the prestigious Marriot Hotel, where he lodged.

Hon. Gaiya, who represents Jaba/Zangon Kataf Federal constituency of Kaduna state in the Federal House of Representatives in Abuja, was said to have attracted a big attention to himself when he was about to check out of the hotel.

The allegation was that he watched pornography in his room. The issue is that there’s nothing wrong with that. The hotel management had requested that Gaiya should settle his total bills before he could be allowed to go.

At this stage, he got peeved insisting that the hotel was trying to play a fast one on him. While the hotel was restrained not to embarrass him with the disclosure of his bill, the action of Hon. Gaiya had already attracted attention of busy bodies and concerned Nigerians.

At a stage, when the hotel could not withstand the unfolding drama, it was disclosed that while the honourable was in his room, he was busy watching pornography channels that were considered premium channels with premium charges.

At this stage, many were shocked and embarrassed that while Nigerian athletes were busy trying to do the country proud, the Honourable was busy watching adult films in his hotel room.

He was reported to have eventually admitted watching the channels and was made to pay about two hundred and forty pounds sterling, (£240).

When the honourable was contacted, he neither picked his phone nor responded to the short message (text) sent to his phone.

NPL: Dancing with the ghost of truth (Part 1)

It is sad. Can we start with singing the Nunc Dimitis for Nigerian football? Its obsequies has begun. I once said it here that conspiracy of evil doers will destroy the last fabric of this nation which sports has always represented.

Victor Rumson Baribote NEVER went to a secondary school. The Directorate of State Security Service (DSS) knows this, investigated and found out the truth and never made it public because some people influenced the decision.

His personally filled records when he was contesting for the board membership of the NPL which metamorphosed into Chairmanship revealed more. He attended a school that was not on WAEC nor on NECO’s list where he claimed he had his secondary school certificate.

Blatter, FIFA President...alarmed at revelations?

He was "crowned" the NPL chairman. He was not elected. He was selected. Yes, he played for Kwara Bombers with modulated date of birth at the age of 9! What a record?

Coming from the warped background of such a ‘leader’ what do we expect from such a person?

This is a man who had done the worst damage to the image of the NPL than any other person can and should ever do. He was involved in several cases of match fixing with details in the public domain. (See National Pilot report below).

M. K. O. Abiola changed Nigerian football

Ways out: I have looked carefully at the rules. There is no Board of the NPL anywhere by legal interpretations. Secondly, the so-called decree 101 is the operative law. That law has empowered the Minister of Sports to appoint the Executive Secretary of the NPL. This is a first step. Depending on who is appointed. Any other step or recourse to a committee to waste time and come up with reports will help our league to go further down into abyss.

Thirdly, with the affidavit of the nation’s Attorney General, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) which an Abuja Federal High Court is expected to sit on by the 20^th September, 2012 the NFF DOES not have a Secretary General, nor a board and secretariat. That becomes the true position of the Federal Government.

Now, go back to the judgements of Justices Donatus Okorowa and of the Federal High Court (Abuja and Lagos respectively). The NFA Act 2004 (as amended) is the only operative law which empowers the Minister of Sports the power to set our football on the path of honour, integrity and order.

Siddon look. Wait and watch.  

PREMIER LEAGUE BOSS IN MATCH-FIXING SCANDAL

Tuesday, 17 July 2012 06:25 By Ben Nwachukwu

Maigari...leading a body not known to government?

The storm hitting the Nigerian Leagues has once again moved towards the chairman of the Nigeria Premier League, NPL, Victor Rumson Baribote, who has been accused of match-fixing which is a grievous offence in football.

The charges with damning evidences, which are detailed with names of persons and events, may have given credence to the earlier claim by Iyke Igbokwe that the NPL chairman was luring him into corrupt practices by trying to influence the automatic relegation of Sunshine Stars believed to be the base of his avowed opponent and enemy, Akin Akinbobola.

In a 12-page letter written by Comrade Prince Udofia dated July 11, 2012, and addressed to all board members of the Nigeria Premier League, titled: ‘Petition Against NPL Chairman Chief Rumson Victor Baribote For Committing Impeachable Offences And Embarrassing The NPL And NFF With Offensive Conduct,’ Udofia claimed to be a member of the Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria, APFON.

He added: “I am one of the committed people that stood up and fought for Chief Rumson Victor Baribote in his struggle to wrestle his mandate from Mr. Davidson Owumi. I am petitioning against Chief Baribote now because his performance in office has instead of promoting the growth of the NPL as we planned, caused a serious downslide in the NPL such that people like us are totally disappointed and have to speak out now.”

Udofia laid 15 grounds of impeachment of his friend, Baribote, in his letter and claimed: “the unlawful directive given to Barrister Iyke Igbokwe, vice chairman of NFF disciplinary committee by Chief Baribote to ensure that Sunshine Stars F.C. Akure was relegated using the two matches: Lobi Stars vs Sunshine Stars and ABS vs Sunshine Stars; I and Mr. Jonah Chukwu were there when Baribote was scolding Barrister Igbokwe for not implementing the relegation of Sunshine Stars at the NFF Disciplinary Committee Hearing.”

Another case he brought against Baribote was the overture he made to the “match commissioner of the Ocean Boys VS Enyimba match in Yenagoa, to ensure that Ocean Boys F.C. won the match at all costs (which the Match Commissioner duly reported in his match report).”

In the third charge of match-fixing against the NPL chairman, Udofia stated: “Last season, as chairman of Bayelsa United, he bulldozed into a match involving Gabros FC and Rising Stars FC in a National League match that did not concern him or his club. Baribote sealed a fifteen million Naira (N15, 000,000) agreement with Gabros FC, who did not have money to play the match to enable Gabros FC honour the match.”

Reacting, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF president, Aminu Maigari told Pilot Sports in a telephone interview from Lagos that he was aware of the petition but disclosed that he was yet to see his copy having been away to Lagos to receive the new giant trophy donated by Governor Babatunde Fashola for the Federation Cup.

He, however, said he would take time to study the petition on arrival and follow the due process to treat it with dispatch.

“I am aware of the petition but you know I am in Lagos as I talk with you to receive the brand new giant trophy donated to the federation by the sports-loving governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola for the replacement of the old Federation Cup trophy but when I return to Abuja, I will study the petition carefully and act accordingly.”

The NFF president assured that he would not act on hearsay but maintained that the law would take its course.

In a related development, several calls to the personal number of the NPL chairman were not answered but an aid to the chairman confirmed to Pilot Sports that the League body had received the petition.

Gadzama, Sydney gold medalist, changes his name

Tafida Wadzani Gadzama

*Why I want to manage AFN

Nigeria’s Sydney Olympics 4x400m gold medalist, Fidelis Gadzama, has because of new realisations decided to change his name and return to his African roots totally by taking up new cognomens: Tafida Wadzani Gadzama.

Speaking in a chat, the man who got his Olympic medal 12 years after he won it said, “Professor Ngugi Wa’Thiongo used to be James Ngugi. He not only changed his world acclaimed name to that of his African roots. He stopped writing in English and writes in Kukuyi. So I am not doing anything new. I have new realisations and convictions about my roots and that is where I have returned to. Simple.”

According to Gadzama, who has signified his intention to “seek the highest office in Athletics as a way of salvaging the remnants of the destruction that has been visited on the sport. My conviction is based on the fact that, having had the privilege to have ran the tracks, I like a lot of us who had done our bits in the golden era of the sport are angry at the way things are. So, we must become change agents rather than complainants. That is why I am stepping forward to this challenge.”

Asked if being a former international athlete is enough qualification to be a successful administrator, he laughed, “your question is a yes and no. Yes because the experience will guide in the proper development of better modules that produced our likes. Here, you’ll need to look at what former French captain, Michael Platini has done to football.”

No because administering the game requires some exceptional values beyond just being a former international athlete. If this is true, Nigeria deserves to have made 10 medals in the London Olympics with the quantity of the assemblage by the AFN in our coaching crew.

Asked about the medalless outing of Nigeria in the last Olympics. He retorted, “we need to look back with what lessons we’ve learnt therefrom lest we won’t go forward. These issues informed my outcoming. We need to appreciate the unique nature of our country. With sports, we can in four years create over 2 million jobs with a high net worth of private sector funding dlowing massively if we do it as  business,” said the London-based Chairman of the Athletics Association of Borno state.

Three prayers for 'friends' of our sports

Where are the powers of earth?

 As a growing boy, I lived with my grand-mother, Alice Bolajoko Alasi. Her mother, I fondly called 'Yeye' was a water goddess of the Alatere waters. She was such a powerful one that at 91, blind, she led a procession without hitting her foot on a stone in a journey of about three kilometre worship. I was like acolyte following the events.

I recall she gave me a stern warning never to be foul in my use of language, especially under anger.

I once breached that order when I angrily made prayers for Nigerian football. For those involved, the pains are ongoing. In less than a week it came to pass. 

Today, by the grace of God, I shall breach the order again with just three prayers:

God of iron after taking 'adin' will do these to our enemies

1.                  Every soul, born or removed from the belly of a woman, that is in sport all because of their selfish interests at the expense of the common good shall NOT thrive. Their children and stolen provinces shall go up in flames at the height of their achievements;

2.                To the followers of the vandals of Nigerian sports, who know the truth and deliberately attack those who toil and moil day and night, sharks of this world will eat up their bairns one after the other;

3.           From today, owners of the force that guide and conduct the affairs of men from the cosmic, 'adin' the oil meant for the troublers of the god of iron, Sango, shall have their meat eaten by the roads and the smithen iron because they deny joy, happiness and greatness to the innocent young kids of this country.

He whose hands are clean let them say amen to these three prayers/curses. He who is an orphan, who desires no one to search for him should proceed to the battle of no return. 
He whose mother is at home, whose rites of passage has not been conducted is a suckling, let him return to the warm bossom of the women.

May the ones who decide the fate of men in deep unseen depths of earth and beyond join the vanguard of the courier of this sword of damocles.

I have said this in absolute clean mind. My hands are as white as the coverlet sheet of Oya, the fortunes of my work are as calm as the water taken first from the stream of life. Let the blood of they who have ears but stubborn in the chase of the cowry spent in the market be used to cleanse the land.

'Ase edumare' (the order of answer from God seal these I have uttered.)

NB: I dare all the evil men who use their deceit to market the truth in Nigerian sports. I rise by the authority with which earth was established. Adieu, stubborn goat. 

This is where Gusau's money is - AFN

Hon. Gusau

If modicum, respect, response and relationship management had been the media between our sports federations and athletes, coaches, fans, media and administration, we should have gotten our bearing for too long. Many of the issues that goes to press without their reaction won’t be.

As I published my report on Hon Gusau's money yesterday, I was inundated with several telephone calls, e-mails, reactions and SMS messages.

One that I got was from the Federation, (so I think), which was for once (unlike what I have come to know in the last three and a half years) very professional.

Please read: “I am great fan of yours and am very sure you know this. I saw your story on Shehu Gusau and I totally disagree on it. He gave the money to Joy Mayaki who in the first instance is not a member or staff of AFN and she in turn gave the money to one of the Assistant Secretaries in AFN. 

We did not know what the money is for, but it was kept with other Federation money.

It was in UK (probably during the Olympics) that the Assistant Secretary explained what the money is meant for and that Joy Mayaki had been disturbing her saying Hon Gusau wanted the money back because AFN did not give it to the athletes concerned.

The Secretary General had N100,000 given to Blessing Okagbare out of the N230,000 given by the Hon. She mandated  the remaining N130,000 paid back into Joy Mayaki's account at First Bank which was effected on Wednesday 29th August 2012. We can give you the teller if need be.

AFN IS NOT WHAT YOU OR PEOPLE SEE FROM OUTSIDE.

Where is Ibrahim Gusau’s money?

Hon. Ibrahim Gusau

*The many financial scandals in Ogba’s AFN

His name is Ibrahim Gusau. He is the Vice President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). He is a politician of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) stock. He belongs to the House of Representatives. What a humble man? He is too humble to be in the moribund, unprogressive and backward integrated sport federation he is and probably to be a politician.

This man can give out his eyes to another who requests for it if and when the need arises. Now, at the Nigerian pre-Olympic national athletics trial, in appreciation of the efforts of the 4x100m ladies, he gave out some monies to the team.

One of the girls, a well brought up lady, was said to have approached one of the officials of the Federations showing the money Gusau gave the girls and asked the said official to please thank him for the gesture.

The official collected the money. After the rest, the quartet approached the official for what was their gift. Till date, only flimsy reasons have been adduced for the money. At a point, the girls were told that since one of them tested positive to drugs they all forfeited the gift!

These are the character of thieving of athletes monies which takes place in the Federation. The question is, where is Gusau’s gift to the team?

I also know that many of the USA-based athletes were massively short-changed by the same official. Some of the athletes got $3,000 while some got $2,000 whereas they were supposed to earn $6,000. Why would such athletes want to o the extra mile for such a country?

Can someone then answer this question for me: if these kinds of ungentlemanly conducts won’t happen in America, Jamaica, Kenya, South Africa, where the full-baked athletes go the extra-mile for an appreciative country, why should Nigerian athletes well-born, with intelligence, not give half-baked results to a cheating nation?

The opportunistic full-baked Olympic gold medalist should be asked, was he so cheated in his brief but limited Olympic success? I know of a coach who scouted these athletes for Nigeria who is being owed. Her monies had been approved and paid out at the NSC and passed to the AFN to pay and the coach is yet to be paid.  Why must that coach or any other reasonable person want to work for Nigeria?

Trauma management: Dancing in the middle of a minefield

 There is no doubting the fact that Nigerian sports industry is in a traumatic stage of haemophilia. Planted on the track to its recovery are so many mines –institutional, psychological, cultural, corruption, ineptitude, man-know-man, nepotism, favouritism. On the other narrow but slow path are such persons like merit, accountability, transparency, result and such other structures.

Now, the understanding like I postulated in celebrating the paralympians is that, as a nation, teams that had never been catered for by our administrators have always done well. Ask the Tunisia 94 Nations Cup team. The paralympians had always been in a deserted format.

That is why I insisted that God may have decided to bring honour and respect to them by ensuring that the able bodied are thoroughly humbled. Even at that, there is no lies in saying that for the London 2012 Olympics, we have never had a respectable preparation before a major championship.

I also stated firmly that since 1979 till date I know. At least, I was at the All African Games in Cairo (1981), Algeria, Harare and Johannesburg. I attended two Senior World Cup Games, two junior world cup. Seven African club championships (four with Nigerian team –Niger United of Minna).

It is true that Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi influenced that difference. Some fellows we had shared perspectives over the years felt I should not have said the truth in that direction. One even said that “victory has many fathers”. Even for the able bodied, they enjoyed a good three months preparation that was very un-Nigerian.

It is important to also state that the 62-days off-shore training of the paralympians WAS NOT and CANNOT be why they did well in London. They had already through thin and thick worked too hard, harder than the able-bodied, to deserve what they got.

If you must appreciate these issues. Yu have to be close to them. Their living environment is inhuman. The conditions under which they train is un-Godly. They have to do some other things like taking ownership of the bus stop of the National Stadium in Lagos to earn some money which they live on.

This is why President Goodluck Jonathan should not only please in the name of God

(i)                   Honour them at a state dinner;

(ii)                Give them national honours;

(iii)              Give them cash;

(iv)              Give them houses. (Not like that of the 1994 African Nations Cup heroes many of who are yet to get their houses till date).  

Now, so long as the President, Goodluck Jonathan, has not, like his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has not decided otherwise, I also know in leftist politicking that the best way to hijack a plane is to be inside it.

No wonder the sage, Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo instructed his followers never again to boycott any election because fools will rule over them from within those who participate in the process.

 So, the onus of the path to tomorrow still lies on the shoulders of the Mallam from Ilorin, who understand the issues of development as THISDAY’s Development Editor. This path is strewn with so many expert minefields. Those who do not want the status quo to change and those who want a change.

It is the responsibility of the Minister to dance in the minefield, meet his  task as defined by his employer and expected by the Nigerian public. Yet, he must be so nimble in his dance steps not to be caught. It is a national duty he can’t fail.

Let us pray.