Tuesday, January 31, 2012

London 2012: Where is Innocent Egbunike?



In nations of the world who understand the implications of unveiling their national team coaches, no matter the sports discipline, it is appreciated that such moves are not usually for only commercial purposes only but it is always a gambit to sell the event to marketers and sponsors.
That is why teams who know the value involved are always actively celebrating the players they are buying. It is also a media of securing the fans base of teams when the players or coaches would have been hyped and celebrated to the high heavens as if nothing else matters in the team or sport.
It is always a bigger deal when it is with successful athletes, coaches or federations. Nigeria had in football had it done severally in the national team level when we had to celebrate such coaches like Amodu Shaibu (MON), Samson Siasia, Stephen Keshi if the list is just the indigenous coaches.
A situation where we have a world celebrity like Innocent Egbunike whose record is not only gargantuan but intimidating by the record of athletes he has produced. Some people seem to be playing politics with his appointment as head coach of the Nigerian national team.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) boss, Solomon Ogba, last week re-announced the fact that he is the head of a consortium of people they called coaches. Of the list of 12 persons mentioned, only Tony Osheiku is really a coach.
The question on the lips of Nigerians is, why did the AFN not make him available for the commercial values? Since his ‘appointment’ which we gathered, he was not consulted at all, how far this is true remains to be confirmed.in all, where is the coach? Time is not our friend in this game of wits being played by the AFN.
Egbunike served as 2008 head, Track & Field coach for Nigeria in the Beijing Olympics in China. He has also served as coach in the Nigerian Track & Field contingents in 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, with the accomplishment of a gold medal for the 4x400 relay team. The first in the history of the country.
Egbunike has coached over 25 Olympians, 15 Olympic medallists, 6 World Championship medallists and 9 current and past national record-holders. No human being in Nigeria has ever done this.
As an athlete, he was a former sprinter from who won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 400 meters relay in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. He finished sixth in the final of the individual 400 metres contest. Four years later in Seoul he placed fifth. In addition he won a silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1987 World championship.
He also won the gold medal in the 200 metres at the 1983 Summer Universiade with a personal best of 20.42 seconds; he followed this by finishing 6th in a world class field in the 200 metre final at the 1983 World Championship in Helsinki. He also won the Soviet 100 metres in 1983.
His Azusa Pacific University school record at 400 metres stands;
Two years later at the 1985 Summer Universiade he won the 400 metres. At the regional level he won the 1987 All Africa Games as well as three gold medals at the African Championships.
As a coach, some of the list of his top athletes he has managed include Angelo Taylor, the gold medalist in the 400m hurdles at the 2008 Olympics; Chris Brown, the fourth-place finisher in the 400m at the 2008 Olympic Games; Davidson Ezinwa with his record 9.91seconds in the 100m; Tyree Washington with the celebrated 20.09 in 200m; The Kenyan, Solomon Wariso with the record 44.67 seconds in 400m, Mikey Grimes who clocked 10.00 seconds in 100m in 2007. He was the Nigerian track and field team coach at the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympics.

World Cup 2010: How NFF spent N90m to win Kenya match


Alhaji Abdullahi Sani Lulu
  • N23.39m for change of name
  • N9m to feed in one match
Just to change the name Nigeria Football Association (NFA) to Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) cost the nation’s tax payers thesumofN23.39m by the ousted and immediate past board led by Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Lulu.
This amount was said to have been spent on hosting the Congress that approved the change of name which took place in Lokoja, Kogi State during the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Lulu board in the document revealed that the board in 2009 claimed to have spent N8.58m on legal services and N16.1m on “other professional services” whatever that means.
According to the document, the 2010 World cup cost Nigeria N120m to play the home and away game against Kenya. A breakdown showed that N30m was spent to charter Chachangi Air for the match against Kenya while the match itself cost N90m.
Further details provided in the document showed N87m went for financial requirement for the Kenya versus Nigeria match, accommodation and feeding of the Super Eagles. Followers of the game interpreted that the “N87m went for financial requirement for the Kenya versus Nigeria match” is an euphemism for the match fixed in the desperate means for the nation to have qualified for the World Cup. Match fixing was suspected by the dramatic content of the qualification then.
There were several items in the budget that were repeated. For instance, under the item tagged as ‘sporting activities analysis’, the item with serial number 32 claimed that the board spent N80m on “financial requirement for the Kenya versus Nigeria match” while item number 57 under the same heading had N87m showing a careless inability to manipulate the figures to cover their dirty tracks.
If we extend the arguments, that will mean that financial requirement for the Kenya versus Nigeria match cost Nigeria N167m on just one away match against Kenya in Nairobi!
Another case of absolute inconsistency in expenditure is revealed on the feeding and accommodation of the Super Eagles where on item number 34 N5.680m was quoted and on item number 58, the same board claimed N3m. That means the team was fed with N8.68m for one match.
In the all expenses paid international friendly in Paris where the Super Eagles defeated the French national team by 1-0, it was alleged to have cost the nation N50.251m while the all expenses paid friendly against the Republic of Ireland in London which ended in a draw gulped a massive N63.142m.
All these were contained in the 2009 budget performance document submitted to the Nigeria lower parliament, the House of Representatives.
It will be recalled that the NFF has been mired in a massive fraudulent and financial crisis including the current trial of the leadership of that board by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Those who are still standing trial in a Federal High Court in Abuja include Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Lulu, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, Mr. Amanze Uchegbulam and Dr. BolajiOjo-Oba. They are standing for billions of Naira that cannot be accounted for.
Shortly before that board left the seat, the sum of $238,000 developed wings and got missing from the vaults of the NFF.