Amaju replied Omorodion:We don't have to fight, my brother

Sincerely, I wouldn't have bothered to respond to Patrick Omorodion vituperation but for the sake of educating this group of well respected journalists against the blatant falsehood or half truths being reeled out by Patrick. 

First, at almost 43 with a wife and 3 children and having graduated from the University 19 years ago, would Patrick call me a small boy? How old is the British PM, Deputy PM, Donald Duke when he was Gov et al. 

Second, in his imagination  Patrick said I called 13 years ago and requested ----. To say the least, I never called and if I needed anything printed in Vanguard I know who to meet. 

Every discerning mind knows that Patrick is an unrepentant hater of Delta State, even though he claims otherwise. So his journalistic assessment or views on Delta State are always biased. 

How can he opine that AYAC adjudged to be very successful both in Organisation and discovering of future athletes for Nigeria was put together for selfish reasons. What a shame. 7 of the 12 gold medals won where athletes that our Technical Directorate discovered in our periodic talent hunt programs. The two greatest teenage sensations right now in Nigeria, Divine Oduduru and Ese Brume are products of our youth programs. I will truly appreciate if I can invite this group of journalists to Delta State to see first hand our various programs and interact with the locals and they will find out why Delta State will always finish decently in any organized tournament. 

As Chairman of Delta FA, it is on record that we run the best State FA in Nigeria. All our programs are 100% private sector driven, having the longest sponsorship deal in the Country spanning 14 years. Quality capacity  building programs for Coaches and Referees etc. The high point of our achievement will be the Commissioning of our  ultra modern Football secretariat christened Patrick Okpomo Football House in August . The $1m project is 100% private sector driven. My 'big brother' Patrick Omorodion will be my special guest.

What has my consanguinity with Dr  Uduaghan has to do with my being in Govt. what is wrong with that. Am I not qualified having made a 2nd class upper, .2 shy of 1st class from the highly revered UNIBEN. Patrick should know that I went through the ranks from 1999 till date. From 2nd Vice Chairman, 1st Vice Chairman, Chairman of the Delta FA, served also as SSA to Gov Ibori on Foreign Relations and now as Executive Chairman, DSSC. Meanwhile by His Grace, we have been running a very successful Marine and Offshore business for over 10 years and so the likes of Patrick should think otherwise if he feels my life is dependent on Govt.

On the Sunday MBA issue. I don't see anything wrong if money is the issue because all clubs like private businesses are out to make money or take advantage of situations as they unfold. Warri Wolves admittedly stopped his salary when he reported to Rangers camp in Oct without recourse to civility or approval from the club. Each club has its own internal disciplinary mechanism. Today Wolves have been vindicated. 

I never one day ran to Fanny Amu for anything ( he is around and can testify to that). We are friends and I will always be proud of our friendship. Unknown to Patrick, it was my father that nurtured,sponsored and mentored Patrick Okpomo from childhood to adulthood. Growing up, I never knew he was not a Pinnick so if I ran to him for anything, what was wrong with that,anything wrong in running to your elder brother. Till date, I maintain a very warm,close and robust relationship with his immediate family. 

If Patrick Omorodion is objective as he claims, why doesn't he see anything wrong in Patrick Ikeji, a man that his exit from office was celebrated in the highest heavens. A man that even his close friend and associate Adokiye Amasiemeka openly acknowledged not only his inadequacies but an abysmal failure in Sports Governance. We know  who the paymasters are.Patrick will be flabbergasted to learn about the depth of what we know. Stop throwing stones. 

Today, even in my absence, the festival has been thrown open, again we have been vindicated and let's wait and see the advantage of an open festival. 

Why won't they shout me down? Ikeji was in charge and the entire script was written by him. 

My dear brothers, honestly it is not my style to do a piece like this. It might sound offensive to some of you  who might perceive it differently but for the sake of posterity et al I decided to damn the consequence. 

As a Christain I have forgiven him and I expect him also to forgive me. We can be friends again. 

Cheers

Amaju 

Melvin

Pinnick

Pinnick: the spoon-fed boy of yesterday

Pinnick

From Pat Omorodion

I don't want to reply Pinnick, a spoon-fed boy of yesterday who has risen to where he never expected, courtesy of his sister being wife to the Governor of Delta State. I wanted to do a few lines on my SportsGuard column on Sunday so that all Nigerians who read his rejoinder twice in the Vanguard, Thursday and today, Tuesday could understand the kind of administrator he is but I felt I'll be making him a hero because more Nigerians will get to know that one Amaju Pinnick exists in Delta State.

Pinnick in reacting to my column insinuated that with people like me, sports journalists will earn an "odious reputation, which is reminiscent of the infamous era of tokenism." I'll like to ask Pinnick how writing the truth will earn someone an odious reputation while someone who uses his advantage of being an in-law to a serving governor would not earn a greedy reputation of grabbing every position available in sports in a state.

Open festival: The issue of Open National Sports Festival was thrown out by the National Council on Sports which met in Lagos a few months to the last festival which Lagos hosted. I was there and witnessed how other states shouted down Pinnick over the issue of inviting foreign-based athletes.

If every other state wanted the festival closed, why was Pinnick and Delta desperate to have it open? Again, I hope Pinnick remembers that after that meeting held at the Durbar Hotel in Amuwo Odofin, he wanted journalists to hear him out and help his campaign for an open festival.

He wanted to buy them over to his side but he knows I was not part of his plot because I can never be bought. It is very clear to even the blind, the trading that goes behind the scene at every festival especially the 2004 hosted in the FCT. The result was not made public until the sports ministry called a meeting of governors of both states, Edo and Delta, Ibori and Igbinedion, I don't know where Pinnick was then.

He was too junior to be in the picture then. Of course, Uduaghan was not governor then and his sister was not First Lady. Igbinedion and Ibori walked into the Abuja stadium smiling, of course, they deceived Nigerians but some of us who knew were not amused.

Sports promotion and sports development: I maintain that while I appreciate what Uduaghan is doing, the state promotes sports more than developing it. Yes, I commend Delta for hosting the African Youth Athletics Championship like they have hosted other events in the past. But can Pinnick beat his chest and say what the state and Nigeria benefited from hosting such events other than some people just smiling to the banks each time?

Some of us know why Nigeria keeps hosting events so let us not waste our time discussing it. I put it to Pinnick that some of the so-called junior athletes they presented at the AYAC in Warri recently would not reign for more that five years because we are being deceived that they are actually young.

How many Delta athletes discovered by Pinnick have won medals for Nigeria as he claims apart from Okagbare who they have overused and has reached her peak and is already declining? They keep mentioning Ogho-Oghene Egwero, what has he really won for Nigeria?

Sunday Mba: They say sports has taken the youths off the streets and minimised crime yet the incident of kidnapping is on the rise. On the Sunday Mba issue, I dare Pinnick to say that it is not criminal for Warri Wolves where he is chairman to pay money for a player's transfer into the private account of another chairman who doesn't own that club.

Even if the receiving chairman is the owner, does he run the club from his personal account? Doesn't the club own an account of its own? He tried to drag the name of our respected octogenarian football administrator, Pa Ojidoh into this to score cheap point but he didn't know that Pa Ojidoh had called me to discuss the issue and I explained to him my position.

I still maintain that had Mba not made an impact at the Nations Cup, Pinnick and Warri Wolves wouldn't have bothered about him. When last did they pay Mba's salary? All the struggle is because Mba's profile has risen and they know more money will come their way.

The scramble for Mba is purely on selfish grounds. Pinnick wrote that I cut the figure of someone on a failed mission and I ask which mission? Is it the fight against Dr Amos Adamu's maladministration which he once spoke to me about on phone for 45 minutes, praising me for being bold to tell Dr Adamu the truth?

Again he said I look like someone deserted by a pay-master, who is that pay-master? Pinnick pays some people for supporting him, right or wrong and he knows I don't belong to that group. I have never gone to Warri or Asaba to see Pinnick who is very junior to me for any favours.

He knows that I don't belong to the group who write against administrators in the day and go to their house at night to collect money. If he believes he is an administrator of repute in Nigeria, why pay people to write about him? He should allow his work speak for him if he thinks he is doing a good job.

To let you all know the kind of person Pinnick is, my first encounter with him was via the analog Nitel telephone of old. GSM was not available then. I just joined Vanguard newspapers then and as usual, as I was made to understand, Pinnick called and I was the one that picked the phone.

He wanted a story planted about him and Delta in Vanguard the following day and I politely told him the paper had gone to bed and the pages could not be recalled. To my surprise, the next thing that came out of his mouth without any courtesy was, "publish the story, I'm ready to pay any amount."

Of course, I told him that our pages were not for sale. He contacted Tony Ubani for the say thing and Ubani told him that what I said was final. He went ahead to report to our superiors but nothing came out of it. So it sounds ridiculous that almost 13 years after when I did not succumb to Pinnick's filthy lucre as a younger and poorer journalist, I could do so now when I'm older and wiser and enjoying the grace of God.

I remember when Pinnick was still struggling, moving from the Fanny Amuns to the Patrick Okpomos for survival. Now because he is closer to the seat of power, he now arrogates to himself, the wisdom of Solomon and the riches of Abraham. While Abraham's riches are not tainted, Pinnick cannot say same for his own. What I will tell him is to continue to enjoy the privilege of government power now but should remember it does not last forever.

Someone told me recently that when God increases you, you have to decrease yourself, otherwise, His grace will depart from you and the consequences will be too great to bear. Remember the story of Lazarus and the poor man.

I rest my case. Thank you all

LMC vs Club owners meeting deadlocked

Hon. Nduka Irabor, LMC Chairman

*As Maigari escapes from meeting to avoid EFCC arrest

By Olajide Fashikun

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) midwived meeting between the warring League Management Company (LMC) and the Club owners entered into a cul-de-sac as parties stuck to their guns meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Maigari had to escape from the meeting to avoid being arrested when tipped of the presence of the anti-corruption agency’s officials’ presence within the premises.

At the meeting according to our inside sources, the club owners insisted that the NFF Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Port Harcourt endorsed the sack of former chairman, Rumson Baribote and also endorsed the formation of an Interim Management Committee (IMC).

They asked where the nation’s highest football ruling body, the AGM endorsed the formation of a League Management Company in any of its resolutions. All efforts made to pacify them to shift their grounds mid-way was said to have been rebuffed.

Eventually, both parties went home with their prepared positions on the issues of conflict between them.

While the meeting was going on, a Reporter who is claimed to have his ears on the ground quickly got across to one of the aides of the NFF President that he men of the EFCC were on their way to the secretariat. Maigari who was in the meeting trying to broker peace between the club owners and LMC was said to have sought for an exeunt. As he was driving out of the gate of the Glass House, the EFCC operatives were driving in.

Infact, they had to wait for his vehicle to drive out of the premises when theirs took turn to enter. They missed the premises by whiskers.

However, it could not be confirmed if they actually came for the arrest of Maigari. Efforts made to reach the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwugiaren to confirm or deny their presence in the football house could not yield result as at when we went to press.

League reforms are not for the current 20 teams in the Premier League

Mike Enahoro

*Only six clubs are incorporated in the Premier League
*What he has to say on Total Promotion and television coverage

Nigerians would want to know how far the LMC has settled with the club owners. Have you settled?
When you mean settlement, what are you looking at?
Club owners had a meeting in Abuja where the LMC was sacked by a vote of no confidence. In the communiqué of the National Council of Sports, the LMC got a support. This should translate a mediation had taken place. That may mean the LMC is back in business. What is the situation now?
Did you read the pronouncement by the NFF of last week Saturday? The NFF pronouncement was very clear and unambiguous.
The club owners acted after the NFF statement.
Its not for me to discuss actually. The NFF gave a pronouncement. They adjudicate in all matters of conflict between anyone in football. If the NFF say they back the LMC by 100% and dissociate itself from anyone trying to go against that pronouncement. The LMC is focused. The LMC in instituted and is a brain child born with all the right caliber of documentation. The NFF as the sole custodian is saying the LMC is authorized to run football, certainly, different stakeholders will have different opinions so why would the LMC be held by a club owners. Was it instituted and managed by the club owners?
Look at a situation where it was the club owners by their inherent powers in the statutes who sacked the Baribote board. If that Board was not sacked, the LMC would not have been in place.
Does that mean we should go into a circle of violence? And continue a circle of distortion and administrative quagmire because of what? Agitations lead to stuff. When you have an opportunity to do the right thing, you do the right thing. What do you want the LMC to do?
Because somebody agitated and the NFF decided in its wisdom to do the right thing, then, we should go and quarry to a stakeholder’s claims? For the first time, the country has sat down and set a template that are of international standard that says to run the league, here are five or six different parameters that must be in place. The board is constituted as a private entity in line with FIFA statutes, in line with best international practices because FIFA is saying gravitate away from government.
So, Nigeria goes and registers the League Management Company (LMC). The transformation in filling that vacuum created by the previous administration, the League Management Committee is acting in this period of transformation, is acting as the management team. That is the standard anywhere.
If you go back to the first Premier League organization of the five clubs in England. The people that they picked to now become what Nigeria’s LMC is, eventually, when the whole structures were now worked out by the whole 20 clubs, we now had a Board that was selected to run the EPL. That’s where we are today. We are at the period of birth.  That period is a gestation period where we have to put all the structures together in line with international best practices. The process of reform is currently ongoing. We are in the middle of it right now.
We’ve been receiving documentations which are being adapted and are being Nigerianised.
As we speak right now, different sub-committees are working on these documents right now. It is a bit challenging when we are at the birthing period. This is because certain things in the status quo that do not work must be changed.
In the wisdom of the LMC, the NFF and the NSC who have been saddled with the responsibility to adjudicate and administrate football in the country, we have said, don’t stop the game. This is because people’s livelihood are at stake. Investments by state governments are involved, and the fans are aiming to see football played. So you can’t stop.
So, we are having two things happening in parallel. There is an actual physical playing going on as well as, a reform process running parallel. When we see that changes need to be made, they have to be made without disruptions to the game.
Is the LMC likely to conclude its assignment without the period you have given the volume of tasks you have enumerated?
I wouldn’t look at it as concluding work. We are creating a sustainable platform and framework within the mandate that we are given. That is what we are breaking our heads to achieve as quickly as possible. Will the clubs be able to see an LMC visibly that says that it s now ready for them to transition into a new platform? Yes.
So, there are certain types of things that must happen. The clubs themselves getting themselves organized. I mean those templates of what the clubs need to do. The templates will be coming out pretty soon. We shall share that with the club owners, of which the club managers as the operational arm of the ownership structure will have to go and make sure that they implement within the same period of time. These are administrative things that can be done sharp. Today is the 21^st century and we need to align ourselves with that.

Part II of this interview will run tomorrow

Scandal! NSC in criminal deception of the Nigerian public

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Bolaji Abdullahi, Sports minister...new explanations for this fraud?

*Communique of National Council of Sports prepared 12 days before meeting

We can reveal that the 19^th National Council of Sports meeting that took place for almost a week is afterall a grand project to pilfer the tax payer’s monies, deceive the Nigerian public and make Nigerians believe that it was the genuine interest of Nigerian sports that was discussed and agreed at the meeting.

A four-page communiqué was issued supposedly at the end of the meeting. www.gongnews.net can also reveal that all the said decisions in the released communiqué were pre-determined. The Directors of Sports from the 36 states and FCT were rather pawns in the chess board of the National Sports Commission. The implication is that, that communiqué may not be a true reflection of the disucssions or that the Directors of Sports were simply railroaded after being paid their financial dues to just key into the preconceived decisions presented to them.

The communiqué claimed the meeting took place on the 25^th April. That is not true. The meeting started on 21st and was supposed to end on the 26^th April by the original statement the same NSC issued earlier which was published.

The second obvious lie which gave the NSC away was the date at the last page of the communiqué which boldly read April 13, 2013 meaning that was the day the communiqué was finally prepared. That means 13 clear days ahead of the conclusion of the meeting.

According to one of the Directors of Sports who attended the meeting who was independently asked the key issues discussed and confronted with some other matters, he simple exclaimed, “no, that one? No, we did not discuss that. It did not come up for discussion at all,” yet it was listed in the communiqué as discussed.

The fact is, what sinister objectives does the NSC has in stock to have preconceived a communiqué ahead of the meeting? Does it mean that the meeting was just called just to fulfill all righteousness? Yet, millions of tax payer’s monies had been expended to host and deliver the meeting.

This is fraud in its most simplistic language. Who did this? Somebody should explain to the nation how this great criminal public deception was weaved and delivered to Nigerians as if these were the outcomes of the meeting.

Except if the definition of what is a communiqué has changed.

Three parameters were arrived at to mean communiqué. They are: 1. an official report (usually sent in haste), 2. an official communication or announcement, especially to the press or public, 3. detailed outline of a meeting written in a hurry to capture what were discussed at the meeting.

Save for (2) above which met the action of the NSC but in the context of what was sent out, the first and third which should have applied DID NOT meet the basic demands of what a communiqué is and therefore, a fraud has been committed.

This communiqué was carefully prepared. It was not in haste.  It was not, cannot and should not have been the detailed outline of that meeting as this was prepared before the meeting.

culled from www.gongnews.net 

Northern Football Federation (NFF)

Maigari...leads a northern cabal

Ask an average Nigerian what is the full meaning of the NFF, they are wont to tell you it is Nigeria Football Federation. Haba! You miss am if that is your answer too. Rather, it is Northern Football Federation (NFF). How? See the table below to appreciate what I mean.

The management of the NFF (whichever one you choose) is north. This is a direct affront on the Federal character principle. Before that, there is absolute criminality and illegality of the highest order therein. For how many years is the sitting Acting Secretary General, Musa Amadu, acting? His tenure was extended by the current Board which was to lapse after six months of the tenure of the Board but they kept mute and drove on as if all things are normal.

SN	CANDIDATE	POSITION	STATE	REGION
1.	Aminu Maigari	President	Bauchi	North
2.	Musa Amadu	Acting Sec Gen	Katsina	North
3.	Dr. Mohammed Sanusi	Head, Competition	Sokoto	North
4.	Ibrahim Abubakar	Head, Protocol	Kaduna	North
5.	Idris Adama	Head, Marketing	Kogi	North
6.	Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme		Cross River	South-south
7.	Mallam Mamza	Head of Administration	Bauchi	North

Were this setting to have been the case with other regions of the country, they would have protested to high heavens to have their quota on board. This discovery have shocked a lot of respected Nigerians we confronted with the facts.

As usual, because many of them don’t want to be counted on such controversial issues like this, since they have a way of living on patronages from these same people, they offered not to talk. Ironically, some people said it openly that they know but resigned to fate because if they talk, what difference would it make?

So, please when next you are communicating and you hear the acronym, NFF, ask which one: Nigeria Football Federation or the Northern Football Federation. They mean the same thing.

LMC: Club owners deserve to sack us – Irabor’s deputy

Irabor…Oh! my deputy accusing me?

Vice Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Alhaji Sabo Babayaro has said that the sacking of the body by the club owners has become inevitable as the body has totally derailed from the terms of reference given them at inauguration.
Babayaro, a former member of the Kaduna state House of Assembly, spoke to journalists in Abuja accused the LMC chairman, Hon. Nduka Irabor, of high handedness and overbearing influence on the rest members of the Interim Management Committee (IMC).
He added that “critical decisions were taken without the consent of the other members. The LMC has good intentions and we started on the right track but along the line we veered off the mark and continued going wild in the bush.”
Expantiating his position, the Kaduna United FC boss said, “the LMC derailed because decisions were taken without due consultations. I support the club managers because we are the bonafide owners of the league.