Few days ago a lot of people posted a piece written by my brother Abdulgafar Oladimeji into my inbox. The write-up titled: “Football Triangle: See Those Killing Kano Pillars” haphazardly exposed all those that impedes Kano Pillars development and growth.
Without doubt, Oladimeji is in the position to do what he did because he is just like an insider and knows much better than most of us operating from the sides because of a number of reasons.
Besides being the former secretary of Kano State Sports Writers Association, my brother Oladimeji is always in their midst, a situation which gave him the ample opportunity to know and understand the key players in the state football sector very well.
Honestly, Abdulgafar Oladimeji write-up was well written and has captured and illustrated many ills and serious issues that impede the progress, growth and development of Kano Pillars FC.
And I truly doff my heart for him for being so courageous to put his pen on paper on this worrisome issue that is touching the mind of every serious Kano Pillars FC supporter.
I frankly commend the writer for the job well-done even though there are many places where he failed to be brave and fearless enough to call spade a spade.
As I said above that Abdulgafar Oladimeji did a good job but he did not widen the scope of his search to actually point accusing fingers at the real culprits who are truly working against the success of Kano Pillar.
My first disagreement with my brother Oladimeji is where he pointed accusing fingers on the Kano state Government who according to him is the owner and the chief culprit behind the myriad of problems of the club. To me this is not true.
My brother should remember that the government, being the sole owner of the club as he rightly stated, always approved all Kano Pillars requests. It is the government that is singlehandedly financing the team.
Only recently, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf attested to this recently when he was addressing the team and its management.
We should remembered that the present government spent millions on the team’s just concluded campaign. The government spent N25 million for the team’s only three President FA cup matches and another N18 million for its match against Abia Warrious in the same competition.
And even before then we are aware that the successive governments of the state spent a lot of millions on the team. So I don’t see where and how the government will take any blame here.
And on the appointment of the appointees to lead the team, my brother Oladimeji should remember that the government only approved the appointment of the appointees sent by mostly its supervising agency in charge.
In most cases it was the head of government agency that normally initiated who and who to be appointed. The government hardly knows the faces of the appointees.
For me, it is the government agency who did the bad work that will be held responsible for any mess or failure of the appointees but not the government.
We should know that most governments, I mean the head of government don’t know anything about sports but were only guided by the supervising ministry or agency to approve the appointments.
Here, the blame should go to either the Sports Commission or the ministry who usually named their friends and cronies to the government for approval anytime they were consulted.
This is why I was highly surprised when I discovered that the name of Sports Commission was omitted in the chain of those working against the successes of Kano Pillars FC.
It may interest my brother that all that the commission is interested in is to collect its share after every Kano Pillars home match.
The commission is also interested in sending its prepared son to occupy the position of the club secretary even though they fully know that Kano Pillars is a separate and independent entity from them.
As for KANO STATE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, I quite agree with Oladimeji that the KSFA has failed in playing its supposed role as the football think tank in the state.
Beyond doubt, the Kano FA is not doing what is expected as they too are more concerned with their gate share after Pillars home matches.
Oladimeji should know that the FA lost their respect in the eyes of every Pillars management because they only see them as parasites to the team.
The former secretary of Kano SWAN should know that the FA has failed in its responsibilities because they could not even supply drinks during Kano Pillars pre-match meetings. All they know is their gate takings share.
As for Oladimeji’s assertion that Kano Pillars does not and has continued to reject the superiority of the state FA over the club”. Whose fault?
I blamed the FA because they are not doing what they are supposed to but worshiping whoever was appointed as Pillars boss. How can the young respect the elder where the elder does not respect himself?
As for the FANS CLUB, I don’t see any problem with them because of their real love for the team. I see them as partners in progress and I also as major contributors of Kano Pillars successes.
Oladimeji need to know that some of them are using their hard earned money for supplication and also used it to accompany the team to its away matches irrespective of the distance of the venue Kano Pillars is playing.
Besides, the Fans Club always used to organize and control their members during Kano Pillars home matches.
We should not forget that the wealthiest among them do borrow money for the team and get their money back when they get it.
I know of a particular person who lent Kano Pillars FC over N67 million Naira in the just concluded season and up to now nothing even kobo is not given back to him.
But I am in agreement with my brother that there is massive corruption in Kano Pillars Football Club which the government must investigate and deal with whoever is found wanting.
As Abdulgafar Oladimeji rightly stated, “There is a racket in the sales of tickets during the club’s home matches which needs to be addressed. This is because the team is losing heavily to this unholy act.
With its large spectatorship, Kano Pillars is garnering a lot of money from its home matches as gate takings but sadly nearly all the money realized went into thin air.
Another monster sucking the blood of the team is the illicit players transfer deals and misappropriation of the proceeds from such deals.
For many years those entrusted to manage the team are milking it dry in this aspect of players’ transfer. They collected huge amounts from the government for the payment of transfer fees but pocketed the money and collected players on loan which at the end those players left with Pillars getting nothing. Too bad.
Another area in which the club managers are sabotaging the financial capability of the team is in buying equipment as the writer accused them of spending millions on the purchase of equipment which was all lies. Very unfortunate.
My brother needs to remember the RAMBO advert saga which up to now nobody knows the exact amount involved and collected.
Another allegation which the government must investigate, “is the swimming in an over inflated receipts from away trips” as the writer stated. This is also sad.
On the recruitment of players for the club, the writer pointed out it is a conduit pipes for government finances, this also needs to be investigated.
The government needs to study the recruitment process and contractual terms of players, coaches and their salaries as there are a lot of gray areas.
On the MEDIA’s side, Abdulgafar Oladimeji named Kano Pillars as the most abused, disjointed, ill equipped football media brand team in Nigeria. I blamed the team’s managers.
It is a pity that the team up to now, the team has no befitting media center where the Media Officer and his team can comfortably work and reach and relate with the outsiders.
It is true that a good number of some dubious media practitioners in the city have suddenly turned football experts dishing out misguided, polluted and fetish concocted opinions polluting the air enveloping the club with toxicity, but whose fault?
If our sports journalists are doing the needful, I don’t see how “yan media” will take their jobs.
As he rightly said, “Media practitioners around the club lack the courage to engage those assigned with the task of running the club, whenever the chips are down, those few who take bold steps and have the courage to engage the club.
But I see the above as the problem of our media men in the state. We need to organize ourselves so that we can be a force to reckon with. We should develop and add value to ourselves by writing constantly.
We should embark on wide reading and writing. We should minimize the act of cut and paste or sharing of other people’s materials but ours.
I learnt from Oladimeji’s piece that some journalists have continued to fall over themselves just to be in the good books of the club management or the state government to see how to satisfy their lust of seeing their being enlisted into the club media crew.
He rightly stated that this has made them to lack the bravery to speak truth to sports authorities in the state. Too bad.
Here too, I blamed our people for allowing themselves to be pocketed by these wicket and excessive administrators whose real and only interest is the Kano Pillars finances.
And until our people are ready to do what they are supposed to do by doing what is expected from them, people carrying phones who are calling themselves “Yan Media” will always out smart them and take our rightful places.
For me I don’t see any reason why we should be fighting for a single slot of Media Officer of Kano Pillars. Because it is a single slot for one man and his assistant(s).
On his WAY FORWARD, my brother wants the government to sit down and have a rethink, if possible contract independent minded football technocrats, locally and abroad, who will be willing to offer their services.
I am fully in support of this but we don’t need to go anywhere as Kano is blessed with good, honest, highly educated and transparent individuals that can do the job perfectly.
In academia for instance, we have professors of sports who are lords in the field who can equally take Kano Pillars to promising land. Most of them were former players and well known during their playing days.
Outside academia, we also have some highly educated people, some retired but not tired who can equally move mountains.
We also have some credible, transparent and hardworking individuals around who can equally manage the team well.
All the government needs to do is proper consultation on the right people for the job. It can choose among them or put all of them together and see wonders.
The government henceforth needs to be announcing every money it released to the team. This will stopped wicket managers from hiding what they collected from the government.
