Monday evening, while on my way back home after a stressful day in the library, the issue of an unfortunate intra-class conflict in Pillars management board resurfaced in my mind.
Remember that it is an issue that had successfully and easily polarized the board into two distinct sides with the club chairman on one side and the rest on the other side.
I hardly reached the conclusion when my cellphone rang and by the time I stared at its screen, I noticed a strange number which made me park by the roadside and answer the call because I don’t like the idea of answering calls while on motion.
As usual my first response to the call was “Assalamu Alaikum” and the caller answered and immediately introduced himself as Babangida Little, the chairman of Kano Pillars Football Club.
It was our first call, so I welcomed and greeted him and we both exchanged pleasantries. He told me that he called me in connection or relations with my write-ups on his team.
I welcomed him and asked him to go ahead with his observations which he began by unfolding his dissatisfaction on the way and manner I discussed what was between him and his board members without consulting him which to him, was unfair to him.
I without any interruption allowed him to voice out all he had on his mind pertaining the write-ups and the sour relationship between him and his management board members.
Honestly, I don’t want to revealed all what transpired between the of us but from what I deduced from his words, it is either there is (are) some third party doing a dirty job in between them or the chairman is unaware about his role as the Kano Pillars Football Club management committee chairman.
This is because from my understanding, he sees the rest of the committee members as just part-time committee members whose only role according to him is to formulate policy for the club while he and the other staffers of the club will be running the day-to-day activities of the club.
To him, since the club has a secretary appointed by the Kano State Sports Commission he doesn’t see any reason why he should work with another secretary appointed in his management committee by the government.
Honestly, from what I realized from his words, there is an intra class conflict ravaging Kano Pillars Football Club which is taking an ugly dimension that points to ultimate disaster which can no doubt take back the club to where it came from.
It is a raw fact that both the Kano State Sports Commission and Kano Pillars Football Club are the creation of the State Government and owned and financed by the government in the first place.
The crisis as to who should be the Secretary of Kano Pillars does not arise at all because it is an issue that the government had settled by itself.
And if care is not taken can pose a threat of degeneration of the club which will nor augur well for the state the teeming supporters of the club.
To most of us, if the government, the sole owner and financier of the club included a secretary while constituting the management committee of the Kano Pillars FC, so be it.
The chairman should not and has no right or lacks the power to decide who is to be the secretary. So he must work with what the government gave him.
Unless the chairman wants to claim to be stronger than the government who appointed him or wants to claim the ownership of the club which is not possible.
Let there be peace and the only way to achieve this, is for the chairman to work with the script the government has released.
The chairman must know that he is appointed by the government along with members as a committee to run the team. He should not see himself as an executive chairman but as a chairman of a management committee. Therefore, he should break the committee membership into sub-committees for easy running of the club.
And from the what I gathered from the chairman’s words, the present leadership of the club came to existence 23rd of June this year and the club had so many activities as follows:-
1. Recruitment of technical crew for both Kano Pillars FC senior team, Kano Pillars FC junior team, Kano Pillars FC Under 15 and Kano Pillars Under 13.
2. Recruitment of supporting staffers of both teams.
3. Sought for funds and traveled to Asaba, Delta state for NNL Super Eight.
4. Sought funds for Bauchi trip and other trips.
5. Payment of players’ registration and transfer fees.
6. Sold players to other clubs.
One would wonder how all these activities were made from the committee’s first day to date. Was it done by the chairman alone and his Sports Commission appointed secretary or by the genuine government appointed management committee?
If all these activities were made by the chairman and his sports commission appointed secretary, the chairman has made a great and big mistake and needs to call for an urgent meeting of the board and apologize without delay because what he did was wrong and was not done anywhere.
I wonder how all these were made without the committee’s input and there is no way people will not suspect foul play.
He should know that this was not the first time a management committee was instituted for the Kano Pillars FC. When a 5-man management committee was reconstituted for Kano Pillars last April this year by the Ganduje administration, it was silent on who to serve as the secretary of the club, which gave the sports commission appointed secretary opportunity to continue as one.
I recalled in 2013 when a 15-man management committee was named for Kano Pillars by the former governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s administration, it was made with the secretary and they worked as one entity.
And when Abba Yola was removed as the chairman of the team in 2014 and was replaced with Arch Ibrahim Haruna the same time Babangida Little was appointed General Manager, late Zakari Aliyu Bichi was the secretary and was replaced with Sirajo Usman T/Wada.
Once more, the chairman must also know that this is not the first time somebody from outside the sports council or commission was appointed as secretary of Kano Pillars FC.
Abdullahi Sani Zango (Dantauri) was a Permanent Secretary when he was appointed by the then government to serve as Kano Pillars FC secretary under the leadership of late Sani Muhammad Usman.
It is for sure that if the Club Management Committee is working fine, the club will be good and focus on what is before them. The players will enjoy playing for the club, be more successful, and the community will be proud of the teams.
The role of the management committee is specific in nature. The Chairperson, the Secretary and the Treasurer will be the signatories of the club’s account. Sidelining the government appointed secretary and a management committee is wrong and must be corrected.
By-passing the government appointed secretary and board working is not acceptable..
But it is not late, the chairman as I pointed above can correct all the wrongs he had done and committed for peace to reign.
He should do it himself and not allow the government to do it for him because it will be disastrous.
