I am optimistic that every true and right football loving individual in this country is not happy with the way and manner the game is being handled by its managers.
This is because football is the most played and most followed game in the country, but there is no display of its development or progress to show in the country.
Disappointments are everywhere in our football circle. And that explained why private participation is zero as no sensible individual will be willing to invest or sink his or her money in the sector that has no progress to show.
Our local leagues and competitions are managed poorly and badly which makes our stadiums to be empty anytime any match is in progress because our soccer fans have lost appetite for our poorly managed football and turned to European TV soccer matches.
This is because that is where they get thrilled with a good game of football. To say it all that is where they see and get what they want.
It is only in this country that one does not have to recruit good and quality players with a well experienced technical crew to win matches.
All you need to do to win your games and win trophies is to connive with the NFF and match officials by bribing them with gifts money to win all your matches.
It is only in this country that some referees are included in the payroll of some clubs and get paid every month just to assist that same club(s) any time they find themselves officiating their matches.
That is why our local leagues are unattractive to even the Nigerians talk less of having it televised like that of Kenya, Zambia, South Africa etc.
So I was very happy when the Nigeria’s Court of Appeal sacked the NFF, President, Ibrahim Gusau and his entire Board members last Friday.
Besides being happy with that development, I see it as a chance to rescue Nigeria’s football from the hands of gold-diggers who are there to milk the system to their advantages and put it on the right track in the right hands.
It is a fact that many right thinking football stakeholders are very happy with the decision of the justices of the Court of Appeal panel led by Justice Barika and two others that sacked the Gusau’s NFF Board.
The court pronouncement set aside and struck out all dubious orders the NFF obtained by deceit on the 29th of September 2022 which allowed them to go ahead and conduct the purported NFF illegal election of September 30th in Benin City.
The court then struck out all processes concerning the NFF appeal and further ordered that the processes be deleted from all systems of the court forthwith.
It could be called that prior to the NFF Benin elections, the PFAN dragged the NFF to court in a lawsuit to modify the NFF Statutes before the elective Congress which it ignored.
It was the Benin dubious election under the Pinnick Amaju-led board which gave birth to Gusau and his team despite being sanctioned by an Abuja High Court.
To go ahead with their deceitful elections, they fraudulently produced fake and dubious court orders on the 29th of September 2022 which allowed them to conduct the purported NFF illegal election of September 30th in Benin City.
Not satisfied with the content of the fake order which the NFF produced, the PFAN again went back to the court of appeal which after proceedings established its stands.
Honestly, I see the decision of the court as a welcome development because it is going to give us the opportunity of producing the best brains to pilot our round leather game in the country.
I could remember the Honorable Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh late last year told the Gusau’s dissolved NFF board to expand its congress to in the next AGM by making some amendment in their statutes.
The minister gave the directives during a strategic meeting with the executive board of the Nigerian Football Federation in his office, as he reiterated his support to the Federation to bring positive change to Nigeria’s football landscape.
I am sure the minister knows what he is doing and that was the reason for that order because he sees it all in the activities of the sacked board.
The sacking of Gusau’s board will no doubt and easily allow the expansion of the NFF congress from 40 people to above 100 or even more which will give more people the chance to contribute to the development of the game.
Expanding the congress will allow or field the right and genuine stakeholders to lead the board which will develop our fledgling soccer.
For sure if this is effected, it will accommodate more and other relevant stakeholders which will ensure proportional representation for the good of the game.
The minister asserted that football’s economic, social and cultural value to Nigeria and its citizens means that whatever needs to be done for the development of the game should be undertaken seriously in the interest of the nation.
“NFF’s Congress should be such that it is proportionally representative enough of all interests for the good of the game,” the minister added.
The minister further explained that Nigeria’s football legislation should be adaptive to the uniqueness of the country’s composition and factors peculiar to it.
“If FIFA recognizes the unique situations in each country (as mentioned), then the NFF does not need to wait for the universal statute (of FIFA), as it may not cover those unique situations and we may not have control of the timelines,” the minister further added.
Minister Enoh further stated that, the NFF should initiate and conclude all expected amendments from adoption through to ratification and approval within the next one year and send the amended documents to FIFA.
“NFF should submit the action plan leading to the final amended statute with definite timelines to the Office of the Minister of Sports Development,” Senator Enoh stated. “As we need to make progress and bring this to a positive conclusion,” the minister concluded.
Honestly, the minister did very well and at the right time. And as I stated then, I see wisdom in his orders and directives to the NFF on the expansion of its congress.
It is a good and welcome development which will see more relevant stakeholders in the country’s soccer cycle in the congress.
Because that was what many have been crying and calling for long because we see and fault that arrangement where only few people dictate the destiny of our football in the country. As it is now only few people numbering 44 which include the 37 state/FCT FA chairmen were in charge.
The real stakeholders NPFL, NNL and NWLO have one representation while women league, referees, coaches and players’ union also have one each.
As I stated before, I see the 12 people serving as the board members of the NFF as inadequate if we compare that with the population figure of the country.
The minister wants the congress to be expanded to 111 members which will see all the 37 state/FCT Football Association chairman, 20 Nigeria Professional Football League clubs, Rep./chairmen, 12 Nigeria Nationwide League clubs Rep./chairmen and12 Nigeria Women League clubs Rep./chairmen.
Others are 12 Women League clubs Rep./chairperson, 6 Nigeria Referees Association Rep./Referees, 6 Nigeria Coaches Association Rep./coaches and 6 Players Union Rep./players as members.
Even during the Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima era, the congress was over 100 people. Then we had, the 37 state FA chairmen, 37 state FA secretaries, 20 NPFL clubs Rep./chairmen, one NNL clubs Rep./chairman and one NWLO clubs Rep./chairman.
The rest are one Women L. clubs Rep./chairperson, one Federal Ministry of Sports Rep./Nominee, one NRA Rep/President, one Nig. Coaches Association Rep./President, one NAPHER-SD Rep./President and a SWAN Rep./President.
The minister wants to do away with the present formula or arrangement where only states’ chairmen of the Football Associations and few others made themselves Alfas and Omegas which everybody is seeing as an impediment to soccer growth and development.
The state’s Football Association chairmen are accused of hijacking the activities of the popular game in the world in their various states. Most of them are not genuine stakeholders because they are not the stipulated persons for the FAs.
To make the matter worst the states FA chairmen also made themselves NFF Board Members for their selfish interest thereby blocking best and genuine stakeholders from administering our football
This and many negative attitudes of theirs have negatively affected the game in most states as there were no states leagues for most states for long.
To bring back its glory, we need to have over a hundred or more people at the NFF congress with about twenty-five people as executive members. The present 12-member Executive Committee is insufficient.
It is when we enlarge our congress that we will be able to elect the right people who will lead our fledgling soccer and transform it to the best in African countries.
At present everything is wrong with our football as our teams don’t fare well in club competitions in the African continent and our referees are not included in any CAF or FIFA organized competitions due to the way and manner they handled our local leagues.
It is only in this country that people with no clubs are parading themselves as NFF board members. They don’t have any stake in the federation.
They are there just to milk the federation of all its juices. The real stakeholders are relegated to the background or observers while people who have no stake occupy the driver’s seats.
My only concern with the minister’s formula is the absence of sports writers in the new proposal which I hope will be addressed in good time. Sports writers are catalysts to sports development not in this country alone but world over.
So we should come out and celebrate the court judgement and stand firm and do the right to save the game.
It is a well-known fact that the sacked NFF have no plans for the development of football in the country. All they are after are the foreign trips which gave them a colossal amount of foreign currency.
To me, the sacked board was only synonymous to corruption. This is because even the else while former Nigerian Senate President David Mark described the Nigeria Football Federation as the most corrupt government agency in the country during one of senate’s sittings in 2013.
I am happy in compliance with the court decision, the ministers had asked Gusau to move away from the Super Eagles camp in Cote D’ivoire