Lulu’s Stinking Glass HouseStinking   

Published on July 12, 2010 by TheNEWS   ·   No Comments

The controversial withdrawal of the Super Eagles from international football competitions by President Goodluck Jonathan has been reversed but the action continues to generate varied reactions

The Super Eagles of Nigeria were tipped by football pundits to qualify from their group at the World Cup hosted by South Africa. But the team’s woeful performance caused many Nigerians to lose faith in the ageing team and the administration of football in the country. The squad, led by Swede Technical Adviser, Lars Lagerback lost two games to both Argentina and Greece before managing a scrappy draw with South  Korea.

So infuriated at the below par performance was President Goodluck Jonathan that he slammed a two-year ban on the team and dissolved the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF. The ban meant that Nigeria would not participate in all FIFA and CAF-organised football competitions for the next two years. Jonathan also ordered that a management committee be set up in place of the dissolved NFF board. This action was well received by many who wanted a new-look Super Eagles and a responsive NFF, but it clearly flouted the statutes of the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, which forbids government interference in football administration and has never shied away from wielding the big stick whenever countries ran foul of its statutes.

FIFA promptly responded to Jonathan’s ban of the national team by threatening to suspend the country from all international tournaments. As FIFA put it, the action was completely misplaced, which cannot contribute to the advancement and betterment of the country’s football. FIFA President, Joseph Sepp Blatter, after the body’s Emergency Executive Committee meeting in Johannesburg, regretted the extent of rot in Nigerian football but said he did not think pulling out the national team from tournaments was the solution.

“I was so shocked to hear that the presidency suspended the national team from our competitions. It was embarrassing and that’s why we reacted promptly,” Blatter told TheNEWS in Johannesburg. The FIFA boss explained that his federation has nothing against Jonathan’s orders to probe how funds set aside for the team were spent in South Africa, but what the body would not tolerate was government interference in football administration.

“FIFA suspected political interference in the Nigerian football administration and moved against it. Our action was for the good of the game,” said Blatter. One of the victims of the  crisis is Alhaji Sani Lulu, who lost his exalted seat as President of NFF when the Executive Committee impeached him at an emergency meeting attended by 9 of the 13 members.

Lulu did not go alone. First Vice-President Amanze Uchegbulam, Secretary-General Bolaji Ojo-Oba and Head of the Technical Committee, Taiwo Ogunjobi were also impeached. The quartet was absent at the meeting. The magazine gathered that the ‘palace coup’ which toppled Lulu and company was masterminded by his critics who are now in charge as interim board members. They claimed the former board was doing more harm than good to the nation’s football.

The action against the NFF was inevitable. The NFF board was accused of corrupt practices, administrative lapses and financial misappropriation. The most recent fiasco was its attempt to cut corners in the infamous Hampshire Hotel deal in South Africa regarding the Super Eagles World Cup base camp. About N18 million was lost in the scam. This was followed by the association’s aircraft charter for the team after their friendly against Colombia in England. It was discovered that the plane had a mechanically problem.  Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Bio had to send an Arik airplane from Nigeria to save the team from further embarrassment.

There were also problems with the Super Eagles’ friendly matches. Rather than generating revenue and enhancing national pride they constituted a sham. The last friendly was played behind closed doors because the NFF could not make early arrangements for a venue. The federation spent over $400,000 on the game. Prior to the World Cup, the NFF had several questions to answer. The appointment of Lars Lagerback came with several accusations. Two of the five coaches shortlisted for the job accused NFF officials of demanding gratification from them. The duo of Glenn Hoddle and Sven Goran Eriksson claimed they were not given the job because they refused to ‘‘play ball.’’

Hoddle accused members of the panel of demanding bribe from him, asking him to inflate his wage demands so that the excess could go into officials’ pockets. Eriksson on his part said he regretted applying for the Nigeria job. “I regret that I went there. It was a mistake. I told them I was not talking about money and that they should contact my agent for money issues,” he said. “Then I called some people in FIFA that I know and they told me to take the next available flight back home. And I did just that,” he added. The case was officially reported by an agent, Mr John Shittu and is presently under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Another matter under investigation is the $236,000 missing from the NFF Glass House. The money was allegedly stolen from a drawer in one of the offices of the NFF last year. An administrative panel report on the matter is yet to be made public. The association has also not been able to account for monies received from marketing and sponsorship deals. The financial deal with sporting giant, Adidas, Globacom, Afribank, Peak Milk and others are yet to be revealed. The income from FIFA and CAF are yet to be accounted for as well.

Accusations of financial misappropriation were also levelled against the association over the hosting of Nigeria 2009. The Local Organising Committee, LOC, was headed by former NFF chairman, Sani Lulu, while former secretary-general, Bolaji Ojo-Oba was Director of Organisation. The LOC initially requested for N37 billion to execute the tournament but the late president, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua threatened not to host the competition if the sum was not reduced. The LOC settled for N9 billion. After the competition, the LOC falsified and inflated the number of buses and cars bought, as well as other materials and manpower used, to execute the competition.

The NFF purchased two supposedly new luxury buses for N96 million. The buses, purchased by Chief Mike Umeh, were discovered to be second-hand. The federation also has a penchant for owing salaries and allowances. FIFA had to order the federation to pay former coach Berti Vogts his unpaid wages, while Shuaibu Amodu is still in the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS, in Lusaunne, Switzerland over unpaid salaries. In addition, the NFF’s inability to verify the ages of Nigerian players in age grade competitions has brought shame to the nation.

In Lulu’s place now is Aminu Maigari, who was unanimously elected to take over as interim President, with Obinna Ogba as the new interim first Vice-President. The new officers are to get their posts ratified by a full NFF Congress, but FIFA claimed the Nigerian government, in a letter to the body last week, said it has recognised the newly elected officials.

Apart from FIFA’s threat to expel Nigeria, the House of Representatives also mounted pressure on President Jonathan before he rescinded the decision. Former European and FIFA World Player of the Year, Liberia’s George Weah also played a role in the save Nigerian football crusade.

Weah, who did not play in the FIFA World Cup before he retired from football, passionately appealed to the government that the future of young Nigerian players makes it paramount for the nation to stick by soccer statutes.

“It was good that Nigeria acted in accordance with FIFA directives and this is a boost to Africa. It would have been sad if Nigeria was suspended, because Nigeria is a good soccer playing nation. Shutting Nigeria out of international tournaments will not make the squad better,” he reasoned. In Weah’s opinion, Nigeria should continue to feature her national teams in international football tournaments while the government works on righting the wrongs in the football federation.

Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s scribe, explained to this magazine how Nigeria beat a last-minute deadline to escape the soccer governing body’s hammer. “Nigeria’s expulsion was just around the corner. FIFA was to suspend Nigeria on Monday, 5 July but the government reversed its decision before the expiration of the deadline. But we are still monitoring the situation in Nigeria,” Valcke disclosed.

Valcke said if Nigeria had failed to meet the penultimate Sunday deadline and was subsequently banned by FIFA, the country’s national teams would have been barred from participating in any international tournament organised by the body.

Nigeria would have missed the FIFA U-20 Women Championships beginning this week in Germany, a tournament which Falconets qualified to attend at the expense of South Africa.

Also, Nigeria’s Premier league club, Heartland Football Club of Owerri, that edged out Super Sports United to qualify for the group stage of the lucrative CAF Champions League, would have lost its place to the South Africans.

The yearly subvention that FIFA remits to the NFF coffers, according to Valcke, would also have been withdrawn, while FIFA would freeze financial help to the federation. He said Nigerian referees would not be allowed to feature in international competitions and the Super Falcons would have missed out of October’s African Women Championships slated for South Africa.

Meanwhile, the last of the crisis engulfing Nigerian football may not have been heard. TheNEWS investigations revealed that another round of impeachment hangs on the neck of the newly constituted interim NFF board, led by Maigari. Some powerful Nigerians believe that Maigari and the remaining officials who served on the Lulu-led board must go with him. The leadership of Maigari has postponed elections into the new NFF board from August to December this year.

—Tunde Oyedele & Seun Bisuga

Tags:  Argentina, Federation, International Football Association, Lars Lagerback, NFF, President Goodluck, Super Eagles, World Cup