« Dream of free Biafra revives in southeast Nigeria | Main | Adenuga is innocent... - EFCC »
July 14, 2006
Nigeria at the crossroads
The tragic comedy that Nigerian football has become over the last seven months could be brought to a long overdue end or enter yet another macabre chapter on Tuesday.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
That is the power that the extraordinary congress of the Nigeria FA wields when it meets in Abuja, to decide the future of the incumbent FA board.
But the biggest surprise to unbiased watchers of the country's football landscape is that the congress has been convened in the first place.
Fifa, following two months of detailed enquiries, adjudged the December 2005 poll that gave Nigeria FA chairman Ibrahim Galadima and his board a new four-year term to be free of malpractices that could invalidate the result.
This pronouncement was supposed to have brought an end to the war of attrition between the Nigeria FA and Seidu Sambawa, the previous sports minister, who refused to recognise the legitimacy of the election and frustrated the board from carrying out its duties.
Fifa upholds Nigeria elections
That logical assumption was turned on its head when Urs Linsi, Fifa's general secretary, visited Nigeria in the weeks preceding the World Cup finals.
Even though Linsi reaffirmed the legitimacy of December's poll during his one-day visit in May, he brokered a perplexing 'peace deal' that gave Tuesday's congress the right to determine whether elections for a new board be conducted by the end of August.
Conferring legitimacy on a duly elected Nigeria FA (NFA) board on the one hand, while giving Tuesday's extraordinary congress the power to prematurely terminate the mandate of a board that still has 42 months to run - if they so choose - has done little for Fifa's credibility.
No one would shed a tear for the demise of any FA board that was found to have assumed office by illegitimate methods, no matter how late in the day the damning evidence was discovered.
But it will certainly set a bad precedent for football if an FA board that Fifa has judged to be legitimate can be turfed out for no genuine and transparent reason.
It is also perplexing that while Fifa had no problems suspending Greece on 3 July, after dragging their feet over completing reforms to national laws guaranteeing the autonomy of their FA, Nigeria - an identical case - was treated differently.
Greece was suspended after it appeared they would fail to complete the changes by a 15 July deadline Fifa set nine months ago.
This compelled the Europeans to expedite legislative action, enabling Fifa to lift the ban after a nine-day period.
In contrast, Nigeria was threatened with a December 2004 ban for the same offence and given 18 additional months to complete the changes, after Fifa accepted a plea from the government for more time.
Strangely, no firm date was set for the completion of the reforms during Linsi's May visit, apart from a promise to complete them by "the year's end."
With Nigeria's inexcusable failure to qualify for the last World Cup and with less than four years to produce a first-rate side to lead the 2010 challenge on African soil, it is imperative that Nigeria puts its chaotic house in order by doing what is fair and just.
That is the onerous responsibility of the delegates that will decide the direction of Nigerian football on Tuesday.
Posted by Publisher at July 14, 2006 02:17 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)