Kings and Pawns, Emperors and Fools.

An open letter to the “five wise men”.

It is clear that deep down the NFF board considers itself a failure! This perhaps accounts for the constant march, through their actions and utterances, towards destruction. Their penchant for making strange decisions regarding the national teams(for exampel,appointing Adegboyega Onigbinde and Henry Nwosu to “over see” Okey Emodi’s work with the locally based Eagles team during the CHAN qualifiers) in an effort to stop the slide by the national teams (both male and female) in the past months, no doubt illustrates their despiration.

First they allow themselves to be corned into believing that the Eagles have to get to the semi final of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa to be considered successful(that’s a discussion for another day). This was more or less an “ultimatum” given by the Sports Minister who continues to exert some influence on the NFF, albeit subtlety and sometimes otherwise, as the “supervising ministry”.

This has resulted in their recent failure to protect their employee, Shuiabu Amodu, from the barrage of criticisms hauled at him after the draw with Jamaica (a perceived inferior team) in last month’s friendly.

Every organization has its goals and objectives, the NFF is no different. Thus management and staff work hand in hand to achieve these goals. As such these employers expect some level of loyalty from their employees, while they in return expect some form of protection from those who are trying to hamper their well oiled machine.

Unfortunately, the NFF failed to protect Amodu these past weeks, in fact they (through their technical committee), tried to sabotage him, when they insisted on “vetting” (whatever that means) the squad list for the world cup qualifying match against Mozambique. These actions (or inactions) are most unfortunate given that Amodu’s team has one of the best records in the World cup qualifiers so far (at per with Spain, England and Holland), irrespective of the opposition (England played against Andorra and Kazakhstan). It’s a shame that Vincente Del Bosque, Fabio Capello and Bert van Marwick are not subjected to this same treatment being metted out to Amodu. The latest being the reported appointment of a consortium of coaches by the NFF to “advise” Amodu.

I am sure that Amodu did not ask for this consortium (it will be strange if he did) and surely it will serve as nothing but a source of distraction for him and his assistants. I do not want to go into the credentials of the members of this consortium (reportedly, Kasimawo Laloko, Adegboyega Onigbinde, Monday Sinclair, James Peters, and Alabi Aissien). I am sure they have at one point or the other achieved some success in football, both at local and international levels, but their involvement as individuals or as a group at this point in the Eagles will yield nothing but discord and ultimately failure.

We as individuals always jump at a chance to serve our country. We consider it a privilege, thus we’re always hard pressed take such opportunities. But like everything in life there is the good and the bad sides of any action one intends to take. As such one is expected to consider both sides before taking such actions. If the bad out weighs the good, one is expected to back down. One of such cases is this one.

I am sure the five men appointed into this consortium are honorable men and are expected to act as such. The NFF in its desire to do the “right thing” for the national team, have made a bad decision and it’s up to these honorable men correct it by refusing this appointment.

I know it’s difficult to refuse an appointment that will represent an addition to one’s current income in these difficult times, especially if it means a chance to do one’s “patriotic duties”. One might also argue that there are over 120 million people in Nigeria and if one does not take the chance, they can easily appoint some other person to that position. Yes, but one was chosen because one was considered to be the best among the lot and any replacement will no doubt smack of being second choice. Also the NFF will have to give the idea second thoughts if one says no.

There is a theory that this is a ploy by the NFF to cause confusion in the Super Eagles ( as no doubt this will) and thus provide an excuse to bring in a foreign coach-which translates to some agents with links to board members becoming a little bit richer, at the tax payers expense. If this is so, one would have served as a pawn in the hands of Kings in their mad desire to achieve personal ambition and wealth. Mr. Onigbinde has been there before and the events of 2002, which changed many people's perception of him, are well documented. Only a fool will travel a road known to lead to oblivion twice!

The truth is that the current board of the NFF is on a path to destruction, dragging the whole nation along with it. One can either facilitate this or help redirect them. Instead of being fools for Emperors, one can become the wise counsel for kings and one way is to say NO to this idea.