MDadmin
When the story broke last week that Jonathan Goodluck has taken the decision to withdraw Nigeria from international football for two years, to effect re-organization of the game Nigerians love so much, I promised to write in support of the president, this week. I saw the decision as bold, because the football house is a notorious den of corruption, run at the behest of the manipulator-in-chief of Nigerian sports, a certain Amos Adamu!
Officially a civil servant, Adamu has exploited his position to become Nigeria’s man in CAF and FIFA and is president of WAFU. Adamu holds Nigeria’s sports by the jugular, ensuring that he is either directly running affairs or is chief puppeteer, using his sidekicks, even children and relatives, to run the show in the NFF, or as we saw in the LOC of the Under-17 championship, held last year.
Last week’s decision appeared to be a patriotic attempt to dismantle the edifice of corruption and graft which the Mafiosi instituted for years to the detriment of the Nigerian people’s genuine love of football. For the mafia, our passion is merely a cash cow: money from FIFA was hidden from government for a long time just as the Nigerian government was made to release hundreds of millions, often in foreign currency, for competitions.
Much of these sums end in the pocket of members of the mafia. So we have the incredible situation whereby Amos Adamu is arguably, the richest civil servant in Nigerian history; and the richer the man has become, the poorer the state of our football and sports, in general. The sidekicks that he installs to ruin football have perfected, through their man, the issuing of threats of a FIFA ban, anytime an attempt is made at stopping the rot in football management.
This is the background which led to the disgraceful outing at the World Cup, after billions of naira was expended, from the qualifiers through the African Nations Cup campaign to the World Cup. Nigeria spends money, most of it stolen by the mafia, but we dare not examine the structure Amos Adamu installed, because FIFA sanctions will be invoked by the Mafiosi! Nigerians feel sad about our teams’ performances, they smile to bank!
And that is what happened this week. Jonathan Goodluck ate his words and bowed to the pressures of FIFA, while chief negotiator of the humiliation of Nigeria’s president is none other than the ubiquitous Amos Adamu! So Nigeria nil, Amos Adamu, a goal! Just to ensure the structure of graft in the house of football remains intact, three of the boys were sacrificed: Sani Lulu, Amanze Uchegbulam and Taiwo Ogunjobi. They have “chopped and cleaned mouth” and can be removed to ensure continued thriving of the house of graft and corruption that the Mafiosi created.
In making the spineless Jonathan Goodluck do a somersault, they promised to “disband the team and address the numerous shortcomings evident in the management of football in Nigeria”. How can this be done when the NFF is still FIRMLY in the hands of Amos Adamu’s boys?
Jonathan Goodluck has allowed himself to be spun on a little finger by Amos Adamu who has ensconced himself within the structures of FIFA. If there was no will power to reform the football structures, why was Jonathan huffing and puffing in the first place? Why the PR disaster and the policy flip-flop? So for the umpteenth time, the tail has wagged the dog: Amos Adamu, a civil servant exploited the opportunity to become more powerful than Nigeria’s president, in matters of football! Jonathan can release millions of dollars but it is Amos who determines what happens through his control of the structures!
All perceptive observers know that Amos Adamu is at the root of our football woes but by a stroke of evil-ingenuity, always ends up the “problem solver”; that ensures we get motion without movement and an appearance of change that leaves situation the same! As Fela would have said: “DOUBLE WAHALA FOR DEADI BODY”! Ladies and Gentlemen; lovers of the beautiful game in Nigeria, please vacate the stadium; the referee has blown the final whistle. Scores are as they were at half time: NIGERIA NIL, AMOS ADAMU: ONE GOAL!
