Nigeria Appoints Lars Lagerbäck As Coach of The Super Eagles

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Adeola Aderounmu

Lars Lagerbäck has been appointed as the coach of the Nigeria Super Eagles. Shuaibu Amodu has been sacked from that position because of the poor performances of the Nigerian team at the Angola 2010 African Cup of Nations. The sack is also connected to the pattern of play and the unconvincing manner in which Nigeria qualified for the world cup.

This is not the first time that Amodu would qualify for the world cup. He did it before and was sacked. The reasons and the circumstances are exactly the same. In fact the administration of football and sports in general in Nigeria has gone worse under the same period of time.

By sacking Amodu the NFF is actually sweeping the dirts under the carpets. NFF did so in France 98 and Korea Japan 2002, the outcomes were disastrous. More devastating when we lost our qualifying spot to lowly rated Angola in 2006. Not that Amodu is indispensable or that he could not have done better, but the fact is that there is more to sports and football in Nigerian than the use of Amodu as a scape goat. Goodbye Amodu, I hope the day will never come when they will ask you to come and help Nigeria to qualify for the world cup again.

The baton has now been passed to Lars Lagerbäck. I have followed Swedish football since 2002. That year Sweden defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the Japan-Korea 2002 World Cups. That was after Aghahowa put Nigeria ahead with a beautiful header off Yobo’s cross. Henrik Larsson and Fredrik Ljungberg got a goal each for Sweden.

Before 2002 I knew Martin Dahlin, Henrik Larsson and Tomas Brolin. Brolin was a huge success in the Italian league and he has a famous way to celebrate his goals. I don’t have any problem per se with the appointment of Lagerbäck. I think his track records give him a good edge for that position.

Sweden has not produced several big names in recent years but Zlatan remains outstanding. Sweden failed to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. Lagerbäck was relieved of his position. Lagerbäck was not a failure but I am convinced there are a few things he would have done better as the head coach for Sweden. Sweden does not have many skilful and talented players as Nigeria.

As the coach of a Nigerian team Lagerbäck has entered into a position where non-performance will not be tolerated. There are 140m football analysts in Nigeria. His seat is even hotter than that of the president. Does he know that? Nigerians don’t care about the presidency as much as they do football-football is the number one religion in Nigeria.

Lagerbäck who has been used to organised environment and structured attitude to work has now suddenly entered into a position where he may probably be looking for jerseys on match days. Lagerbäck will be shocked to know that his salary will not be paid on the 25th of every month. He will have to get used to be living in advance as the salaries will drag and drag. He needs tolerance, endurance and perseverance to survive the 5 months that have been handed to him.

Lagerbäck will inherit players of different ratings and attitudes. Obviously he needs to get used as quickly as possible to the Nigerian football ages and get rid of tired legs as soon as possible. He will see players who think they are doing Nigeria a favour by playing in the national colours. Lagerbäck will see players who are dying for their club sides because of the money they earn and strolling on the pitch when they play for Nigeria. He will be shocked! In fact he will see players impressing in training but posing on match days.

I have suggested in a previous post that we need to work on the mentalities of our players. But the complexity of the problem is that our players are Nigerians and we cannot isolate their mentalities from the national mentalities. Most of the people in governance or administrative roles in Nigeria are doing things that will profit them and not Nigeria. We have an attitude that has robbed us of our pride and duty to nation. Nigerian players are not exceptions!

I don’t know the nature of Lagerbäck’s contract but if I could just imagine-it would be wonderful to have him bring some organisation and structure into our football. If they could employ him not just as a coach but as a “tool” to institute the organisation that is missing in our football, that would be great.

Imagine if our democracy is structured like Swedish democracy-where you can vote at a post office or at designated centres before the Election Day-and your vote will still be counted. Imagine if we could sack corrupt people and let good and knowledgeable people run our sports, our football and our government-the world will be at our feet.

I wish Lagerbäck the best of luck. I wish I could meet him and give him some solid advice and information about his new task and terrain.

I wish Nigeria goodluck in South Africa. And I sincerely hope that Amodu will find the place in his heart to forgive Nigerians, we are a bunch of _________people..!

Nigeria is obviously not a democratic country

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Adeola Aderounmu

My work is not allowing me to blog out my heart concerning the TOTAL MADNESS in the Nigerian seat of power.

Mad men are back to power and a probably insane woman is about to uproot the weak foundations of Nigeria.

I shal blog more over the weekend after I have taken a closer look at the ABSOLUTE MADNESS going on in Nigeria.

I hope to hit out hard at Nigerians including myself that we have totally lost the plot and maybe it is time for everyone to return to his/ her mother’s house.

I cannot believe how insanity has taken control of the rulership in Nigeria.

Anyone who says Nigeria is a democratic country would need an immediate psychiatric evaluation.

As I write Nigeria is like a jungle where some fools and idiots are holding the rest of us to ransom. For all they care, the rest of us can go to hell.

This is unbelievable. What a crazy dilemma.

These are probably the worst of times for sane Nigerians. We are all down no doubt!

NIGERIAN PRESIDENCY, AS CONFUSED AS EVER

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Adeola Aderounmu

Nigerian presidency is the most ridiculous institution in Nigeria. If you want to know why Nigeria is usually disorganized in many things look no further than the seat of power. It is so true yet unbelievable. It took so long before Goodluck Jonathan could be given the mantle to lead Nigeria.

When he was supposed to get out and lead the people, he sat in Aso rock receiving local and international visitors. All the former corrupt rulers came to him. What do they want? Were they paid for the visit? That is a possibility in the Nigeria that I knew.

Goodluck has spent the entire period of his reign as acting president, no matter how short it is, to talk, receive people and did almost nothing like going out and leading. We have no leaders and our heroes are dead.

Now check this out. Military personnel were deployed to the streets of Abuja without the knowledge of Goodluck Jonathan. Mr Jonathan had no knowledge that Yar Adua was to be smuggled into the country at midnight of 23rd Feb 2010. All the actions and activities that brought back Yar Adua is an ambulance were unknown to Goodluck Jonathan.

The Nigerian presidency is a divided house. It is in disarray and believe it or not Nigerians are in trouble. The sufferings and poverty in the country are nowhere near being tackled. Nigeria is now a confirmed field for fight for political supremacy and winners takes all. Probably the Winner will stand alone like in Paulo Coelho’s book.

How can the acting president not know about the “smuggling in” of the fake president who left 90 days ago on “AWOL”? There are fundamental issues that threaten the corporate existence of Nigeria.

These issues are serious and they bring to the fore once again that Nigeria is not a united country. Those who say that Nigeria is a geographical region are perfectly correct. It is a region that the winner plunders and takes home the profit.

If the presidency is so disorganized, selfish, wicked and corrupt, it means we are still in a hopeless situation. Who is going to explain why Goodluck Jonathan, the man who is supposed to be in charge of Nigeria, was not aware of military personnel being deployed across the streets of Abuja?

Who ordered the provision of security for the return of Yar Adua? Why was the security measure necessary? Was there any risk to the return of Yar Adua? Why is Yar Adua in an ambulance? Why was the light put out on his ambulance air plane? What is all these secretive moves and rubbish all about? What is the purpose of all these devilish maneuvers?

If Goodluck could be caught off guards on security measures, we can now understand the spate of political assassinations in Nigeria. We can get a picture of the unending riots in Jos and other parts of Northern Nigeria. We can have an idea of how one Muttalab could sneak around with bomb in his pants. We can understand our collective grief when people like Dipo Dina and all the defenders of human rights and freedom of speech have been gunned downed in broad day light.

All these things are linked and interwoven to make our lives complex and complicated. They add to the problems and obstacles that we face. They dim our hopes and blur our aspirations.

The political situation in Nigeria today is a “heart breaker”. It calls for urgent measures. Where do we go from here? How do we get out of the dilemma. The presidency is confused and in disarray, where is our hope?

Yar Adua should be taken to his village..!

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By Adeola Aderounmu

You can tell who the real enemies of Nigeria are. They include individuals like Yar Adua and his so called evil kitchen cabinet.

Just when we are about to settle down to do something meaningful after over 2 years of recklessness and waste Mr Yar Adua was smuggled into Abuja amidst tight security. It makes you wonder if he is a civilian ruler or an outright dictator.

We don’t know if he came back to Nigeria on his own or if his kitchen cabinet wanted to give us a stationary dude for a fake president for the second time in 2 years. Time is the revealer of all things-hidden or secrets. But that he is resident in an ambulance speaks volume!

Time will tell if Yar Adua is bold enough to appear in public by conscious effort. When he claimed to be well, he was very ineffective, slow and very insignificant to the lives of millions of suffering Nigerians. It doesn’t matter his condition now Yar Adua is already down in history as the worst president/ruler ever in Nigeria.

Nigeria is not ready for the present dilemma which the kitchen cabinet has now orchestrated. We were just looking into the future and thinking about how to adopt electoral changes, how to conduct free and fair elections and how to enthrone genuine democracy.

We were just thinking about how we can help Mr. Jonathan with the fight against corruption in his family and nationwide. We were putting on our thinking caps about the electricity problem in Nigeria. We live in darkness and our businesses are crumbling for obvious reasons.

Suddenly, we now have to stop and think once again, not about 100m Nigerians living desperately on less than 1 dollar per day, but about Mr Yar Adua who held Katsina and Nigeria in bondage for 8 and 2 years respectively. We are back in trouble waters.

This is what I think, some idiots may probably use Yar Adua as a decoration somewhere and pretend to us that what they are doing is following the instructions from Yar Adua. They tried this several times saying that our fake president was ruling and giving orders from Saudi Arabia.

Since that ploy failed with the elevation of Goodluck Jonathan, they decided to bring Umaru home-dead or alive. It’s the same old trick.
I have written before that Yar Adua should be taken to his village if he ever returns to Nigeria. I maintain that stance. Mr Yar Adua, the illegitimate ruler of Nigeria, is not fit for the presidency. No matter the condition under which he has returned to Nigeria, he should be taken to his village.

He needs to continue to rest. If he is conscious, he needs to think about his health and family. He should never prioritize Nigeria. Nigeria and Nigerians can do without his nonsense inputs. He should just go and leave Nigeria alone.

I am waiting anxiously to see his unveiling if he thinks that he has the strength again to lead Nigeria.

A word is enough for the wise but never enough for the foolish. The dog that will get lost will never hear the hunter’s whistle. AND those whom the gods will destroy, they first make deaf. I think someone or some people are probably deaf now.

The next few days will be exciting in Nigeria. There will be no dull moments. We keep our fingers crossed..!

Nigerian Govt Sends Another Useless Delegation To Saudi Arabia

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Adeola Aderounmu

For the umpteenth time the Nigerian government is sending another useless delegation to Saudi Arabia. This is with a view to see to the state of health of Mr. Yar Adua who left Nigeria since November 2009.

No one has seen Mr. Yar Adua since Nov 2009. Only his wife and the paid tight-lip Saudi Doctors know about the condition of Mr. Yar Adua. Every time other Nigerians or government officials try to find out about Umaru Yar Adua they met impermeable brick walls.

At one time one American TV presenter joked that Nigerian president may be secretly dead. Then we heard a voice on BBC that no one has verified to this moment. Images are very important but we haven’t seen that since November 2009.

If the Nigerian government is composed of sensible people, what is the reason for sending another useless delegation to Saudi Arabia? They have done that before and the results were negative. No one can see Yar Adua. I don’t know why but surely his wife knows.

Just imagine this simple scenario: rather than send another useless delegation to Saudi Arabia, why not give that money (believe me, this single trip costs millions of naira) to one or two poor people in Nigeria to start a new business that will transform their lives forever.

Like I have always argued, I will never understand the madness in our government. Why do we need a delegation to travel to Saudi Arabia in this world dominated by media and communication power? Even a web cam of 10 dollars can solve the problem.

Yes a webcam that cost 10 dollars or less can solve the problem that the Nigerian government is now spending millions of naira on. No amount of argument on the side of the government now headed by Mr Jonathan can justify the extension of the madness into his administration.

Is this what Mr Goodluck Jonathan has in stock for Nigerians? Merry go-rounding? Dancing and beating about the bush? Is this the level of intellectualism in the Nigerian house of assembly-to continue to loot and waste millions of naira daily when ordinary Nigerian are looking for hope and daily bread?

I am compelled to repeat that a webcam connection between Aso rock and Saudi Arabia would have saved this millions of naira that is about to be wasted. If Aso rock cannot make the connection by cam or video conference, then it simply means that Umaru is not worth seeing and his government should be totally terminated. This should have even been done the moment he left without following the due process.

Is Goodluck going to sit down and do something or is he going to spend the whole time he has begging and pacifying sycophants in Nigeria. He has to make a choice either to serve Nigerians or trying to appease evil minded people. If he chose the later, that makes him one of them and our fears are duly confirmed.