Segun Odegbami on Nigerian U-17 Age Cheats (a must read by FIFA and NFF)

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Written By Segun Odegbami

It is Wednesday night. I am sitting and wondering what to write about this week. The eye of the world is riveted on the World Cup Draws event. I may be there for the show and shall report my experiences on this page.

From next week those of us in the business of football analysis will have a field day peering into our crystal balls and predicting how games will go, how players will play, and how far Nigeria can get from the opposing teams that will be thrown up by the draws. Until that happens I am checking my mailbox for anything interesting.

I open my box and find one amongst tons of letters that attracts my full attention. It accuses me of complicity in the matter of the recently-concluded under-17 FIFA championship and wonders why I have not commented since the conclusion of the event either about the ‘successful’ organisation of the event or the exhilarating performances of the Golden Eaglets, a performance that seems to have soothed the nerves of Nigerians and lifted their spirit in contrast to the Super Eagles’ World Cup qualifying matches that kept people’s blood-pressure soaring high through most of the months of the campaign.

The writer wonders if Adokie Amiasimaka has not now been vindicated by the silence that has now followed his explosive revelation during the championship that the Nigerian captain is a twenty-something year old man and not the teenager he claims to be.

The majority point of view is that even if Adokie had the evidence his timing was wrong and that he should have waited until the end of the championship, allowed the visitors to go, and then raised the matter! Well, it has been weeks since the championship ended. Nothing has happened. No one is saying or doing anything. Is the issue raised by Adokie not of significance any more? Has time diminished the relevance of inquiry and verification of the issue? Has the matter been overtaken by events? Should it be forgotten and swept under the carpet?

I am thinking. Obviously my silence has not escaped the attention of some observant public. I owe it to my readers to express an opinion one way or the other. My first reaction is a reminder of an article I wrote ahead of the championship. In that piece I promised I shall only celebrate Nigeria’s victory or performance if it is achieved with integrity.

The greatest gift I give myself all the time is the right to choose who I want to be and how I want my every action and word to reflect the greatest version of myself. I’d rather be silent than embrace standards and values that diminish who I am. It has been with great difficulty that I have resisted the temptation to ventilate my feelings on the under-17 championship and damn the consequences. But common sense has held me back, and, so, my deafening silence.

I guess I am waiting, like many others, for the ‘appropriate’ time, when no one shall be accused of being unpatriotic; when no one shall be accused of taking cheap shots at those in NFF today because they want to discredit them so as to remove them and take over their positions; when the international community will not be around and no one can be accused of washing dirty linens in public; when my words would not be seen as a stain on my country’s image and reputation; and when it will not be considered ‘sinful’ to keep silent in the face of tyranny!

Unfortunately, the more I think of it the more it dawns on me how bad our situation really is. Such time will never come! As far as most Nigerians are concerned the Under-17 championship has come and gone; Adokie’s ‘wrong’ is making his allegation during the championship; the FIFA President has made his own pronouncement on the matter and insisted indirectly that it was not FIFA’s business to question the integrity of a country’s documentation to determine the age of its players; and the matter is dead and buried and over! Next chapter!

Unfortunately for some of us the fundamental issues in the matter cannot be swept under the carpet because they impact on the future of our children, on the development of our cherished game, on the image and reputation of our country and on our individual and collective values as Nigerians. When, therefore, will be the ‘right’ time to speak up and do something?

For the sake of the reader whose mail has precipitated my present thought process permit me to reproduce excerpts from an article I wrote a few weeks before the championship. It provides the answer for my present silence and why I did not join in celebrating the Eaglets.

The Golden Eaglets Must Win With Integrity!

In 1988, after the 1987 World Youth championship, in my naivety and with the purest of intentions I did not have to do more than a cursory logical computation, peeling the skin from the information that was in the public domain, to scream out loud that some of the players we used in the championship could not be the ages they claimed.

Those who were in charge of Nigerian football at the time were enraged. It was such a ‘heinous’ crime that I became victim of unwritten ostracisation from football administration for many years after that. It was such a serious charge, with potentials for massive international scandal that, were there no elements of some truth, I would have been sued for treason!

The shock is that there was not even a whimper from the football authorities. Against a lack of evidence to ‘convict’ anyone it became a matter of time before everyone went silent and became part of the complicity!

The most annoying defence put up by some people is that other countries (mostly from Africa) must be guilty of the same offence. A few years after the 1987 incident the country was caught in a documentation malpractice and was suspended by FIFA for a few years suffering international humiliation.

After that, rather than create better ways of verifying documents, the country ‘invested’ in perfecting documents submitted on the players to FIFA.

So, the initial cancer ate deeper into the fabric! The rewards for success at that level became too alluring that many Nigerians joined in the racket. It became such a lucrative business that hordes of academies sprung up all over the country marketing supposedly young players and as a result parents and agents in the country would do almost anything to get their wards into the under-17 category of the national team!

Cheating became an acceptable practice with parents and some football institutions as willing agents. Sports greatest values were abandoned on the altar of lucre. Hard work, morals, discipline, and fair play lost their place as the means to success!

Everyone in sport knew what was going on but was helpless against the practise, silenced by the overwhelming celebrations of ‘successes’ that left a hollow feeling in the pits! It was great to be part of a national celebration of ‘success’ but it was such a moral burden that many people had to live with, accepting unashamedly that cheating was okay for as long as others were probably also doing it. (I then wrote about a Nigerian lad who played at the NUGA games two years ago, was in 300 level when he did, had left the country for two years after NUGA and was a member of the under-17 team in camp!)

The arithmetic is easy to work out! No matter the computation one comes up with, no matter the allowances one makes up for early schooling, ingenuity and academic excellence, no matter the parameters used in measuring rapid acceleration through the classes, there is no way such a player that left secondary school 7 years ago would be less than 17 years old by October 2009!

There would have been many Nigerians that know this young man, starting from his parents, his teachers in primary and secondary school, his mates in the neighbourhood he grew up in, his class and school mates through Primary, secondary and university.

In October 2009, we all would have sat and watched this young man outplay children 7 or 8 years his junior, ‘excelled’ and brought ‘victory’ to Nigeria. We would have feted him, celebrated him and made him a hero. We would have rewarded him with gifts and honours along with his co-conspirators in this racket, made him a model for the next generation and perpetuated falsehood and cheating!

Yet, we would have known all the time that this is a moral baggage; that the victory, the glory, the honours, the accolades, all was fraudulently achieved and undeserved.

This country is in darkness. Even in sport that brings us so much joy, and draws from us the best in our talent and potentials as human beings so abundantly blessed by God, knowing fully well that we can win cleanly, with dignity and integrity, we choose instead the short cut and selling our souls in the end!

Nigeria does not have to win the FIFA under-17 championship by all means. But who says the country cannot win it with its best students under-17? Even if they don’t NOW the country would have started the process of developing authentic talents, the ones that represent the values we want to stand for as a nation that would go ahead into the future with experiences and exposure from the 2009 event to become winners of bigger trophies in the years to come! That I can truly celebrate!

So that’s it. That’s why I did not celebrate. Let me take the argument one step further than Adokie. Let me put my foot in it properly, after all there can be no more international sanctions following confirmation by the FIFA President himself that all the players that took part in the championship were of the correct age. So, that’s settled. I have no problem with one player being over-aged in the Nigerian team. What I actually have problem with is the challenge of identifying just one in the entire team that is actually under-17.

Just as the lord told his prophet that if he finds only one person righteous in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah he would spare both cities from destruction, so am I thinking that if I can find just one player in the entire Golden Eaglets team, still in secondary school, and below the age of 17 at the time of the last tournament I shall never write a line about cheating again in Nigerian football and shall apologise to all Nigerians. It is that bad!

segunodegbami@hotmail.com

(Culled from the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper 5th dec 2009)

The Rise and Rise of Evil..!

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By Adeola Aderounmu

In August 2009 I argued that Mr. Yar’ Adua should be sent packing (ref: 10 reasons why Yar’ Adua should resign).…! I continue to maintain that position irrespective of Mr. Yar’Adua’s status. I have never called him a president and I will under no circumstances have any reason to address him as one. As far as I am concern he is a product of evil and illegality. Anyone who has forgotten what happened in 2007 should do a quick browse of the articles on Nigerian Village Square for information.

Mr. Yar’ Adua is very sick and there are reasons to believe he will not be able to return to his illegal post again. I am not taking advantage of his sickness. I know what it is to be sick. When I was 2 my parents actually thought I would die. In 2005 I was nearly off at Karolinska hospital due to an illness. I’ve lost someone I love to cancer. I’ve lost 2 nephews to preventable causes. My mum is down with stroke. Many of us have our personal problems but we didn’t pause Nigeria with our problems. No one has such right or privilege.

At this moment that Nigeria should be looking ahead we are now being held static by forces and individuals who are playing gods with our existence. They have reasons to do that. Very stupid reasons actually! In the history of this failing nation we have never successfully elected leaders into political offices. It has been one rigging after another or one military dictatorship after another. It is based on these types of precedents that the current rogues who called themselves politicians in Nigeria are incapable of moving the nation forward.

Evil is perpetually on the rise in Nigeria. It appears that it will continue to be so until one day that the people will be able to say enough is enough. If the people of Nigeria continue to sit down and look without taking actions then nothing will change. The politicians will continue to do what they know best: use violence or military influence to rig elections, loot the treasury and never give a damn about the consequences of their actions.

There was a call from about 56 prominent Nigerians that Yar Adua should resign. Actually that is not their call. That call is for 150m Nigerians to make. Indeed that call should be the sign of things to come. There is nothing stopping 150m Nigerians from forming a formidable unit to resist this evil and face it for once and for all time.

Nigerians have a moral obligation to bring down the reign of evil and its agents. The constitution is not perfect but that it is not even respected means that we live under the reign of tyranny in disguise. So why not bring it down. Heaven will not fall with it..!

Today we have very shameless men and women parading the corridors of power. It is so unbelievable the types of statements and information that emanate daily from these tropical gangsters in agbada. Their collective mentality brings ridicule to the rest of us. Seriously there is something wrong with the black race. What will it take to break it if it is a curse or sort?

Again the main reason why we are at this crossroad is because of the wrong way we took to this point. Imagine if our votes were counted in 2007 we will not be at this junction. It is therefore more imperative at this point than at any other point of our crumbling history that we seize this moment and start doing it right at whatever cost!

Those of us who do not accept Umaru cannot discard Goodluck. What we must ensure is to allow him assume the position of the number one citizen but doing all we can before 2011 to avoid the kind of process that manufactured him and his diminishing boss. No one can deny that they were selectively planted to satisfy the evil desires of Mr. Obasanjo and his co-travellers.

I must reiterate that Nigerians must rise up for their own good so prevent the further rise of evil in Nigeria. At all cost we must ensure transparency of our electoral system. We have had opportunities in the past to do things right but we always spend our times at churches and mosques praying and doing nothing. People should get out of their shrines and act.

We have a lot of things to put in place, back to what they were before independence actually. Our educational system, our health delivery system, our transport system, our economy, our environment, our infrastructure and definitely our employment system and human dignity all require fixing. By ourselves we can declare a state of emergence on our power system and see to it that it works. We should ensure that our national system starts to work again by bringing down all those standing in the way.

These things are achievable. We don’t need a useless 7-point deadly agenda or the prescription of fraudulent minds called vision 20-2020. Nonsense! When we have taken control of our electoral system and being able to elect our representatives then we can start asking for accountability and probity in public and private institutions. We will minimise corruption and give hope to our children and children’s children.

This is the time for Nigerians to unite and ensure that Yar’ Adua does not come back again. He is a liability, too weak for Nigeria even if they package him again. I can tell you that thousands of children have died in Nigeria since the day that he left Nigeria for treatment in a foreign land. This is the time to take measures that will terminate such irresponsible and shameful act from a ruler. Now is that time to do all that is possible to get those politicians, senators and lawmakers to act. If it means going to their houses, why not? If it means millions of Nigerian bombarding Abuja or Aso rock, why not?

To do nothing is to be part and parcel of the evil itself. It will rise forever..!

A reminder: 10 Reasons Why Yar’ Adua Should Resign..!

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By Adeola Aderounmu

(First published in august this year)

10 Reasons Why Yar’ Adua Should Resign..!

Yar’ Adua continues to receive treatment for his ailments overseas. No excuse will be enough to justify why a man who ruled a state for 8 years and a wealthy country like Nigeria for 2 years cannot build a state of the art hospital in Katsina or Abuja so that he can have direct access to medical treatment.

It is not impossible that the frequent treatment that Yar Adua is receiving overseas might be gulping millions of naira each time. Tax payers’ money so recklessly spent is inhuman and wicked. If the ruler of a country travels abroad to receive treatment, what is the fate of the helpless poor masses? What is the fate of Nigerian children, pregnant women and the elderly? This shame is unbearable for the normal people in Nigeria, Umaru should resign!

It must be repeated as often as necessary that Yar’ Adua was not elected. That he admitted it is not enough. He has a moral obligation to let go of what he got illegally and against the wish of the Nigerian people. If Yar’ Adua is a normal human being or an educated graduate that we are told he is, then he should know that acquisition of power by falsehood is a depiction of daftness. The knowledge of books or letters does not translate to intellectualism. Only thieves claim things by falsehood, lying and stealing.

One of the rare moments when Yar’ Adua made good a promise was when he set up the panel that examined the electoral process in Nigeria. But like the dictators before him, he has decided not to abide by all the recommendations of the Electoral Committee. Political analysts asserted that the National Assembly can actually adopt the entire recommendations. Those lazy crooks! However the struggle for the actualisation of those recommendations has been sustained by Pro-Democratic groups and the NLC. Causing Nigerians these unnecessary pains and agonies is enough for the clueless idle dude in Aso Rock to return to his village.

Yar’ Adua and his gang have refused and failed to grant all Nigerians a fair chance to attain their fullest potential. The Nigerian Education system today is a complete disaster. The entire blame is not on this lazy government but the fact that after 2 wasteful and destructive years in power they never came up with reasonable steps or attempts to prevent the deterioration in the sector. Most of the unscrupulous politicians and government officials have given their own children the best of education in Nigerian private schools and also at colleges and universities abroad. This is unfair and the man who oversees a failed system should give way, immediately.

In a previous article, I have discussed the scam called vision 20-2020 and the fake 7-point agenda. Yar’ Adua is a liar. What can he point to after 2 years that shows that Nigeria will be a strong economy in 2020? If he decides to go all the way to 2011 Yar’ Adua has a limited time left to show what bravery is all about. Let him try to round off all his former colleagues who stole from the coffers of government when they served as state governors. He should bring them and other crooks in government to justice as a genuine first step towards 20-2020. In the absence of such a sincere commitment, Yar’ Adua should immediately stop the 419, 7p agenda/vision 20-2020 and return to Katsina.

Yar Adua has intimidated and bullied some jelly-hearted governors into the PDP fold. That is Yar Adua’s way of deepening Nigeria’s democracy. Bringing everyone into PDP with a promise for automatic selection in 2011 is Yar Adua’s way of restructuring government’s staff. Seriously the inefficiency and sourness of this illegal administration are extremely disgusting. Yar Adua should return to his village before Nigeria tops the list of failed states. We are getting there too quickly.

Yar’Adua has failed woefully in the area of infrastructure. Where is the mass transportation that he promised 2 years ago? Where are the railroads? Where are the jobs? Yar’Adua promised a dramatic development in power generation, transmission and distribution. Indeed the development has been more than dramatic? Who would have thought that Nigeria will be envelope in total eclipse of darkness by 6pm each day? There is nothing wrong if the man under whose notorious command electricity became a relic in Nigeria is also shown the way out by people power. Are Nigerians not tired of Yar’ Adua?

Yar’Adua committed genocide in the Niger Delta because he had no single clue on how the lingering crisis can be resolved. Out of shame and in one of the most fascinating ironies of modern history he declared amnesty to the winning party. Peace in the Niger Delta demands a holistic approach. The starting point will be the trial of Obasanjo and Yar Adua for acts of genocides. The continuation will be the prosecution of all the past and present looters who called themselves Niger Delta Governors or South-South Governors.

The sincerity of a legitimate government working hand-in-hand with disciplined oil industries in the Delta will bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta through the application of justice and fairness in all dealings. Pertinent issues relating to environmental degradation, general pollution, health care, employment opportunities and provision of social amenities/infrastructure cannot be compromised, not even by a fake amnesty. It’s simple logic: no justice, no peace!

By way of repetition Yar’ Adua lied when he said that he will intensify the war against corruption. Mrs. Clinton was blunt when she said that in the last 2 years the anticorruption agency is dead in Nigeria. This is the handiwork of Yar’Adua. He succumbed to pressure to appoint a stooge for the corrupt governors who worked under Obasanjo. By so doing Yar’Adua totally killed the anticorruption war in Nigeria. Farida Waziri is product of maladministration and evil connivance. By refusing to fight corruption from the top Yar’Adua accelerated the spread of poverty in Nigeria. No meaningful impact will be felt on the economy by witch-hunting or titbit war on corruption by using certain out-of-favour persons as victims. The missing word in the fight against corruption is TOTAL.

The failed PDP government said Mrs. Clinton was misinformed when she declared that Nigeria has a leadership problem. PDP also said that Hilary’s comments about the EFCC are out of place. For making this type of foolish comments, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP Rufai Ahmed Alkali is one of the greatest enemies of Nigeria and should be avoided like a plague. As a Nigerian, I want to state categorically that I don’t need a Mrs. Clinton to know that Nigeria has no leaders. Nigeria has a very big leadership problem.

Nigeria’s self appointed leaders are the biggest obstacle to the development of Nigeria. The story goes on and EFCC is a failed institution because all the corrupt politicians in Nigeria under the previous and present dispensations are all free people. PDP as it is today is the most evil organisation on the surface of Africa because of the impact of the attitudes and actions displayed under the PDP banner and the effects on the lives of over 140m black Africans 75% of whom are completely hopeless. Does R.A Alkali not know this before Clinton visited Abuja?

Yar’ Adua promised to be a worthy personal example. Has he done this by travelling overseas every now and then for treatments? Has he been a good example by travelling to Brazil when Nigeria was boiling courtesy of failure of governance which resulted to the rise of Boko Haram? What type of example has Umaru provided by eliminating a whole community in Bayelsa State using the Obasanjo Odi Approach (OOA)? What type of example would make a man stupidly coerce other people into the PDP because of the promise of automatic election victories in 2011? Is that how democracy can develop in Nigeria?

When Yar Adua visited Imo State everything was closed down for his sake, school children were forced to wear uniforms on a Saturday and markets were closed down. These are the hallmarks of dictatorship. Yar’ Adua and individuals of like-traits have no businesses in our quest to build a nation which by 2100 should by among the league of developed countries in the world, if we start the process of change today. To make our dreams come true when our grandchildren start arriving Yar’ Adua should give way now. Delay is dangerous!

Why Goodluck Jonathan May Not Become Nigeria’s President

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by Adeola Aderounmu

One thing that people should know about Nigeria is that Nigeria’s form of democracy is rubbish. The various governments that we have had over the years are non-democratic. It’s been several years of military dictatorship and civilian autocracy.

In 1999, 2003 and 2007 politicians appointed themselves into different positions using first in 1999 the military might of the military-backed PDP. There was a settlement then that brought Obasanjo to power. In 2003, he was re-appointed-only this time through his own control of the PDP and the useless electoral commission headed by one puppet and liar called Maurice Iwu.

In 2007 Obasanjo tried to make himself a life president by gunning for a third term in office but he failed in that attempt. His VP was also ambitious but both of them are stinkingly corrupt and big for nothing individuals. They ruined Nigeria and they brought government to a stand still through their personal ego fight.

Obasanjo handpicked Yar Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. Yar Adua in 2009 has shown manifestation of a disease that has plagued him since he was a governor. Any attempt for him to govern beyond this moment will aggravate his situation and possibly end his life. Summarily Yar Adua is not fit to rule over Nigeria. He has done so illegally for 2 years. Two worst years in the history of any government in Nigeria.

Jonathan is avoiding the responsibilities despite tha fact that it is clear that his master is out of town, almost permanently. Nigerians must call on Obasanjo to tell us the type of agreement that Jonathan signed when he was chosen (not elected) to be the VP. It appears that our useless politicians are keen on keeping to agreement while throwing away the constitution of the FR-of Nigeria that stipulates that the VP should take over when the president is away or dead.

This written document or okija-styled oath may be the reason why Jonathan may not become the president of Nigeria. It is possible that those cabal are asking him to resign on this basis. Jonathan is too quiet. He is however not stupid. But the fact that he is quiet and avoiding presidential obligations means that he has a skeleton in his cupboards.

Some people have speculated that his resignation will become a reality if Yar Adua dies. No one is sure what is going to happen. I am not sure as well.

But it pains me to my marrow that we may have on our hands papers, agreements or oaths that overrides our consitution. This is Nigerian politics. It is the most useless form of government on planet earth.

The people don’t count. They can go to hell for all the politicians care. How long can the people be left out of governance. For how long shall be look and do nothing about our lives, about the future of our children.

A Country Without a President

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By Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria by my own estimation is the most ridiculous country on planet earth. For the second week running this country is without a president whether legal or illegal.

This brings to light the types of idiots and fools who say they are Nigerian Politicians. They are thieves and self-serving people who have taken the other 140m into bondage and eternal slavery.F
If they are not fools and if they are not thieves, they should have followed constitutional approaches to enthrone the VP and continue with the business of governance.

Right now in Nigeria there is no governance, there has hardly been one since May 2007 due to the ill health and near total incapacitation of Yar Adua. The man is sick and right now no one knows if he is dead or alive in far away Saudi Arabia where everything around him is total secret and unknown.

So here we are in Nigeria waiting like idiots. Those politicians who always smuggle their ways into governance are taking us for another useless ride. They always do. Our votes don’t count and we as the people will always accept them no matter what. This is the height of slavery and human bondage.

At a time like this you expect pro-democracy groups and even proactive oppositions to seize the day and make demands for what is just and right. Not in Nigeria. The prime issue is your personal political survival. You must not be singled out trying to play Mr. Right.

The ruler is in coma and the nation must be in coma too. This is what the junta, the military cabal and the power drunk mafia in Nigeria are doing to us. We are quiet. We have no revolutioanry will or spirits. By now Millions of Nigerians should have been organised to demonstrate and demand for justice, fair play and the need to keep the nation moving forward.

For 2 years this country has moved backward and the business of governace almost terminated because of one man and the mafiac influence of the military junta. They think they are power brokers. I call them fools all the time and I blame the resilient 140m people.

Slavery in Nigeria has no comparative scale. It is so unique you’ll be wondering if it is human beings or animals living in Nigeria. I will never comprehend how such a small clique will continue to hold us in bondage-49 years on. It is unthinkable.

I don’t want to believe that it is true that 2010 budget is just 4 pages of power point presentation. Is it all about sharing money among these thieves. Nigerian lawmakers have budgetted billions of naira for travelling and furniture. Believe me, those people are CRAZY. So they buy furniture every year and where are they travelling to?

Millions of Nigerians are living on less than 1 dollar a day and all these greedy and corrupt people care about is their mouths and pockets. Really I don’t blame them. The system gives room for looting, stealing and destruction as the people continue to suffer and groan. But these people pray, suffer and do nothing.

The person who is suppose to ensure that we have good health care is lying sick in Saudi Arabia. I don’t get it. Millions of Nigerians are sick and they can’t afford the basic health care around them. Invariably public health care is almost zero in Nigeria. So the greedy politicians go abroad to treat flu, headache and diarrhoea.

Two weeks without a president, this must be the funniest country on earth-one that is forcefully ruled by idiots and fools.