I was going through a paper last week,
presicely The Sun newspaper of Tuesday November 30th, when I came across a
write-up written by one Ben Memuletiwon and captioned: Wicked Mohammed!
wages war against Christians in sports, embarks on ethnic cleansing.
The writer started by asking: �How else would
one describe Colonel Musa Mohammed�s war against Christians in the Sports
Ministry!�
Mr. Memuletiwon querried why the minister asked
the Presidency last week to re-deploy 34 staffers of the ministry, on the
grounds that he could no longer work with them. according to Memuletiwon, 32
of the affected staff are Christians and 33 of the number are from Southern
Nigeria � comprising mainly Yoruba, Igbo and Edo. the only person with
Northern extraction, according to the writer is the permanent secretary,
Solomon Matankari, who hails from the Middle Belt.
Some of those affected by the minister�s
re-deployment, the writer, alleged, are Dr. Simon Ebhojaye, Dr Emmanuel
Igbinosa, Toyin Aluko, Olu Akoja and Chinedu Ezeala.
He then quoted a staff of the ministry as
saying: �These are about the best hands in sports. They are core
professionals who are specialists on the job. This man does not wish sports
well.�
He further stated that, if the Nigerian sports
helmsman wants Nigerians to take him seriously that these officials were
punished as a result of Athens 2004 Olympics woes, then he must have first
sent his aide, Salisu Abubakar, to the guillotine for all the corruption and
mess he perpetrated in last season�s league. �Months after the league ended,
it is still a mystery that a winner has not been announced,� he added. �The
man, the minister endorsed to continue handling the league, even when club
owners are threatening fire and brimstone. They have sworn with ogun (god of
iron) and, or sango (god of thunder) that they would call the minister�s
bluff and boycott this year�s league if Salisu is not removed immediatel,�
the write-up stated.
Similarly, the writer accused the minister of a
plan to surround himself with people from Gombe state, or his political
cronies, alleging further that the minister�s ignorance to the game, had
made him to brazenly tell hordes of journalists last week that the league
would start in December, even when the Nigeria Football Association (NFA)
did not have their Annual General Meeting (AGM), which suffered another
postponement.
The writer also disclosed the minister�s
efforts to remove the NFA scribe on a number of occasions in addition to his
concluded plans to storm Zurich with his cronies in a mission some soccer
buffs described as senseless trip. �His reason for the jamboree trip is to
sweet-talk FIFA over the Decree 101 issue, so that Nigeria can escape the
wrath.
�What is Dr Amos Adamu�s business with Decree
101? Who in FIFA can Alhasan Yakmut and Salisu Abubakar convince on the
offending decree? Why must the minister travel to Zurich with Chairman,
House Committee on Sports? �The writer queried.
Mr. Memuletiwon lastly observed that apart from
the NFA chairman, Ibrahim Galadima, others are on the trip to line their
pockets. And if President Obasanjo is serious with his anti-corruption
crusade, he should stop this senseless trip, because Nigeria would benefit
more from a trip by soccer orators like Adegboye Onigbinde and Kojo
Williams.
After i patiently went through Mr.
Memuletiwon�s write-up, I concluded that someone else was brain behind the
whole scene. The writer was used by some group of people who felt bad or
were injured by the minister�s plan to restructure the ministry.
Eventhough I am not trying to defend the
minister of any accusation, but bringing religion, sectionalism and
tribalism into the ministry�s affair will not move sports forward in this
country.
On the allegation that the minister was the
brain behind the planned re-deployment of 34 staffers out of which 32 of the
affected staff are Christians and 33 of the number are from Southern
Nigeria, mainly Yoruba, Igbo and Edo, I am happy the writer was sincere to
connect the minister�s action to Nigeria�s Athens 2004 Olympics woes at the
late stage.
Mr. Memuletiwon and his sponsors should know
that no serious person can invest the amount Nigeria sank on Athens 2004
Olympics and come back home with nothing to write home about and allow it to
go like that. Where are these people�s experience and qualification during
the last olympics? And by the way, where is the federal character this
country has been preaching, does it apply here? How can 33 top senior
officers in a ministry all come from a particular region and religion? This
has exposed the absence of federal character and the level at which the
ministry operates and how it looks.
I am also happy the writer mentioned Dr.
Ebhojaye, Dr. Igbinosa, Aluko, Akoja and Ezeala as some of the minister�s
victims and described them as the best hands in sports. They are refered to
as core professionals who are specialists on the job. If I may ask, where
are these people when we swept nearly all the medals in Abuja 2003 but
performed nothing at the Athens meet? To me, all these people specialised is
recommending bad policies to the minister which resulted in poor handling of
sports in this country.
Mr. Memuletiwon and his sponsors should know we
aware that the bulk of the people who participated and benefitted from the
Athens trip were all from the South and nobody is raising eyebrows.
On corruption and mess that characterised last
season�s league, what does the minister has to do with league talkless to
announce its winner? To me, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) which is
about to have its Annual General Meeting (AGM) should be held responsible,
not Salisu Abubakar or the minister.
On minister�s efforts to remove the NFA scribe
on a number of occasions, it might interest the writer to note that the
present FIFA�s ban threat to Nigeria over the Decree 101 issue, was the
unalloyed loyalty Mr. Ogunjobi has not only for the NFA but the minister.
On the writer�s question about what is Dr Amos
Adamu�s business with Decree 101? And his call for President Obasanjo for
the enforcement of his anti-corruption crusade to stop what the writer
refered to as a senseless trip and ascerted that, Nigeria would benefit more
from a trip by soccer orators like Adegboye Onigbinde and Kojo Williams. For
knowledge sake, Adamu is CAF official and a Nigerian who has concern for the
present state of soccer in the country. And this has showed that Mr.
Memuletiwon is a tribalist. Why only Onigbinde and Williams? Are they the
only orators sports has in this country? Where are Sani Toros, Garba
Ubaliyes, Ismaila Lulus etc?
To me, unless we start to look at things from
the same direction and allow whoever is found wanting to be punished for
his/her negligence to duty to pay for the item they bought, our sports can
never develop.
We should all not allow people who have nothing
to do with our sports to be at our sports driving seat. we should support
anyone irrespective of his relegious belief or clan to redirect and move our
sports forward.
We should not allow people who have nothing to contribute to
use us to perpetuate divisionism and myopic sentiments in the system. Other
people with vision and focus who can take sports to greater hieghts should
be given the chance to contribute their quotas.
