The truth FIFA must be told, by Patrick Omorodion

The Holy Bible tells us in the book of Matthew 2:1–12 how the wise men came from the East following a star to find Jesus when he was born.

It says they brought three gifts namely gold, frankincense, and myrrh which they presented to baby Jesus who they found in Bethlehem.

We are not told from which particular country they took off from but the East is believed to be in one of today’s Middle East countries.

Those biblical wise men, we are told, heard that a Messiah was born and were guided to find Him by following a miraculous star.

Tomorrow another set of ‘wisemen’ would be visiting Nigeria, not to see any Messiah but aggrieved stakeholders who have risen against those perceived to have destroyed Nigeria’s

football.

These ‘wise men’ are coming from football’s world gov- erning body, FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, not with gifts but words of caution and advice at the same time.

They are not coming because they heard of any ‘crisis’ but because the Nigerian government through the National Sports Commission, NSC, which oversees the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF went to them to brief them about the reason for the reform Nigerians are demanding for football administration.

This is because over time, the administrators Nigerians gave the mandate to organise the game in a way it would benefit them and their country have always threatened them each time they seek to ask questions about either the finances of the Federation or the officials’ administrative style.

Among the aggrieved stakeholders FIFA officials may be hearing from are Segun Odegbami, former Green Eagles player and captain, Godwin Dudu-orumen, an ardent football fol- lower, lawyer, analyst and administrator.

Writing about the ‘crisis’ which engulfed the country’s foot- ball that has necessitated the FIFA visit, Dudu-orumen has asked a pertinent question, “Who Owns Nigerian Football ?”

He is asking the question because, to him, ”the people who built the game remain outside the room where its offices are shared” by those are remotely connected to football but have

now captured it for their own selfish gains alone.

He believes that those who have hijacked football are “the political jobbers, the delegate counters, the committee regu- lars, the hustlers who have never built a club nor discovered

a player, maintained a pitch, or risked their own money in the game, but know how to enter the room where football offices are shared.

These men inherit value others created. Players they did not train. Supporters they did not gather. National teams, they did not build. Stadia paid for from the public purse. A reputation

carried by generations of footballers, many of whom left the game with little more than damaged knees and old photographs.

Then the new custodians behave like owners.”

The lawyer turned voice of sports added that the hijackers of Nigeria’s football should also know that “Independence from political control is not freedom from the law. It is not freedom from audit. It is certainly not freedom from answering questions about public money.

That leaves a harder question. What happens when an organisation sustained by the public purse invokes international autonomy to resist public scrutiny?”

He also says that another lie about Nigeria’s football FIFA doesn’t know is that the football body has two faces. Despite shouting autonomy, it still depends on the government for survival and thus goes to Abuja as Nigeria Football Association, NFA, known to Nigerian law to collect money but goes to FIFA as the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, operating under stat- utes accepted by the international football system.

The NFF, Dudu-orumen says, “cannot be NFA at the Treasury in Abuja and NFF at FIFA House in Zurich”. This must be looked into and corrected. The same opinion Odegbami holds.

He wants FIFA to be told that “When national teams travel, when bonuses go unpaid, when a competition approaches, when a stadium is required, or when the domestic game needs

intervention, whose money keeps appearing? Public money.”

He opines that FIFA should be told the truth. And that is, “If Nigerian law is good enough when support is required, (then) Nigerian institutions must be good enough when they request

accounts.”

These will form part of what Dudu-orumen would let the ‘wise men’ from FIFA know if he meets with them in Abuja.

For Odegbami who has really been in the forefront of those crying for reforms at the NFF, in his piece ‘Demystifying and humanising FIFA” said, “Nigeria must now hold the world record for inviting FIFA to come and meddle in its domestic affairs. Nigeria has been doing so since it discovered that ‘inviting FIFA’ is a formula that allows any form of ‘manipulation’ to be carried out without consequence.”

Odegbami, like his teammate in the Green Eagles, Sylvanus Okpala, has told Nigerians not to be scared about the FIFA visit because they are not “monsters” as have been painted by

the NFF politicians to scare the government from scrutinising their activities.

According to him,”This whole matter can be resolved completely in one month (because) the critical issues are very few.

We are not starting afresh to reconstruct Nigerian football.

Let us discuss the main contentious amongst ourselves, make reasonable compromises, arrive at reasonable decisions, and get every stakeholder to sign on to it for the good of the game

and the country only.”

He believes FIFA would not interfere in the election process but will only be around to ensure the NFF electoral process follows due process, of course after all the stakeholders put heads together to carry out the desired reforms that would suit everybody.

His prayer however, is that “this will be the last time Nigerian football officials shall invite FIFA to the country for the purpose of resolving our self-inflicted domestic problems”.