After Nigeria pulled off the Miracle of Damman in 1989, and went on to ride-roughshod over Argentina and Brazil at the USA 94 Olympic Games to win gold, Nigeria has never again won any other significant trophy at the international football arena. Not even the African Nations Cup tourney. Nobody has been able to decipher why this is so, and this is in spite of the abundant talent, an abundance of human resources, and a smorgasbord of youthful capacity.

Over the years though, frustrated Nigerians have often vented that frustration at the football governing body, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The truth is that there are certain elements within the football governing body who are inefficient. They are lords unto themselves and often take football decisions based on whim and caprices, and based on how much would slide into their pockets. Some say that the body resembles a mafia organisation sort of.

As someone deeply in love with sports development in Nigeria, I was keen during debates about a reformation of our football. My take back then, in the last decade or so, aligned with that of Rotimi Amaechi, after he was drafted in by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to conduct a forensic on the bewildering slide that football took.

According to Rotimi Amaechi, for Nigeria to build on the hype and gains from the Damman Miracle and the USA 94, there was need to withdraw Nigeria from these international competitions for the purpose of a comprehensive in-house housekeeping.

But as soon as Amaechi submitted his report to Mr. President, hell seemed to have left its abode in the underworld and unleashed such a fiery firestorm to the extent that any rational intervention to balance the tide of specious reasoning was met with increased banality, and commonplace thinking that because Nigeria is the supposed giant of Africa, and because the global football governing body was likely to ban us from competing for several years, we must participate in these competitions.

There were some of us with a different view then – that we actually needed to be banned by FIFA on account of our recurrent dismal performances tournament after tournament, to give us a very good opportunity to reform our football and put our act together.

But the cacophony and the Babel had their way, and here we are: one of the most disappointing football acts ever. One would have thought that after taming Brazil and Argentina, Nigeria would have gone ahead to rein in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and England and effectively put our foot down the neck of every other football country. I will not be hard put to say, and to say it very equivocally that Nigeria it was that cleared the football thoroughfare for every other African nation.

But the way things are now, Nigeria’s football journey is uphill and a damned struggle. If not, how do we explain that a country that drubbed Argentina and Brazil, drew level with Russia after a 4-0 lead and then went on to win that match is struggling so hard to qualify to participate in the World Cup in the USA next year? How?

I will tell you how, and in a nutshell. In January this year, the NFF announced that it was unveiling a new coach after the sordid Bruno Labbadia affair – which was beset by tales of under the table dealings by the NFF. I will not be dwelling on the further sordidness and all the higgledy-piggledy that eventually forced me to challenge the decision of the NFF not to make public the contract for employment of the Malian – Eric Chelle – as Super Eagles Coach. The long and short of this sordidness and higgledy-piggledyness was that after 10 months, the Federal High Court in Maitama was to order the NFF to avail me the contract details for Chelle’s employment as Super Eagles coach.

But you know what? Eight months into this, the NFF is still hiding the Chelle contract, in flagrant disobedience of Nigerian courts. But it was my curiosity arising from the impunity of a Nigerian football body flagrantly ignoring the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ultimately presenting itself, (the NFF) as a lawless body that eventually led me to finding out that it is FIFA and CAF that actually supervise the NFF.

I had tried as much as possible in this discourse to avoid allegations being levelled against the NFF that the Bruno Labbadia and Chelle contracts are hidden from public view because they were forged in the underbelly of sleaze and pecuniary considerations, only to be confronted with a far more sinister motive weaved by conspiracy theorists – that the reason the FIFA or CAF will be unwilling to let the NFF release the Chelle contract details is because Nigerian football is in inept and ineffective hands, a situation that is killing Nigerian football, and emasculating Nigeria’s soft power in the African and global football community. That position has gained traction after FIFA ignored our request to urge the NFF to avail us the Chelle contract details.
Etemiku is Editor/Publisher, WADONOR…cultural voice of Nigeria.