• As Okoku Clamours For Ex-Players To Lead Nigeria Football

For United States-based former Super Eagles player, Paul Okoku, it is time for ex-players to become President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

“This is part of my continuing investigative examination of nearly six decades of Nigerian football leadership,” Okoku, now a football analyst, told The Guardian. “I’m asking whether former footballers, who have rarely been entrusted with leadership at the top of the NFF, including its presidency, are being judged by the same standards applied to the non-footballers who have historically administered the federation?

“From the 1970s to 2026, Nigerian football has largely been led by military officers, government appointees, businessmen, bureaucrats and career administrators. Former internationals have served on boards and technical structures, but not with sustained control of the federation’s presidency,” he said.

Okoku, vice captain of the 1983 Flying Eagles squad, said: “Because we played football does not automatically mean we can lead football. That is correct. But being a lawyer, businessman, politician, accountant, journalist, civil servant or career administrator does not automatically make someone a good football leader either.

“Leadership must be measured by competence, integrity, preparation, vision, accountability and results. So, apply the same standard to everyone.

“How can an entire group of ex-footballers be declared incapable of succeeding when it has never been given a meaningful opportunity to build a leadership record at the very top of the NFF, including its presidency?

“Nigeria has produced generations of former footballers with university education, advanced degrees, business experience, coaching credentials and leadership experience inside and outside sport. Some would fail, and some would succeed. That is true of every profession.

“You cannot fairly hold footballers accountable for a leadership failure they have never collectively been given the opportunity to produce. Set transparent standards, allow qualified people to compete, and then judge the individual.

“President Bola Tinubu’s football reform directive creates an opportunity to examine nearly six decades of history—not to claim footballers automatically have the answers, but to learn from the record.

“But representation must also come with responsibility: footballers must organise, speak collectively and help build structures that protect the rights, welfare and dignity of current and future players,” he stated.

Okoku also spoke on the recent NFF’s fact-finding committee, saying:  “Fanny Amun’s 2026 fact-finding exercise examined administrative, technical, financial, organisational and developmental problems affecting Nigerian football.

“He later spoke publicly about allegations involving unequal payments and interference in technical decisions.

“Why are investigators in 2026 still examining problems recognisable across generations? Accountability also goes beyond welfare. In 2009, $236,000 was reported missing from a safe at the football federation’s secretariat, resulting in investigation and legal proceedings. The issue today is not assigning guilt retrospectively.”