Nigeria Content Online

The
year 2011 has started but the state of the National Women Football
League in still in confusion and uncertainty. Women’s football started
in Nigeria in the late 1970s, but it was not until the 1980s that it
really became a fixture of the local football scene. The pioneers
included Simbiat Babes and Jegede Babes and it was from these teams
that players were picked for the first women’s national football team
in 1990.

Whereas the
national women’s teams have been doing well in international
competitions, the local league that is supposed to serve as the
reservoir for the teams has been rendered comatose because of a lot of
negative happenings between the administrators, club owners and the
players.

Mere shadow

The League has
since become a shadow of its former self as the neglect from the
football body and various bickering has plunged the body into the
doldrums. Neglected by the mother body, the Nigerian Football
Federation (NFF) and differing voices on who is in the best position to
administer the League, has culminated in the women’s league sliding
into a comatose state.

The call for equal
representation In the past, there has been agitation for better
treatment of women in football but these calls it seems have gone
unheeded by the football federation. Henritta Ukaigbe, a prominent
female football commentator said: “In times past, there have been
agitations to make the female league more viable but it seems that
right now, the game is going to be further neglected or even
forgotten.” For the women’s game to get better there must be adequate
representation by the real stake-holders in decision making process in
administering the game. One way by which this could be achieved is by
having representation in the NFF. The elections held in August 2010
produced a board shorn of any woman. To make certain of this
representation, the NFF board has set aside a date for fresh elections
on January 28, 2011.

The news apparently
sounds good, but it is not satisfying to those who manage the women and
who own the clubs. The Women Football Club Owners is against one of the
guidelines set by the NFF. The said guideline stipulates that only
women could contest positions on the Women Football League Board. This
is not good news as it means that male club owners who are directly
involved with the women are not eligible to contest.

Unfair guidelines

According to Peter
Oguche, Chairman of Oguche Babes of Lokoja, such a guideline is
baseless. “No woman is funding a female football club today in Nigeria;
the club owners are all men therefore the NFF should not dictate to us
that the board must be for women only.” Another club manager, John Zaki
of Tin City Queens further buttressed the point being made by Oguche.
“For some time now, no women have been involved in the management of
football at the league level. Before there was Jegede Babes and
Omidiran Babes which were owned by women but now the clubs are no
longer functioning. If there are no women owners at the league level,
how are they to know what the problems actually are?” Speaking on the
same board representation, Ogochukwu Atube, a club less female player
said, “It does not matter if the people representing us are either men
or women. The important thing is that we have fair representation that
would benefit the players and develop the league.” A postponement to
eternity The club owners seem to be happy that the league has been
postponed and hope that all modalities will be put in place for the
commencement. According to Eddington Kuejebola, proprietor of Ufuoma
Babes, he said:

“It is to make sure
that they have all modalities in place so that there will be no
logistics problems. It can be recalled that about two years ago, it was
reported that the league secretary, Danlami Alalana, said that some
clubs would be face relegation if they did not appear for their
matches. And it is because of this statement that most of these clubs
withdrew from the league.” Though it seems this time that the NFF has
acceded to the request of the club owners but instead of putting a time
frame on the extension, the NFF has decided to postpone the start of
the league indefinitely. This further goes to confirm the apparent
pessimistic view with which the NFF views the female game in the
country.

Uncertainty reins

Macbeth Esezobor,
proprietor of the Macbeth Queens football club when spoken to last week
dismissed the starting of the league saying, “Do not be surprised if
the league which they announced would begin in January does not start.
Another person expressing this same lack of confidence is a football
player, Ogochukwu Atube, “We (the players) have been put in a state of
limbo.

We don’t even know
what is going on now. I think I would go and do something else, the
people at the helm of affairs just want to kill the game.” The need for
sponsorship For a League to be tagged a professional one, there is the
need to have sponsorship. However, in the past six years, the league
has suffered from a lack of sponsorship. “At the time we had the
sponsorship of Pepsi, female football was very exciting but now
everything is really boring”, says Atube. Tewogboye Oyewole, proprietor
of Tewo Queens decried the inattention that the women have faced at the
administrative level.

Ayo Omidiran,
proprietor the defunct Omidiran Babes of Oshogbo, also said that the
structure which holds the league needs to be strengthened. “A
professional league without sponsors is not really professional. It is
even worse than an amateur league. When the sponsorship problem is
resolved, then the other solutions to the various challenges will fall
into place.

“For some time now,
the club owners have been responsible for the funding of their
respective clubs and the NFF being the administrators of football in
Nigeria should know the amount of money that is required to keep a club
afloat.” So with all the pessimism and uncertainty relating to the
female league, it is actually correct to say that women football on the
local scene is gradually being squeezed to death.

China’s Yao Ming
says he might end his basketball career next year if the injury to his
left foot does not heal properly by the end of the NBA season, state
media reported on Tuesday. The Houston Rockets centre, who missed last
season after surgery on his left foot, also confirmed that he was
unlikely to play in the London Olympics in 2012.

The seven-time NBA
All Star, scheduled to return to the Rockets for the start of the
2010-11 season, is recovering from surgery for an injury the Rockets’
team doctor described as “career-threatening.”

The injury, which
occurred during a May 2009 game, was the latest in a series of physical
problems which have blighted an NBA career that began when Yao was the
first overall draft pick by the Rockets in 2002.

“If the foot injury
does not heal next season, I might choose to call it quits,” he was
quoted as saying last weekend by state news agency Xinhua.

The seven-foot
six-inch (2.28m) Yao exercised the player option in his contract with
the Rockets last month to avoid free agency and expects to be ready for
pre-season training. Still China’s most popular and wealthiest
sportsman despite a year on the sidelines, Yao said before the Beijing
Olympics that he was unlikely to play for his country at another Games.

“The chance (to
play in London) is very little. The foot injury will not allow me to
play so many games anymore,” he said. “As an athlete, I am not the
future of China basketball anymore.” Yao, who will turn 30 in
September, also criticised China’s lack of focus on development of
young basketball talent before the Beijing Olympics.

“We are paying for
what we didn’t do leading up to 2008,” he said. “We skipped the
development of a reserve team and the CBA league and focused only on
the national team and the Olympics. It’s like you are killing the goose
that lays the golden egg.”

Reuters

Last year,
Electronic Arts made the golfing great share the cover of his
bestselling game with Northern Irish rookie Rory McIlroy for the first
time ever. This year, following the controversy away from the green and
lackluster play on it, Woods has been dropped from the cover of the
March 29th release of “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters” on Xbox
360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Woods has been replaced with a shot of the
iconic yellow flag at Augusta National Golf Club, which is a major
focus for the new game. Woods will appear on the PlayStation 3
Collector’s Edition of the game, which will cost $10 more and include
five additional courses.

EA Sports has
worked with Woods since 1999 on what once was a perennial bestselling
title. But last year, sales of the game dropped in the U.S. and around
the globe dramatically. According to videogame analyst David Cole of
DFC Intelligence, sales of “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11” were down 50% to
60% on a worldwide basis from 2009.

While EA stood by
their cover athlete, they did not work with him to promote the game
last year. Traditionally, Woods does media interviews and appearances
to launch each new game.

“The thing about
golf is the whole business is tied to Tiger,” said Cole. “TV viewership
was also down over 30%. If Woods wins, viewership should increase. With
the overall sport being so tied to Tiger I don’t see EA parting ways in
the near future. However, you could be less likely to see a major
emphasis on Tiger.”

“The sales issues
of the Tiger Woods video game are much broader and deeper than Tiger’s
personal problems and has more to do with the entire golf sport
struggling in 2010,” said Jesse Divnich, Vice president of Electronic
Entertainment Design and Research.

Golf’s decline is linked to Tigers’

He continued: “Of
course, one could argue the decline in the interest of golf has to do
with Tiger’s extended absence and returned poor performance. But even
if that was true, it says a lot about the PGA Tour and their
over-reliance on one person to carry the whole league. PGA exposed
itself to this risk and now is facing the consequences.”

During a media
conference call to discuss the new game, EA Sports President Peter
Moore said that the game publisher is standing by the former number one
golfer in the world.

“If the insinuation
is it’s a reflection of EA Sports backing away from its relationship
that goes back literally 13 years with Tiger, that’s not the case
whatsoever,” said Moore. “You shouldn’t read anything into the fact
that Tiger’s not featured on the box art of that particular
edition…Tiger is right there on the PS3 version of the game with Move
support, which was very good for us and Sony last year. We’ll continue
that.” “Obviously,

it was a difficult
year last year, but you saw toward the end of the season Tiger starting
to get back to his old ways,” said Moore. “We all, as both a sports
industry and sports fans are hopeful he comes back in full force in
2011.”

Tiger will remain a
featured playable character in the new game, along with 20 other
professional golfers like 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson and Bubba
Watson, a Team USA member of the 2010 Ryder Cup – Team USA.

Jim Nantz and David Feherty will call the action in a new television broadcast presentation for the game.

Electronic Arts has
spent the past year focusing on bringing The Masters to its game
franchise for the first time. The studio employed new laser scanning
technology to scan every hole, bush and tree of Augusta National Golf
Club.

“I am very happy
and excited that the Masters Tournament is featured in the Tiger Woods
PGA Tour game,” said Woods in a statement. “There are many new and
unique elements in the game that will make everyone feel like they’re
really competing at Augusta National. This is great for the sport and
will connect a new audience with the Masters, a tournament I’ve been
fortunate to experience since 1995.” If The Masters fails to give Woods
the necessary sales boost, Electronic Arts might end up joining the
long list of sponsors like Gillette, AT&T, Accenture,

and Gatorade that
have parted ways with him. Divnich doesn’t believe focusing more on the
Masters will strengthen sales. “Everything correlates back to the level
of interest in golf,” said Divnich.

REUTERS

The
new Super Eagles coach will resume office today if he makes it back
into the country from the United States of America. He was to have
resume on January 3, but that resumption date was postponed for
technical reasons.

During his trip to
the United States, the Nigeria Football Federation completed the
coaching department of the Super Eagles with the announcement of Ike
Shorunmu as the goal keeper coach and Salisu Yusuf as the second
assistant coach. Simon Kalika, the first assistant to Samson Siasia had
been chosen prior to these announcements. These coaches will either
make or break the next set of players that will make up the senior
national team.

Every coach has a
philosophy which he normally adopts in coaching his sides and as the
new era starts, we need to ask questions concerning the individuals
that make up the coaching quartet. On first hand basis, Siasia is a
hands-on coach who is said to be close to his players. This was the
prognosis of his team during the build up to the Olympic Games at
Beijing in 2008.

But that assumption
throws up further questions -will he be able to forge that kind of
camaraderie with the likes of Yakubu Aiyegbeni and the other senior
Eagles players?

What will be the
functions of the first assistant coach and the second assistant? What
are their antecedents? In a nut-shell, what are they bringing to the
table?

Though there is
still controversy on how the NFF came to pick Yusuf and Shorunmu, we
want to believe that best practices were followed in arriving at the
choices. Yusuf has worked extensively on the local scene, most
prominently with Kano Pillars over the past three seasons and his sides
have been known to play pleasing football.

Former Super Eagles
Coach, Christian Chukwu said recently in a local newspaper that, “I
cannot tell you I know the criteria used in picking the two coaches but
we all started the process which was inconclusive.” “We were told that
when the nominees were pruned from the number of text messages, Siasia
was supposed to have an input in the choice of who would be his
assistants. I do not know if from the names gathered through text
messages, Siasia was contacted to make his final choice. May be he was
contacted through the same way we were asked to send names, I cannot
confirm. Until we meet, I cannot exactly say what really happened.”

Moving forward

The second
assistant coach, Yusuf spoke to NEXTSports from his base in Kano and
said, “We are young and ambitious and we also want to make Nigerians
proud.” When he was asked what particular quality he would be bringing
to the national team, the Kano Pillars coach said,

“I have extensive
knowledge of the local league and even Samson (Siasia) does and since
we are in the process of rebuilding, the local league will have a say
in the formation of the new national team.” Nigerian football fans have
not been happy at the ‘plodding’ football that the national team
currently exhibits so the question was posed to the second assistant
coach for him to elaborate on what he thinks are the challenges that
the team currently faces?

Yusuf said: “The
problem that the Eagles face presently in my own opinion is that of
players playing out of their natural positions.

“The first thing we
need to do to build a viable team is to make sure that the players that
are chosen are placed in their natural habitats. There can be
emergencies in the match but firstly, players must play in their
natural positions. In the past few years, players have been used in the
wrong positions and that is why we have had defensive midfielders
playing as offensive midfielders and vice versa.” Yusuf and Shorunmu
have been with Siasia at different times. Shorunmu was around the U-23
team before the Beijing Olympics and Yusuf was on the bench with Siasia
at the FIFA U-20 World Championship in Egypt IN 2009.

The new coach has
drawn out a plan of action to revive the national team. They are of
short and long term duration; the question being asked is: how would
Yusuf and Kalika fit in to his plan?

Speaking concerning
Kalika in the new set-up on SuperSport, Siasia said: “Simon (Kalika) is
a useful ally in scouting other teams and that is how we got to meet.

“In 2005 in
Holland, he just came to me and said he would like to help the U-20
team by helping us scout the opponents. I was glad that he came but I
told him not to expect any form of payment and he agreed. I found out
that whatever reports he gave to me helped the team to prepare for our
matches and his analysis on the opponents’ weaknesses were always
accurate and that is how we started working together.” Kalika has been
with Siasia to the U-20 World Cup, the U-23 team at the Beijing
Olympics, and also at the U-20 FIFA World Cup in Egypt in 2009.

Siasia has said he
would not be introducing drastic changes but begin by looking around to
identify young and talented footballers who would be given the
opportunity to prove their worth, both from within and outside Nigeria.

His plan as he put it is to have for now, a mixture of some of the
old players in the team who are still relevant and some young ones who
have shown that they have the special talent to make the team.

The newly appointed
Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission
(NSC), Taoheed Adedoja has said the country must return to the
grassroots in order to bring back the glory days in sports.

Speaking during his
familiarisation tour to the National Stadium in Lagos, Adedoja said
very little can be achieved if sports is neglected at the grassroots.

“We cannot expect success in sports without grassroots development,” he said.

“Success is not by
good luck alone but by preparation and hard work. If we need to be
successful, we should work hard enough and that starts from the
grassroots. Nothing is done by miracles alone you have to do what is
expected of you to get the desired result.”

New dawn in sports

Adedoja, a former
commissioner for education in Oyo State, promised a new dawn in sports,
adding that the short time he has is enough to turn around the fortunes
of sports.

“I can assure you
that 2011 is the beginning of a new dawn in sports development in
Nigeria. There is not much time but I can achieve the target I have
before myself,” he said.

Adedoja, who
replaced Isa Bio, said he will be happy to be challenged by all about
his contribution to sports after an expected short stay as minister.

“The time is short
but much can still be achieved. I can confirm that Nigeria does not
need a new sports policy, the one in place is more than adequate; what
we need now is the proper implementation of the document so we can
begin to achieve the results we all crave for,” the minister said.

Adedoja also called for the speedy passage of bills,

“The NSC is ready
to develop sports in the country but cannot do that if the laws
establishing it have not properly empowered it to do so. I appeal for
the speedy passage of the bills so we can tackle the issue of sports
development properly.”

The minister added
that Nigeria is blessed with enormous human and material resources and
has the potential of being the world’s greatest sporting country.

Adedoja, who prides
himself as the first Physical Education expert to be appointed as
sports minister in the country, said he is ready to justify the
confident reposed in him.

The minister added
that the apparent waste of the National Stadium, Lagos, will be
reversed during his tenure. The swimming pool at the National Stadium
has been under lock for upwards of 15 years and the pitch was last used
by any of the national teams in 2003.

“This is the first time a professional has been appointed the
minister of sports so nothing less than excellence will be expected
from me,” he concluded.

Super Eagles coach,
Samson Siasia, is expected to handle his first training session as
Eagles’ boss as he takes charge of the team’s activities at the
National Stadium, Abuja later today.

The Beijing Olympic
silver winning coach had called up 30 players from the Nigeria Premier
League in preparation for the United States President’s Day Celebration
Soccer Invitational Tournament, the Green Soccer Bowl. The tournament
takes place between February 12 and February 20, 2011, and will feature
eight teams from around the world. The other teams are Egypt,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kenya Bahrain, Iraq, Poland and Malaysia.

The competition in
honour of United States President, Barack Obama will take place at the
Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, venue of Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World
Cup finals match, which ended in a 3-0 victory for the Eagles’ against
first round opponents, Bulgaria in June 1994.

Siasia flew into
the country last night to settle down to work after celebrating the
yuletide period with his family in the United States while also having
a stopover in London where he met with some of the Super Eagles players.

Helping hands

Assistant coach,
Simon Kalika also arrived from the Netherland yesterday and will be on
hand to help Siasia alongside the newly appointed duo of second
assistant coach, Salisu Yusuf and goalkeeping coach, Ike Shorounmu.

While players were
actually expected to report to camp on Monday, three players of Premier
League side Warri Wolves got to Abuja on Sunday, 24 hours ahead of
schedule. They immediately joined other technical crew members
including goalkeepers’ trainer Shorounmu.

The Super Eagles
will play the national teams of Iraq, Malaysia and Poland in Group A of
the tournament in the USA next month, and on February 9, the Eagles are
expected to play an international friendly game with a yet to be named
opponent.

Though Siasia has
promised to take the invitational tournament serious, his first
competitive assignment will come up on March 27 when Nigeria hosts
Ethiopia in a 2012 Nations Cup qualifier.

The Eagles are currently behind Guinea in the group standings and
only the top finishers are guaranteed a place in the Nations Cup to be
co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.

FIFA will today
announce the winner of the 2010 Ballon D’or in a ceremony in Zurich. In
contention for the player’s diadem is the Barcelona trio of Anders
Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and 2009 World Footballer of the year, Lionel
Messi.

There have been
disagreements over the makeup of the top three. Many have criticised
the decision to exclude Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneidjer, who won the UEFA
Champions League and got to the final of the 2010 World Cup in South
Africa, where he scored four goals to lead Holland to the final, which
they lost 0-1 to Spain.

There has also been
heated debates over, who should be crowned today. Xavi and Iniesta were
a major part of the Spanish team that won the 2010 World Cup for Spain,
for the very first time. Messi on his part, did not do too well at the
World Cup but he scored a record amount of goals for his Spanish side,
Barcelona in the 2009/10 season.

Xavi Hernandez

Xavi was the
fulcrum of the all-conquering Barcelona side of 2009. That side won all
six competitions they competed in. He was also a major part of the
Spanish team that won the 2008 European Cup and the 2010 World Cup. He
has played 549 times for his boyhood, and only professional club,
Barcelona FC. Described in glowing terms as a metronome in the Catalan
side – he is the brain behind all the moves that culminate in goals
from the centre of the pitch. He hardly gets dispossessed of the ball
and almost always has the greatest number of completed passes in any
match he features in.

Andres Iniesta

The abiding image
of this shy Catalan midfielder is his World Cup-winning goal against
Holland in extra time in the final match of the 2010 World Cup. He will
also be remembered by Chelsea fans for the 91st minute goal at Stamford
Bridge in 2009, which got the Barcelona team into the final where they
triumphed over Manchester United 2-0.

Lionel Messi

Some have argued
that Messi should not have made the top three in the run to today’s
announcement but no one can begrudge this player the title as the
world’s best footballer. When he retires from the game in some years’
time, he will definitely be grouped with the finest players in the
world. Players like Johann Cryuff, Pele, Diego Maradona, Eusebio, and
Ferenc Puskas.

But the little
Argentine has already conceded the title to either of his two Barcelona
mates. “Xavi and Iniesta deserve it, they are excellent players,” Messi
said in the Spanish media. He also added that he would want his club
coach, Pep Guardiola to win the Best Coach award.

Other awards

The new award,
which is being given for the first time is a fusion of the former
FIFA’s Player of the Year with France Football magazine’s Ballon D’Or,
which has been given out since 1956.

For the award of
coach of the year, there will be Spain’s World Cup winning coach,
Vicente del Bosque; Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola; and current Real Madrid
coach, Jose Mourinho, who led Inter Milan to a treble – the UEFA
Champions League, the Copa Italia, and the Serie A title – in the
2009/2010 season.

The world football body will also announce its best 11 players which
will comprise of a goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and
three forwards. All the nominees are based in Europe.

The match between
former Ibeju Lekki Cricket Club (ILCC), now BRF Cricket Club and
Government College Ibadan Old Boys Cricket Club (GCIOB) played at the
Tafawa Balewa Cricket Oval lived up to its top of the table billing.
Though the two sides restricted each other to under 200 runs, there was
a lot of nerves, good play and excitement during the encounter.

GCIOB had set out
their stall in the first innings with a total of 180 runs all out while
the reply from the Old Boys was a feeble total of 99 runs all out.

The victory was
achieved on the back of a combination of great batting by Ademola
Onikoyi and outstanding bowling from Oyede Leke but it was also good
all round performance from Sean Philips’ men. Oyede Leke took five
wickets in six overs and also scored 27 runs. Akolade Saheed, Ogunlola
Joshua and Endurance Ofem added 1 wicket each to the total.

For GCIOB, Olayinka
Segun scored 21 runs and Onwuzulike Chemezie added another 21 but it
was not enough for the Old Boys. Seun Odeku, captain of GCIOB said “it
was just a bad day in the office.” Odeku was disappointed that having
curtailed the Ibeju-based team to 180 runs all out, his team failed to
capitalise. “It was 114 runs in 17 overs and we regrouped and
restricted them to 180 all out. At that point I thought we stood a good
chance to beat the defending league champions.”

‘We fell flat’

All that enthusiasm
quickly evaporated in the second innings when they were bowled out for
a measly 99 runs. Odeku continued: “We need to practise more as this
showed when we fell flat when we had the chance to beat BRF. Now the
players know that we have to change our training regimen so that we
will improve our fitness levels and make sure that whenever this kind
of favourable situation crops up again, we will be prepared to take due
advantage.”

This is GCIOB’s
second loss in the league and they will be very wary of losing again so
that they will not miss out on the Super 4 tournament at the end of the
season.

For GCIOB’S
Endurance Ofem, the game was tough but he is happy that they took all
the points, which maintained their status at the top of the log.

“It was a good
match though the score was low but that was on account of it been
between two tough teams. There was a lot of nerves out there but we
managed to get the job done and that is kudos to all the players
especially, Onikoyi, who scored 67 runs, all out. At the second water
break in the first innings, BRF had scored 137 Runs for 5 wickets in 34
overs. Oyede Leke had scored 15 runs, not out added to Onikoyi
Ademola’s 67 runs with Solebo Femi adding 9 runs. Ofem scored14 runs
while junior international, Behani Varun also added 9 runs.

At the end of the pulsating encounter, the defending champions won with a comfortable margin of 81 runs.

World number two
Roger Federer began his season in formidable fashion by defeating
holder Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-4 to win the Qatar Open Saturday.

The 16-times grand
slam champion proved too much for his Russian opponent, claiming a
break of serve in each set to complete victory under the floodlights at
the Khalifa Tennis Complex in central Doha.

Federer has
improved throughout his five matches this week in Qatar, where he did
not drop a set, and sealed victory in 79 minutes when Davydenko netted
an attempted backhand pass to huge cheers from a capacity crowd.

It was a 67th
career title for the 29-year-old, who hardly broke a sweat on another
warm evening in the tiny Gulf emirate and celebrated victory with a
brief smile amongst little celebration.

The Swiss served
impeccably throughout, dropping just nine points on his serve as he
demonstrated his solid form ahead of defending his title at the
Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on January 17.

“I’m very happy to
kick-off the season today this way I think I played an amazing match,
it will give me a lot of confidence for the remainder of the season,”
said Federer, who will head to Australia for a week of practice.

Davydenko, who
brushed aside world number one Rafa Nadal in the previous round,
struggled on the back foot during the first set as Federer moved him
around the court at will with precision depth ground strokes.

The Russian, ranked
22 in the world after slipping from a career high third, battled hard
throughout, saving six break points in the first set and charging down
every ball but was always under pressure on his own serve.

“He played very well for sure, today was tough, he gave me ow chance on the return,” Davydenko told reporters.

“I don’t want to say I played badly today, I played okay but Federer
didn’t give me a chance to realize my game. I don’t know if he can hold
at this level for the whole year.” The second set was on serve until
the ninth game when Federer broke Davydenko to love before serving out
with ease to claim his third Qatar Open title and collect the trophy,
an elaborate golden eagle sat on a perch with a picture of the Qatari
Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the base.

The news of Uche Okafor’s death is numbing. It is heart rending particularly given the nature of his demise.

Coming so after
soon the death of Emmanuel Ogoli, the Ocean Boys defender who slumped
during a match and later died on his way to hospital, it unnerves one
completely.

As a journalist and
football fan,I did not have a personal relationship with him. Our
meetings were always formal and professional; however I developed a
strong liking for the cool and professional way he went about his
business on the pitch.

As a footballer, he
always tried his best and was not one to begrudge his more illustrious
colleagues in the national team their good fortune in having more
regular playing time in the squad. Uche always had a smile even though
it appeared a tad mischievous sometimes.

His Eagles team
mates, crushed by his death, have all spoken of his innate goodness.
Emeka Ezeugo in particular says he was not only a jolly good fellow but
was often the squad’s safety valve of sorts:

“I remember those
days we used to play together, on an off the pitch he was fun to be
with. Back then in the dressing room he cracked jokes that make us all
laugh and ease the tension in us,” Ezeugo said speaking shortly after
news of Uche’s death broke.

So, what happened
to him? How could a man so full of life, who never missed an
opportunity to come home from the United States where he was based and
mingle with his former teammates and joining them in whatever programme
they initiated, be found hanging in his room?

Doing the right thing

When on October 19
last year, Ezeugo and other Eagles of Aba extraction marched against
kidnapping and other violent crimes in Abia State, Uche joined them.

I saw Uche several
times on television either working as a pundit or commenting on one
issue or another affecting Nigerian football; there was no hint that
there was anything wrong with him. He appeared the normal Uche we had
always known.

It’s going to be
difficult for his colleagues to live down his death. It is always hard
to take when someone suddenly exits this life in his prime. Had Uche
been manic depressive or had suffered from one ailment or the other,
his friends and fans would at least have had time to prepare. As it is,
he looked perfectly normal.

Which naturally
raises the question: was he murdered? Is there more to his death than
has become immediately apparent? Did he have issues with anyone that
would lead such individual or individuals to do him harm?

Thankfully, he
lived and died in a society where the police take issues of crime
prevention and detection seriously. If there was anything untoward
about his death, we can at least count on the police there to get to
the bottom of it. While that may not bring Uche back to life, his
family, his Super Eagles colleagues and his fans here in Nigeria can at
least feel satisfied that justice will be done.

On the other hand,
should it turn out that he had indeed taken his own life then it raises
different questions entirely. Suicide is alien to us as a people. For
us Nigerians, there are cultural safety nets, which prevent us from
going over the precipice. Our familial connexions strained as they have
become by our worsening economic situation still provide avenues for
ventilation of pent up frustrations. Whether he explored this option,
we may never know.

In the interim, we
mourn a man who served his country diligently, a man not afraid to add
his voice to the clamour for decent living and the right of his kinsmen
to live in comfort and security.

Like Ndubuisi
Okosieme, one of his colleagues in the Eagles 1988 Nations Cup squad
has said, Nigeria should treat him fairly even in death. It is the
responsibility of us all to ensure that his immediate family is not
forgotten once he has been committed to the earth. His burial even
should not be a family affair alone. He served Nigeria and served it
well and so the nation needs to send him off in a befitting manner.