Nigeria Content Online

After their
dismissal from the CAF Champions League, league champions, Enyimba of
Aba aim to compensate their fans by winning the Nigeria Premier League
(NPL) Super Four tourney.

The tournament,
which begins today, will be preceded by a meeting of the NPL board
members alongside some seminars and training programmes.

All four teams to participate in this year’s edition of the competition arrived in Ijebu Ode, venue of the tourney, on Monday.

According to the
fixtures released, Kwara United and Kano Pillars will play the opening
game while the league champions; Enyimba will confront Sunshine Stars
of Akure in the day’s other fixture.

Enyimba striker Phillip Auta boasted that he is sure his team will win the Super Four tournament.

Auta noted that
Enyimba is the best team in Nigeria and will surely confirm that after
the competition which comes to an end on Sunday.

“In spite of the
fact that we lost to Zanaco of Zambia in the Confederation Cup, I am so
confident that we are going to justify the confidence reposed in us by
our supporters by winning the Super Four.” After winning the double
last year, the Aba side wants to make history by winning it
consecutively. “We want to win every available trophy this season. We
have won the league, we are playing in the finals of the Federation Cup
and the Super Four will not be an exception”, added Auta.

“Nobody should
judge us with our ouster from the Confederation Cup. It is one of those
things and the loss will even motivate us to win all our matches during
the Super Four tournament. We are ready and other teams should watch
out for us,” Auta said.

For his part,
Babaginda Tukur, Chairman of Kano Pillars, said his team, though
depleted by injury, national assignment among other factors, will give
a good account of themselves at the competition as they will be going
all out to win the trophy and the prize money of five million naira,
which is up for grabs.

“Like every other
team going into a competition, we are in Ijebu Ode with the aim of
winning the trophy. Though some of our key players will be missing in
action, we will do our best” he said.

The club’s hit man,
Ahmed Musa is on assignment with the U-20 national team; the Flying
Eagles. Also ruled out is Solomon Okpako, who is away in Greece for
trials while defender Ablulahimi Hussien has been ruled out due to
injury.

Tough deal

However, former
Warri Wolves handler, Lawrence Akpokona says the Super Four will be
tough as all four teams are capable of taking the trophy home.

“It is not easy to
predict which team will win the tournament. This is because there are
several factors that come into play in this type of competition.

“Most of the teams
will not come with their full squad and some players will be at the
tournament because they are on trials. But all the teams are evenly
matched. So it is going to be very tough to predict who will win. But I
am sure everybody will enjoy the display of good football by all the
players,” added the seasoned coach.

“It is going to be a sort of football festival and any of the four teams can win the competition,” Akpokona concluded.

As the August 21
date for elections into the new board of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) looms nearer, more calls are being made for the
dissolution of the electoral board. A candidate for the elections,
Aisha Folade, had last week called for the dissolution of the electoral
committee set up by the impeached President, Sani Lulu.

A more stringent
call has been made this around by Olajide Fashikun, Director, Sports
Development and Marketing, Nigeria Sports Development Incorporated, a
Nigerian sports marketing company based in Abuja. Fashikun, who is also
a former national athlete, wants the Abdulhakeem Mustapha-headed
electoral committee dissolved. He also wants the government agencies to
probe how the sum of N34million budgeted for an election with less than
a 100 delegates is to be spent. In a petition sent to the Presidency,
the Nigeria Sports Commission (NSC), NFF, EFFC, and other agencies,
Fashikun said: “The Chairman of the committee is a client of the NFF as
well as the personal lawyer of the impeached President, Lulu. He
defended the NFF Chairman in a suit at the start of his tenure that
challenged his election in 2006, ditto for the suit between Lulu and a
national newspaper, Daily Independent. It is morally wrong on this
ground for him to conduct an election involving the interest of his
client,” Fashikun wrote.

The former athlete
also alleged that Mustapha was one of the individuals sponsored by the
NFF to watch the World Cup in South Africa. “I have in my possession
official NFA documents that showed he was a member of the delegation.
The import here is obvious; he is already a biased umpire ab initio.
With the impeachment of his client, Lulu, it is not moral and
right-thinking for him to go ahead and preside over the same election
on the ground that he can be influenced to steer the ship of the
election in a pre-determined manner which will stain the final outcome
of the entire exercises.”

Fashikun also alleged that in a bid to perpetuate himself in power,
Lulu and other board members had worked out a well orchestrated plan to
beat all the 37 state Football Associations into line. The first,
according to him, was the alleged unwarranted and unearned N5million
Greek gift to each state football association as well as the
sponsorship of all State FA chairmen to Angola last January as well as
to the 2010 World Cup. “Many of the FA chairmen have over-run their
tenure and they have been donated extensions until 2014,” he said. “I
therefore, wish to humbly call on the government advance your statutory
powers, investigate and accordingly undertake the investigation of
these facts and respond adequately in the defence of public interest
and the national interest.” This is another major challenge that
elections for the board of the NFF faces and there may be the need to
postpone the elections so that when it is finally held, it will be
credible and usher in a new dawn of football administrators in the
country.

The co-ordinator of
the Collin Edwin U-13 Youth Football Championship, Ossy Nwokobia, has
expressed satisfaction at the successful organisation of the just
concluded tournament. He said: “We are both happy and surprised at the
turn up. You know this is the first time we tried something like this
and we have been encouraged.” He has also expressed hope that
sponsorship would come from corporate bodies, so that the development
of sports at the grassroots will continue.

BRF fall by at the semi final

The quarter-final
match of the U-13 Youth Foot ball Championship between BRF FA and
Odofin FA started at about 10 am on Friday. BRF were the better side
with well coordinated passes and beautiful team work. With their no. 11
shirt, Solaja and their goal scorer, Oladele Hakeem in form, it was
expected that it would be a goals galore but it was not to be so
because Odofin FA were also up to the task as throughout the first
half, they gave their opponents no chance to score.

Five minutes into
the second half, Oladele Hakeem was able to find the net and score
their first goal. Fifteen minutes later, Rilwan Aroworanwon made it 2-0
and five minutes to the end of the game Olusola Balogun made it three
goals to nothing.

The BRF team was
not able to take their scoring form to the semi-finals which took place
on Saturday. They had been deemed to be the tournaments’ favourites and
commentators had predicted that they would win the Cup but it was not
to be so.

They were stopped
by Soccer Pro FC who beat BRF FA 5-3 on penalties. BRF played New
Generation FC for third place. In the first half, only one goal was
scored in favour of New Generation FC by Awolesi Quadri. BRF equalised
in the 25th minutes. There were further goals in the second half but
the game was decided by penalties. New Generation won 5-4 to claim
third place.

Soccer Pro prove bookmakers wrong

In the final match,
Soccer Pro FC came from behind to win the tournament. Weekend Soccer
Academy took the lead in the first half to and ended the first half
1-0. They also scored early in the second half but Soccer Pro responded
with two goals to equalise and made it 2-2. The decider, however, came
in the 75th when Raimi Oloye converted a free kick to goal. Speaking on
the victory of his team, Coach Obinna of Soccer Pro FA said: “Today am
happy that we’ve made history, we lost our second game in the group
stage but we were able to bounce back, I had the premonition that we
will win this cup and I thank God that we were able to execute our
match strategy and came out victorious.” Obinna attributed the victory
of his side to his players being very hardworking and dedicated.

Apart from the trophy won by Soccer Pro FA, Loveworld FA emerged as
the best team of the tournament, while Lasisi Wale of New Generation
emerged the Most Valuable Player. Tajudeen Musa of BRF won the Golden
Glove award and Hakeem Olabinjo also of BRF emerged as the highest goal
scorer after scoring 7 goals.

Athletes from the
south-west states of Oyo, Osun, and Ondo, have intensified preparations
ahead of the Special Olympics Nigeria (SONigeria) National Games
scheduled for September at the University of Lagos Sports Complex.

The states, which
will be representing the south-west region at the championship, have
been preparing to be in top shape for the championship which will also
serve as the selection point for the nation’s contingent to the 2011
World Summer Games holding in Athens, Greece. With support from the
State Universal Basic Education Board, the Oyo State government has
organized a four-day training camp for the nine athletes expected to
represent the state at the tourney in Lagos. Commenting on the
preparations of its contingent for the games, the Oyo State
Commissioner for Sports, Joseph Makanjuola, said: “The state is poised
for a good outing in Lagos. Our target is to cart away many gold medals
in table tennis, badminton and athletics and top the medals table.”

Also, the coordinator of Osun and Ondo States, Kehinde Ogunbiyitan,
believes the 17 athletes from the two states will prove a point at the
games. “The preparation of Osun and Ondo teams for the national games
is to a great extent at the peak,” he said. “Osun will present 12
athletes, while Ondo has five. Osun is targeting at least five gold
medals, while Ondo is targeting at least three gold medals.” While Osun
is banking on events like 100metres, badminton and female soccer, Ondo
State which will be giving full sponsorship to its athletes as
incentive, is eyeing top honours in table tennis, shot-put, discuss and
the walking events.

Nigeria’s female U-20 football team, Falconets, arrived the
Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos last night to a heroic
reception by fans, and travelers.

The team, which arrived the country at about 8.30pm via
Lufthansa and KLM flights, spent over two hours inside the terminal, clearing
their luggage and attending to other undisclosed activities, before coming out
to be received by supporters.

Members of the Nigerian Association of Women In Sports,
officials of TomTom, and the Supporters Club as well as family and friends of
the players danced and sang victory songs at the airport, while awaiting the
arrival of the team, which won the Silver medal at the U-20 World Cup in
Germany.

Taiwo Odebunmi, an NFF board member who accompanied the
Falconets to Germany for the competition, said Nigerian youth are capable of
making the country proud, if they are given the necessary support.

“We are grateful to God for taking us this far, and we
also appreciate the president of our country for his support, because this
shows that we still have dedicated youths in Nigeria that can make us proud
when the time calls for it provided they are given all the requested
assistance,” he said.

Mr Odebunmi also said the tournament has given the ladies
“fulfilling exposure,” and that they will be groomed to become the country’s
future senior females team, the Super Falcons.

Comparing the recent performance of the country’s
national senior boys team, the Super Eagles, to that of the Falconets, Mr
Odebunmi, said Nigeria failed to achieve success in South Africa because of the
over dependence on old players.

“The problem we have with the Super Eagles is that we
rely so much on the old players forgetting that there are youths within and
outside Nigeria that are hungry to become famous just like these girls,” he
said.

Former World Boxing
Council (WBC) heavy weight champion, Samuel ‘the Nigerian nightmare’
Peter, is confident his upcoming fight against three times world
heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, will not last the distance.

Peter, who lost his
WBC crown to the older of the Klitschko brothers, Vitali, in Berlin,
Germany, back in October 2008, had in September 2005 fought against
Wladimir in an elimination bout for the International Boxing Federation
(IBF) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) world titles.

The Nigerian,
however, lost the bout on points, despite knocking Wladimir down on
three separate occasions over the course of the 12 round contest.

That inherently
makes the September 11 rematch in Germany one of the more interesting
fights that can be made in the heavyweight division, especially since
Wladimir has not been involved in a tough fight ever since their 2005
bout.

Five years in the making

It’s almost five
years since Peter’s painful loss to Wladimir in Atlantic City and the
Nigerian now has a chance to get back at the Ukrainian for inflicting
what, back then, was his first career loss. He has promised his fans
that “it’s going to be a short night” this time around.

“You are going to
see a very good exciting fight this time around,” said Peter. “No
bullshit, I’m ready. I’m ready to go. I know my fans are going to be
really happy with me this time around because it’s going to be a short
night.”

Following his loss
to Vitali, Peter went on to suffer defeat at the hands of Eddie
Chambers in March 2009, but returned with a bang afterwards by
recording four straight wins, with the longest of them lasting just
four rounds, against journeyman, Gabe Brown, in September 2009.

The underdog

Irrespective of
that, Peter will be coming into the bout against Wladimir as the
underdog. He, however, insisted he is not bothered by that.

“I like when people keep on thinking like that because some people, they are thinking with their legs,” he said.

“They are not
thinking with their heads or brains. They don’t see what I see. They
don’t know what I know. Let them keep on thinking. I love that,” added
Peter, who then went ahead to boast that he would be prepared to give
Wladimir the opportunity of fighting him all over again right after
their upcoming rematch.

“Definitely,”
exclaimed Peter. “Even that same night, they better be ready because
it’s not going to be long. I would still beat him again that same
night,” said Peter, who represented Nigeria at the Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games.

Wladimir, a gold
medallist at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, hasn’t lost since his April
2004 loss to Lamon Brewster, and knocked out Chambers in his last title
defence in March this year.

He, however,
admitted in a recent interview that he will be prepared for the
hardhitting Nigerian by the time they meet in Frankfurt next month.

“The first fight
against Samuel was one of the hardest combats in my career. He is a
hard puncher who developed further. I know what to expect at the 11th
of September, but I will be prepared,” Wladimir said.

Austin Okocha,
popularly called ‘Jay Jay’, will have to wait a bit more until the
general congress holds in Abuja to know if he is to represent Delta
State on the new Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board.

The reason is that
the much anticipated election of the Delta State Football Association
(DFA) to select its representative for the forthcoming elections was
cancelled due to the new decision of the electoral committee of the NFF.

According to the
chairman of the DFA, Amaju Pinnick, the decision to shelve the election
had to be taken by the board, so as not to be seen to be going against
the rules and guidelines pertaining to the elections.

He added that the
board got a new instruction from the NFF electoral committee that all
persons interested in taking part in the elections should move to
Abuja, where the general congress will then nominate those who will be
on the new NFF board.

Possessing good character traits

While commending
both Okocha and Collins Eselemo for conducting themselves in a
responsible manner, Pinnick urged them to continue to exhibit such
traits if and when they eventually get on the board of the NFF,
assuring them of the total support of the DFA to their cause.

Meanwhile, the
board of the DFA has disclosed that plans are underway to host players
of Delta Queens Football Club of Asaba, who were part of the Falconets’
team that did the country proud at the just concluded FIFA U-20 Women’s
World Cup in Germany.

The board disclosed
that the players have truly done not only the state proud, but have
also shown the talents in the Delta Queens Football Club and as such,
deserve to be hosted as worthy ambassadors of the state.

The DFA said plans
for the hosting would soon be made public so that the true hospitality
of Delta State being the number one state in sports in the country
would be displayed.

Five players from
the state-owned Delta Queens FC were part of the silver winning
Falconets. They are: Captain Joy Jegede, Helen Ukaonu, Rebecca Kalu,
Desire Oparanozie, and Osinachi Ohale.

Nigeria’s U-19
cricket team returned from Swaziland on Sunday to a moderate reception
organised by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) at the Tafawa Balewa
Square (TBS), Lagos.

The team defeated
Gambia, Rwanda, hosts Swaziland, and Mozambique to qualify for the
final round of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier that will take place in
Namibia from August 28, 2010.

The Nigerian lads
will play against the best cricket nations in Africa. To make it to the
world stage, the team will have to beat Sierra Leone, Zambia, Tanzania,
Botswana and Kenya.

At a reception
organised for the team, the President of Nigeria Cricket Federation,
Kwesi Sagoe said the majority of cricket enthusiasts in the country are
happy with their performance in Swaziland. “You have done the country
proud with your performance on and off the field. This is a wonderful
performance and I believe you will form the nucleus of the senior
national team in the next two years or so,” he said.

Getting ready for Namibia

Sagoe, however,
warned the team that the real journey had just begun, and that they
still have to go all out to get the World Cup ticket. He also promised
that the federation will do everything in its power to motivate the
team by providing all the logistics to ensure qualification.

According to him,
the team would go on a week recess and resume for a closed camping
exercise in Lagos from August 10-19.The team will later camp in South
Africa for one week to acclimatise and get additional training before
hitting Namibia for the World Cup.

Nigeria came back from Swaziland with many awards such as the Best
Bowler of the tournament won by Adeniran Olumide; Best Batsman by James
Chukwu, who scored 103 runs against Mozambique; Man of the Series,
Olumide Adeniran with a total of 180 runs in all his innings and so
many man of the match awards. They were later rewarded with undisclosed
cash prizes by the president.

Watching a
happy-sounding Danny Jordaan’s interview after delivering what many
foreign journalists said was impossible, a successful world cup finals
and the first on African soil, I was so proud of him.

According to him “I
told you way back in 2004 when South Africa won the bid to host the
2010 FIFA World Cup finals that “only God could stop us hosting the
best World Cup ever. I am delighted with the way the tournament was run
both on and off the field. It was a tremendous advert for South Africa
and Africa and shows that this continent can succeed in hosting the
biggest sporting event in history. It was a stunning achievement and
one we as a nation can be rightly proud of”.

In fact, when I
heard a couple of days ago that Jordaan, the former LOC head for South
Africa 2010 had joined the FIFA World Cup inspection team to run the
rule over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup venues in Australia, Japan,
Russia, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland and the United
States I wasn’t surprised. I was really happy for him to have been
rewarded for his brilliance in this manner.

It was indeed the
best World Cup ever with the third highest attendance in the history of
the tournament. I dare say it couldn’t have been any better than it was
and I am yet to hear one negative comment about the month long event.

It was overwhelming, and for me, a once in a life time experience.

Shame on Charles Dempsey

Sure we all
remember in 2000 the man from Oceania who was directed by his region to
vote for South Africa to host the tournament in 2006. Dempsey decided
to abstain and thereby, by that one vote tilted the balance in favour
of Germany.

By 2006 every
continent had hosted the World Cup except Africa and with that decision
in Zurich in 2000; it meant Africa continued to be seen as the
“hopeless continent”. It might have been a blessing in disguise because
that outcome confirmed exactly what we sought to bring to an end; the
confinement of Africa and Africans to the periphery of human society.
Though South Africa had to wait for four years, it was well worth the
wait for the continent as a whole.

While I was proud
to be African based on the success of the event, I also harboured a
tiny bit of jealousy. I couldn’t stop thinking about my dear country,
the “giant of Africa”, wondering if my generation will ever witness
Nigeria successfully hosting an event of that magnitude. Thankfully our
officials were there and saw for themselves. Will they learn from the
South African experience? My faith tells me YES! My head tells me NO!
Most probably because their next priority seems to be to buy houses in
the rainbow nation, following the trend of past leaders. Perhaps we got
our independence too soon and maybe easily.

Post World Cup withdrawal syndrome

People feel South
African’s may not be able to deal with the “withdrawal syndrome”
post-World Cup. On the contrary, I think it is time for them to shine.
We can see that the World Cup forged some unity across political lines
and a remarkable display of patriotism across the racial divide. And as
President Zuma said, “South Africa is in the marketing mood, explore
the opportunities, find new partners and see the return on your
investments. We are blowing our vuvuzelas and encouraging the world to
partner with us as we build a better Africa”. There’s hardly anyone I
know who was at the World Cup that doesn’t intend to go back to South
Africa.

South Africa has
proven the Afro-pessimist who thought we will fail wrong. The success
of the World Cup has helped Africa regain her pride as equal members of
the human society.

No doubt, the
tournament united Africa and we saw the support the Ghanaian team got
when they faced Uruguay in the quarter final. I hope that this will
continue to unite us not just on the field of play but in all aspects.

And like former
president Thabo Mbeki said, “For us our success in hosting the World
Cup means Africa is well poised to continue its renaissance, hopefully
supported by the rest of humanity. Africa must therefore proceed from
the playing fields to claim the 21st century and liberate itself from
the weight of centuries of the denial of human dignity”.

Well done South Africa, well done Africa!