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Last weekend I
enjoyed one of those rare moments when a researched, investigative
article manifests in a true life situation almost immediately.
Suddenly, Amos Adamu seems to have delivered his own head on a plate as
a scapegoat for sacrificial offering. Just last week I had strong
reason to share my thoughts in an article titled False Indication of
Fair Administration (F.I.F.A.). In it I highlighted the way FIFA dealt
with corruption scandals within their organisation in the past and
concluded the world governing body has established a reputation of
glossing over serious issues.

This is
substantiated by the slap-on-the-wrist punishments meted out to
offenders that are more certainly encouraging than punitive. Many
comments have been made locally and internationally with divided
opinions of what to expect from FIFA concerning this matter. Football’s
governing body has made appropriate statements promising investigations
into the fallout of the sting on Adamu by the Sunday Times of London
reporters posing as lobbyists who wanted to bring the World Cup to the
United States.

Sunday Times’ sting operation

Adamu allegedly
demanded £500,000 ($800,000) – in the recording – for four football
pitches but with payment directly made to him, to endorse a US bid.
Something tells me that would be strong a line of defence; that he put
that caveat of direct payment to safeguard the money’s use from
thieving NFF officials and ensure it is used for the required purpose.
Godfather Blatter immediately wrote to the 24 executive members
promising a full investigation and assured England it would not affect
their bid. Amos Adamu is scheduled to face the ethics committee today.
The Oceania Football Confederation is also investigating the reports
concerning Tahiti’s Reynald Temarii who faces a similar allegation.

Even more serious
is Ternarii’s claim that two bidding nations or parties related to the
bidding nations offered him $10m and $12m for his vote. If true, this
would be a scandal of the level of gigantic proportions and heads must
roll to prove FIFA’s credibility.

The way FIFA has
handled the high profile corruption cases in the past does not make me
very optimistic much will come out of this. If it does that would be
fantastic but then it could only be precedent.

Except the powerful
English FA (and press) insists on a scapegoat, nothing punitive will
come out of this and if so, I suspect the Tahitian will be prey, not
Adamu because of many factors. One of which is his much alleged FIFA
approved succession of Issa Hayatou as CAF President over a vital
power-base Blatter cannot afford divided. More so, Adamu delivers
loyally. We wait and see in the hope that justice is done to leave
Nigeria free of a man touted to be at the root of Nigeria’s football
and sports problems.

I earnestly hope
Adamu is the scapegoat; if only to satisfy the yearnings of many
Nigerians. At least, being caught ‘live’ on camera with his hand in the
pot for once, seems to corroborate the many corruption accusations
levelled at him. In the words of popular sports commentator and
reporter, Gordon Farquhar, “It’s FIFA’s turn to face itself and ask
difficult questions about the probity of some of its members, past and
present” and, if I may add, ‘do the right thing….for once’.

Bio’s assertions on Delhi performance

My other observation of aluta lies firmly at the feet of the Sports Minister Bio.

I read with great
interest and admiration Mumini Alao’s article in Complete Sports about
2 weeks ago titled “Bio, it’s time to bow”. I share the same opinion.
Mumini’s article outlined more than enough reasons for the minister to
honourably take his leave but as expected, he hasn’t.

There’s something
extremely magnetic about holding governmental office that either
corrupts the innocent person with good intentions before assuming
office or reveals the person’s true (hitherto unknown) nature. I don’t
know which adequately describes the Minister. However, I do know that
his initial ‘gra-gra’ of uncovering the Eagles hotel debacle prior to
the World Cup has been obliterated by his involvement in the
shenanigans that took Nigeria football backwards until FIFA’s
intervention. To cap it all, I watched him attribute Nigeria’s Delhi
success to proper preparations and his ministry’s involvement. Amazing!
What adequate preparations? How come there was no mention of the
preparations to prevent the triple doping scandals? Or why didn’t he
address the incompetence or negligence of Nigerian doctors that
accompanied the contingent to India? What is his office going to do
about appealing the sorry cases especially as Indian athletes were
found guilty of taking the same banned substances but were exonerated
quickly enough to continue participating in the Games?

Truly, Sports Minister, it’s time to go. You don’t have a detailed
plan for sports development in Nigeria; if you do, please make it
public within seven days so we can all know and work towards
actualising it with you. Our initial expectations of you have been shot
to pieces. Otherwise we know the general plan is ‘aluta continua’ so
that somehow you will thread your way back into high office in the next
political term.

Plans
are underway to hold an international football exhibition in Nigeria.
The event, which will be the first of its kind in Nigeria, is scheduled
to hold on December 9, 2010 at Sheraton Hotels and Towers in Lagos.

Themed Nigeria International Football Expo 2010, the event is being organised by Fair Play Marketing and Vantgarde Limited.

Speaking at a press
briefing yesterday to herald the event, Justin Ofor, Managing
Director/CEO of Fair play said the expo will involve a business forum,
an exhibition and football carnival with a networking lunch held where
ideas and abilities will meet to fuel and create a vibrant football
market in Nigeria.

“The idea of the
Nigerian International Football Expo is to give government,
stakeholders, administrators, clubs, coaches, players, fans, sponsors
and companies in the football industry or related businesses from all
over the world, an opportunity to come together to talk football, learn
football, network football and do business with football in Nigeria,”
Ofor said.

Ofor, who ventured
into sports business in England, said he and his associates in
Vantgarde want to put the knowledge they acquired there to help develop
the business side of football in Nigeria.

Football without government

Also speaking at
the occasion, Helen Emore, Managing Director/CEO of Vantgarde said the
belief that without government football is dead in Nigeria, erroneous.

“The success of
football does not depend on government. In Nigeria, football can
flourish without government involvement and support. Look at Nollywood
and the music industry how well they are doing; is government investing
in them? Despite the numerous challenges they face, Nollywood is
booming. Why can’t Nigerian football be like that? In Nigeria there is
too much dependence on government to get things going in football.

“The only time
football comes alive in this country is either during the World Cup or
the Nations Cup. Why can’t we build an exciting industry around
football? Elsewhere people millions of people make a living through
football. Why can’t we do the same here?”

The football expo,
expected to attract leading football and business minds within and
outside Nigeria, will have three key components.

* A business forum,
which will open a wide range of dealing opportunities and enable
extension of several organisations into Nigeria’s football market.

*An exhibition,
which will provide business and selling networking opportunity for
organisations to showcase their products and services. Organisers say
it will also present a strategic platform for business negotiations,
sponsorships, rights negotiations and marketing.

* A football carnival where there will be a charity game between an
all-star selected team, which will include ex-footballers against a
selected team from corporate/celebrity Nigeria who have supported
football in Nigeria. The match will be used to create an awareness of
the plight of the less privileged in the society.

FIFA
Executive Committee member, Amos Adamu will today at the headquarters
of the football governing body in the Zurich, Switzerland face the
ethics committee.

Reporters from the
British newspaper, The Sunday Times, posed as lobbyists for a
consortium of private American companies who wanted to help secure the
2018 World Cup for the United States. And they filmed Adamu agreeing to
accept $800,000 in return for his vote in the 2018 FIFA World Cup bid.

He is alleged to
have said the money, which is to be paid to him personally, will be
used to build four artificial football pitches in Nigeria.

Adamu was at FIFA’s
headquarters on Monday to meet with the body’s president Sepp Blatter
who promised an “in-depth investigation” into the allegations.

Besides Adamu, who
remained in Switzerland ahead of today’s meeting with the ethics
committee, there are also three other FIFA officials implicated in the
scandal.

They are
Tahiti-born Reynald Temarii, president of the Oceania Football
Confederation, who is alleged to have asked for a payment to finance a
sports academy in New Zealand; Amadou Diakite from Mali, a member of
FIFA’s Referees’ committee who demanded for $1 million,

and Slim Aloulou,
the Tunisian chairman of FIFA’s disputes resolution committee, who said
they should not pay “peanuts,” suggesting bribing Executive Committee
members with as much as one million pounds each.

Taking all steps possible

FIFA said in a
statement that it “has opened proceedings against two current members
of the FIFA executive committee to ascertain whether they have violated
the FIFA code of ethics, and has asked the chairman of the ethics
committee to act without delay to take all possible steps, including
the possibility of provisional measures, should the relevant conditions
be met.

“Investigations are also ongoing in relation to other FIFA officials who may have been involved in the issue in question.”

The FIFA’s ethics
committee is headed by former Swiss striker Claudio Sulser, and they
will also probe suspicions of collusion between unnamed bidding
nations. A press conference has been scheduled for this evening after
the meeting of the ethics committee.

FIFA on Tuesday
however said it was too early to comment on whether a bidding nation
could ultimately be disqualified for a serious breach of the rules.

With only the 24 executive committee members entitled to vote, the
allegations are a blow to the credibility of the bidding process, which
is due to reach a climax on December 2 when FIFA announces the
respective hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.

At
centre court of the 10th edition of the Governor’s Cup on Tuesday, Boy
Westerhof of the Netherlands had a tough time shaking off his tireless
opponent, Sunday Emmanuel of Nigeria.

In a thrilling
encounter that lasted over two hours, Emmanuel, who won this year’s
edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) tennis Open, followed
Westerhof point for point. The game, which was won in two sets was not
easy for Westerhof, a finalist at the last edition of the championship,
as Emmanuel gave him no breathing space.

Westerhof started
the game grabbing the first point but that advantage vanished into thin
air when Emmanuel’s persistance started to pay off. By the time the
first set was in a tie 5-5, Westerhof had started showing signs of
frustration but was later to compose himself and win the set 7-6.

A similar scenario
played out in the second set, Westerhof leading with Emmanuel
relentless in closing the gap between them. The set was however closed
with Westerhof winning 6-4.

Commenting on his loss, Emmanuel shrugged it off as one of those things.

“He is a good
player and I tried so much to at least catch up with him but he was as
determined to win. It would have been great if I won but I did not. All
the same, I congratulate him on his victory”.

Women crash out

The first game of
the women’s category played at the centre court between Gail Brodsky of
the United States of America and Agnes Szatmari of Russia was a
relatively easy one for the American. She defeated her opponent in
straight sets of 6-3, 6-4.

In the matches
decided earlier in the day, all the Nigerian ladies who played, fared
badly with all of them crashing out of the championship.

Ekanem Etim was booted out by Raven Klaasen 6-0, 7-6; Ranjeet
Virali-Murugesan of India defeated Bolaji Olawepo 6-1, 6-1; while Anna
Brazhinikova of Sweden thrashed Ronke Akingbade 6-3, 6-1 victory.

The
stage is set for a successful hosting of the 10th edition of the All
Africa Challenge Trophy (AACT) scheduled to take place in Abuja,
Nigeria beginning November 7, 2010.

The golf
championship, which is the most prestigious amateur ladies’ golf event
on the African continent, comes up at the IBB Golf and Country Club and
will see as many as 17 African countries in attendance, although this
number could likely increase before the championship tees off in
November.

Besides hosts
Nigeria, other countries that have already signified their interest to
take part in the biennial championship, which was first held in Harare,
Zimbabwe back in 1992 with 12 countries in attendance, are Angola,
Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana and Malawi.

Others are Togo,
Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Senegal, Swaziland, Sierra
Leone and South Africa which has won the previous nine editions of the
championship.

Nigeria won the
hosting rights to stage this year’s AACT at the last edition in Egypt
and efforts have been made to ensure a successful hosting of the
championship which will run for four days.

Making this
declaration in Lagos on Tuesday was the president of the Ladies Golf
Association of Nigeria (LGAN), Ngozi Osuhor, who disclosed efforts made
so far by the LGAN, which is the umbrella body that governs all lady
golfers in Nigeria, to ensure a successful staging of the tourney.

Twenty-three
sponsors and counting Amongst these includes the LGAN’s massive
sponsorship drive that has already secured the signatures of as many as
23 corporate and individual sponsors notable among which are Coca-Cola,
Seven-Up, Guinness, Nigeria Breweries, American Express, as well as the
Nicon Luxury Hotel which will accommodate the visiting teams for the
duration of the AACT.

President of the
Nigerian Senate, David Mark, former defence minister Domkat Bali, along
with the Savannah Hotel, which will be accommodating the Nigerian team,
are also sponsors of the event.

This will mark the
second time that Nigeria will be hosting the AACT following the
successful hosting of the 3rd edition back in 1996 at the Ikoyi Club,
Lagos.

A notable absentee however will be Egypt who withdrew last week
citing security concerns in the aftermath of the Abuja Independence Day
bombing.

With
only 10 editions gone, sports flight, a new sports programme aired on
City FM 105.1, is making waves in Lagos among sports enthusiasts for
its breezy style of delivery.

The programme has
seen the return of one of the best radio sports voices in Nigeria,
Ralph Chidozie George, after a five year absence when he sojourned to
the South East to be manager sports, Cosmo FM in Enugu.

Sports Flight is a
15 minute programme which has four segments namely, the Home-front,
Africa scene, Elsewhere in the world and a sports song.

The innovation of a selected sports song daily to round off the show is fast catching on with listeners around the city.

It has also been an
educative platform and in the few editions, they have had the voices of
football players that include Hoffenheim striker, Chinedu Obasi,
Denmark-based Peter Utaka, Bury’s Efetobore Sodje,

Vincent Enyeama,
Djurgarden’s Ikpe Ekong, Apam Onyekachi – who plays for Rennes in
France, and Babajide Ogunbiyi – who plays for Viborg in Denmark. They
have also had a boxing world title hopeful, Segun Ajose, a former
wrestling tag team champion, Barbarian, and a host of others on the
programme.

The programme is
also not lacking in reports, as Sammy Wejinya reports from Port
Harcourt and the Commonwealth Games reports were on daily until it
concluded last week. The sports programmes is produced by Diamond
Trophy International, a production outfit based in Lagos and Enugu.

“I had to return to
Lagos after being away in Enugu for six years working for COSMO FM and
presenting the flagship sports programme, Sportstrack,” George said.

“Sports Flight is
an innovative programme away from the ordinary sports programmes on the
air waves; it serves more exclusive local content and celebrates the
Nigeria Premier League while not forgetting to serve action from the
foreign scene.

“We have a repertoire of sports songs from football to wrestling,
boxing, basketball and even workout songs and daily we choose one to
end the show” he said. Sports Flight is aired from Monday to Friday at
8am on City FM, 105.1.

There
will be no additional locations to serve as Champions Planet viewing
centres, the Marketing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Jacco Van
der Linden has said.

Van der Linden was responding to questions about the fate of consumers, who were itching to have a feel of the Heineken house.

With UEFA Champions
League matches resuming on Tuesday, Linden explained that the existing
Champions Planet, in Victoria Island, Lagos remains the only one
designed to serve the nation.

Recently, there had
been clamour for the Heineken brand to activate the same concept in
other locations in Lagos and other cities in the country.

However, Linden
said that the concept of the project is synonymous with the planetary
world with all the galaxies having a role to play.

“There can only be
one planet and to narrow it down to the UEFA Champions League, the only
planet that exists in Nigeria is the ‘Heineken Planet House’ which is
unique among all other viewing centres. The only change every season is
the number because we started from Planet one but this season we are in
the fifth edition.

“We quite
appreciate our avowed consumers nationwide who want to have a feel of
the project but the concept of a planet must be in one location and
this is the only reason why we cannot have more than one centre,” he
said.

Attractions

Aside the football
matches, Linden said other activities for guests at the new look Planet
House include table soccer, swimming, golf and chess while all the
games are aired on all the screens available in the Champions Planet.

For the past four
seasons, hundreds of Nigerian football fans have been opportuned to
watch and experience the UEFA Champions league at the Planet.

Top matches
available this Tuesday include the clash between English Premiership
champions, Chelsea and Sparta Moskva at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
Also, Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid will take on AC at the Santiago
Bernabeu; while Arsenal will host Shakhtar Donetsk at the Emirates
stadium.

The following day, defending champions Inter Milan will host
Tottenham Hotspurs at the San Siro Stadium while Camp Nou will stage
the FC Barcelona FC versus Kobenhavn tie. Manchester United will host
Turkish entrants, Bursaspor at Old Trafford to conclude the schedule
for day 3 of the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League.

Samuel
Eto’o scored another cracking goal to give Inter Milan a 1-0 win at
Cagliari on Sunday and hit back at the racist chanters who had earlier
held up the game.

The victory sent
champions Inter level on points at the top with AC Milan, who beat
Chievo on Saturday, but Lazio can claim first place outright with a win
at Bari later (1845 GMT).

Cameroon forward
Eto’o took his Serie A tally to six goals from seven games this term
and like most of his recent efforts, the 39th minute goal was a
marvellous strike.

Wesley Sneijder
hooked on and Eto’o twisted and turned like Inter’s serpent symbol on
their new away kit before planting a left-foot shot in the corner from
the edge of the box.

The absence of the
injured Diego Milito meant Eto’o could take centre stage in attack and
he looks a different player to the workhorse who toiled during last
term’s treble triumph.

His strike was the
perfect riposte to the Cagliari fans whose racist chants towards him
caused the referee to suspend the game after three minutes of play.

A public
announcement was made asking fans to stop the chants, which they did
for the rest of the match. The game restarted after around three
minutes.

Zanetti returns

The Italian soccer
federation, which has long struggled with racist fans, gave referees
the right to suspend games in case of such chanting after Mario
Balotelli was constantly abused in Inter’s match at Juventus two
seasons ago.

The game had
already caused controversy after becoming the first high-profile match
to be selected for this term’s new 1230 local time kick off, which is
aimed at catching Asian audiences but has angered Italian fans who
believe the start is too early.

The previous 1230
games have been lacklustre, partly because of the heat, but cooling
temperatures in Sardinia and two committed sides led to an engaging
encounter.

Eto’o had another
decent effort and Maicon headed wide on the stroke of halftime but the
hosts also went close when they hit the bar and Julio Cesar was forced
into a good double save.

Cagliari also had two penalty appeals for handball rejected.

As well as Milito,
Inter were without injury victims Goran Pandev and Esteban Cambiasso
with youngsters Coutinho and Jonathan Biabiany again forced to start on
the wings.

Substitute Thiago
Motta made his first appearance this term after knee surgery but looked
uncomfortable and may be doubtful for Wednesday’s Champions League
match with Tottenham Hotspur.

Javier Zanetti also returned after three weeks out.

“I’m happy, I was keen to return,” captain Zanetti told Sky.
“Cagliari put us under pressure but we deserved the lead. Eto’o is
enjoying a great moment and we hope he continues like this.”

Liverpool’s
new American era began in failure on Sunday in front of their latest
owners with a 2-0 loss to Merseyside rivals Everton which sent them
second from bottom of the Premier League.

John W Henry and
Tom Werner were at Goodison Park to see Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta
score in the 34th and 50th minutes, condemning the five times European
champions to their fourth defeat from eight games this season.

Fernando Torres
went closest for the visitors when his first-half header was turned
over the bar by Everton keeper Tim Howard but Liverpool offered little
else in another poor display.

They slipped one place in the table on goal difference,

level on six points with Wolverhampton Wanderers and bottom-placed West Ham United.

Henry’s New England
Sports Ventures, owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, completed
a takeover of the Premier League club on Friday after contentious legal
battles with the previous U.S. owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

The jubilant scenes
in London on Friday concluded one of the most dramatic weeks in the
118-year history of Liverpool, one of England’s most famous and
successful clubs.

Fans welcomed Henry
and NESV after becoming increasingly outraged at Hicks and Gillett’s
stewardship and fearful the club was weighed down by unsustainable debt.

Yet the euphoria of the takeover battle did not carry over to the pitch.

Hodgson under pressure

Everton supporters
taunted their counterparts with chants of “Going down”, and the defeat
will focus attention on the future of Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson
under a new regime.

The home side
pressed from the kickoff and went close twice in almost identical
fashion in the first quarter of an hour. Defender Phil Jagielka fired a
left-foot shot over the bar after 12 minutes and two minutes later his
defensive partner Sylvain Distin missed the target from a similar
position inside the area.

Liverpool came to
life after 23 minutes when Joe Cole turned inside and delivered a cross
for Torres, but the Spaniard had his back to goal and his flick-header
was turned over by Tim Howard in Everton’s goal.

The breakthrough came from a determined run down the right by Everton’s right-back, Seamus Coleman.

The Irishman surged
into the area, committing defenders, and after his cross took a slight
deflection off Paul Konchesky, the ball sat up for an onrushing Cahill,
and the Australian drilled his finish high into Jose Reina’s net.

Within five minutes of the start of the second half, Everton doubled their lead.

Liverpool failed to deal adequately with a set piece,

Sotiros Kyrgiakos’s
clearance falling to an unmarked Arteta, whose right-foot shot from the
edge of the area swerved viciously and left Reina clutching at air.

Liverpool raised themselves late on, but it was more in hope than expectation.

Steven Gerrard
delivered an inviting cross for Torres at the back post, but it was
nicked away by a defender at the last moment, and four minutes later
Howard was alert to deny Torres’s right-foot shot inside the area.

Everton, who began the day fourth from bottom, moved up six places to 11th.

The
board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, will hold an
extra-ordinary board meeting on Thursday, October 21, from 10.00 am at
the federation Secretariat at the Park-B section of the Abuja National
Stadium.

The meeting is
expected to amongst other things discuss the issue of the age scandal
that rocked the Nigerian team to the just concluded Afro-basket
tournament in Kigali, Rwanda.

A Nigerian player,
Godfrey, Moses was sanctioned over allegations of age falsification
which in turn caused the country’s junior basket ball team, the Junior
Tigers a shot at one of the available tickets to next year’s World
Championships in Latvia.

According to a
press release from the federation’s media officer, Segun Ikuesan, the
meeting will also try to chart a new course for the game in Nigeria.

“The meeting will
discuss the state of the game in our land and proffer solutions on how
best to continue to raise the stake of the game in Nigeria,” it read.

To chair the
Extra-ordinary board meeting is the President of the Federation and 3rd
Vice-President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Tijjani Umar.

Going all the way

On the age scandal,
Umar said the federation will go all the way to uncover whosoever was
behind the incident and also bring such people to book.

“We are not taking
basketball as a do or die affair and we will never be involved in any
incidence of cheating, but whoever is behind this will be uncovered and
punished. The coaches would also be queried when the team return from
Rwanda.

“We are also going
to take a step to involve the National Sports Commission in the whole
thing because a time has come for everyone involved in sports to do
things the right way,” he said.

Before Thursday’s Extra-ordinary board meeting there will be a meeting of the League Board on Wednesday also in Abuja.

The League Board
will give their report of the last DStv Premier League season which was
won by Kano Pillars and will ratify that date for the commencement of
the 2010/11 season.

The League Board Meeting will be chaired by Adamu Khaleh, who is also the Head of the federation Technical Committee.