Nigeria Content Online

It was a gathering
of some of the finest footballers to have played for Nigeria. They
represented at least four different generations of Nigerian footballers.

They were all
there-from the fiery but now subdued Peter Fregene, the swashbuckling
Emman Tetteh, the staid and cerebral Segun Odegbami, the irascible
Tarila Okorowanta; the self-effacing Mutiu Adepoju; the boyish Victor
Ikpeba and Peter Rufai who looked as though he could still file out for
the Super Eagles twelve years after he quit the national team.

They had converged
at the Press Centre of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos on Thursday
and had one burning desire-to rescue Nigerian football from
maladministration.

These stars and
others like Stanley Okoronkwo who starred for Enugu Rangers in the
early 1970s, Edema Benson of the celebrated New Nigeria Bank, Nicholas
Ukadike formerly of Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland FC), former
internationals, Tajudeen Disu, Peter Nieketen, Jide Oguntuase, Loveday
Omoruyi and many others had travelled from different parts of the
country to Lagos for this purpose.

Indeed Disu and
Nieketen had flown in the day before from the United States and England
because they considered the matter serious enough.

Waking up from slumber

The immediate cause
of the gathering was the decision of four illustrious members of their
club – Christian Chukwu, Segun Odegbami, Mutiu Adepoju and Austin
Okocha – to contest for seats on the board of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF).

For the former
footballers to come together was a momentous decision given the
disunity that has characterised their ranks. Indeed, many have held
them partly responsible for the problems plaguing football given their
indifference to developments on the football scene, a situation that
allowed all manner of characters access to the commanding heights of
the administration of the game.

Ikpeba, who spoke on behalf of the players, said they had turned a new leaf.

“The time for
change has come. No longer shall we fold our arms and watch others who
have done nothing in the game to continue to milk it and deny the
genuine actors, the patriots, the heroes their rights,” he said.

“We must not fold
our arms again and watch as people that are nothing in the game, have
added nothing to it, contribute nothing to it, now become the greatest
beneficiaries. These are people who have ridden on the back of us
footballers to become stupendously rich, to occupy the best positions,
become very fat and now the biggest detriment to the game.”

A story of neglect

One of the men who
were at that briefing, Fregene, captures the essence of the players
campaign. Fregene, who walked into the event on crutches aided by his
wife, had come all the way from Sapele. The man, regarded as the most
colourful goalkeepers to play for the national team, was stricken by
illness and was bed-ridden for years. He was neglected by both the
Nigeria Football Federation and the government of Nigeria until Lagos
State Governor, Babatunde Fashola through the entreaties of Odegbami,
Tetteh and journalist, Yomi Opakunle, came to his rescue by picking up
his hotel bills. He has since been living in Lagos and was brought to
Lagos for the players’ gathering his long time friend and colleague,
Tetteh.

At the event,
Fregene looked tired and gaunt. Indeed, when his friend Tetteh tried
recounting the former goalkeeper’s experience, he (Tetteh) dissolved
into tears.

Odegbami, who is
vying for the presidency of the football federation, said it was
situations like Fregene’s that he wants to stamp out from football
administration in Nigeria if elected. He said the running of the game
in Nigeria must be re-focused to turns things around.

“There is no going
back this time around. Even if I am the only one standing, I will fight
to the very end. I will use everything that I have; every connection
that I have, to ensure that at the end of the elections what is left is
real,” Odegbami said.

A long hard road

The road to the
Glass House, as the NFF is known, may be a long hard one for Odegbami
and his fellow footballers given concerns about the composition of the
electoral committee and the statutes of the federation under which the
elections will hold.

Odegbami has
complained about some of the provisions of the statutes, which he
believes were tailored to exclude some individuals from the federation.
In June he sent a letter to world football governing body FIFA
detailing some of the irregularities in the statutes tinkered with by
deposed president of the NFF, Sani Lulu. Curiously, the football body,
which prides itself on fair play, has beyond acknowledging receipt of
the letter kept quiet on the matter, which is threatening the election.