ubamobile

29
Wed, Jul

Only a few days after world football governing body, FIFA Lifted the suspension it placed on Nigeria due to government interference in the country’s football association’s affairs, the Executive Committee of the board of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has sacked its president, Alhaji Aminu Maigari.

The committee met at the NFF Secretariat, Abuja early Thursday to go over the crisis that lead to a court injunction ordering the federation’s executives to be dissolved, an action that in turn led to the FIFA ban.

The committee also reviewed issues surrounding the lack of transparency marring all financial dealings of the federation and failure of Maigari to convene a meeting of the committee in the last eight months.

They noted that for the period of time the committee went without meeting, many weighty decisions about Nigeria football had been taken by a small cabal within the board, thus the executives passed a vote of no confidence on Maigari.

According to the Communique signed by Alhaji Muazu Sulyeman, the drafting committee chairman of NFF, the immediate dismissal of Maigari from the NFF executive committee has been approved on grounds of alleged “financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration”.

The Committee mandated Chief Mike Okeke Umeh, NFF’s first vice president, to take on the role of   Acting President, presiding over the affairs of the federation until a new NFF Executive Committee is elected and inaugurated by 26th August.

The committee applauded FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for their sincere interest in the development of Nigeria football, pledging that the nation will continue to abide by the rules prescribed by the governing bodies.

They thanked President Goodluck Jonathan and all Nigerians for their patience and understanding during the crisis period, reiterating that the NFF is constantly working toward the development of football in Nigeria.

Members of the committee in attendance were:  Vice President Chief Mike Umeh, Chief Emeka Inyama, Mrs Dilichukwu Onyedinma, Alhaji Ahmad Muazu Kawu, Chief Effiong Johnson, Barr. Christopher Green, Shehu Adamu, Alhaji Muazu Suleyman, Mr. Ayodeji Tinubu, Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed a.k.a ‘Fresh’,  Chief Felix Anyansi-Agwu, Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande,  Musa Amadu and the sacked president Maigari.

 

The world football governing body, FIFA has lifted the ban placed on Nigeria for government interference in the affairs of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The ban was imposed on the country  on 9th July.

According to a FIFA press release obtained by Huhuonline.com on Friday, the ban was lifted because statutory order has been reinstated at the NFF and the legitimate bodies reinstalled to run its affairs.

"FIFA noted that the court proceedings and order preventing the president of the NFF, the NFF Executive Committee members and the NFF Congress from running the affairs of Nigerian football that prompted the suspension have been withdrawn," the statement read.

"FIFA has decided to lift the suspension as of today, Friday 18th July 2014. The lifting of the suspension means that all rights of the NFF as a FIFA member as defined in article 12 of the FIFA Statutes are reinstated.”

As a result of the reinstatement NFF has said it will immediately  commence “arrangements for the under 20 Women National Team, Falconets to travel to Moncton, Canada, next week for a final training camp ahead of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup taking place in the same country.

NFF also assured that preparation for the under 17 boys to fly to Democratic Republic of Congo for a 2015 African U-17 Championship qualifier on Sunday, 27th July would commence immediately. 

The Samba Boys of Brazil were completely humbled by a fantastic German side at the Estadio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday with a historic 7 – 1 demolition.

No one would have predicted that the game, which started out as a pulsating affair would end up terribly lopsided. Just 11 minutes after Mexican referee Marco Rodríguez blew the opening whistle the Germans started a feast of goals with Thomas Müller, Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira finding the back of the net five times before half time.

 A second half brace from Andre Schürrle sealed the deal, humbling the five-time champions in a most remarkable semi final game.  A 90th minute strike by Oscar gave Brazil their only consolation, marking the first time since 1975 that Brazil would lose a match in Estadio Mineirão.

Neymar injured and Thiago Silva suspended, Brazil head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had to make some tweaks to his 4-2-3-1 and opted to have Dante fill in for Silva and Bernard for Neymar. Júlio César took his normal place in goal and was shielded by a back line of Marcelo, Dante, David Luiz and Maicon. Fernandinho and Luis Gustavo slotted in as holding midfielders while Hulk, Oscar and Bernard lined up as attacking midfielders in support of lone striker Fred.

Germany head coach Joachim Löw's 4-3-3 saw Manuel Neuer start in goal and Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Benedikt Höwedes and Philipp Lahm in defense. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Kroos composed the three-man midfield while up front it was Mesut Özil, Müller and Klose.

The match started both teams pushing forward but soon enough Germany would strike first with a Müller goal in the 11th minute. A corner kick was looped in and somehow, the Brazilian defense failed to account for Müller who was all alone at the back post and the Bayern man had all the time in the world to club in a shot past Júlio César.

Klose became the all-time World Cup leading scorer in history just 12 minutes into the game, when he netted his 16th World Cup goal. Müller laid off a perfect ball for Klose whose initial shot was blocked by Júlio César but the Lazio man would not be denied on the follow-up and it was 2-0 to Germany.

The die Mannschaft struck three more times in speedy succession. Lahm crossed from the right for Kroos who hammered in a shot to make it 3-0 in the 24th minute. The home fans, already feeling dumbfounded by what they were witnessing, may have well packed up their things and left in the 26th minute as Kroos tallied again after a horrendous giveaway from Fernandinho who was stripped by Khedira who then set up Kroos for the fourth.

The whole scene devolved into an outright humiliation in the 29th minute when a Hummels challenge on Luiz gave Khedira the ball and after a smart touch from Özil, the Real Madrid man fired in to make the score5-0. The first half only lasted 45 minutes but it must have felt like an eternity for the Seleção who were confused from top to bottom and left the pitch with their heads hung to an avalanche of jeers and whistles from their home fans.

Desperate to save face, Brazil attacked to start the second half and had a good chance through Oscar in the 52nd minute only to see Neuer make the requisite save. A minute later Neuer stood tall again when he denied Paulinho twice form point-blank range, further evidence that it was simply not to be Brazil's night at any point during the 90 minutes.

After that initial push from Brazil, Germany regained control and Müller nearly completed the set in the 61st minute only to see Júlio César barely tip away the shot over the crossbar. Brazil's abysmal defending continued and the lack of any type of marking resulted in Germany's sixth in the 69th minute when Lahm easily crossed for substitute Andre Schürrle who had acres of time and space to sweep in his shot to make it 6-0. The Chelsea man then scored his second in the 79th to complete the dismantling when he hit a shot from the left that ricocheted off the crossbar into the net.

Tuesday night's dismantling of the Samba Boys is the most dominating performance in any World Cup semi-final history.

 

Following Nigeria's second round exit from the ongoing Brazil 2014 World Cup after a 2-0 loss to France,  Super Eagles handler, Coach Stephen Keshi has resigned his appointment as the country's chief coach.

Keshi disclosed his intention to journalists after the Eagles match in Brasilia on Monday, stating that it was time to move on.

“I have to go back to my family and face fresh challenges,” said Keshi.

Super Eagles Captain, most capped Joseph Yobo also declared that he was stepping out of the national team after winning 100 caps.

“I think I should give the younger ones the opportunity to forge ahead. I have nothing new to offer,” the Norwich City defender said.

Nigeria was beaten 2 – 0 by France in their round of 16 match at the ongoing as the quarter final qualification continues to elude the African champions. Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana have all  made it to the quarter finals in 1990, 2002 and 2010 respectively.

It has been rumoured that South African Football Association (SAFA) was on Keshi's trail, but SAFA has denied wooing the Big Boss.

Keshi did not disclose his next move.

The Federal Government has been challenged to probe the multi-billion naira finances allocated to the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) led by Alhaji Aminu Maigari, in the last 24 months.

It has also been asked to look into the alleged fraudulent deal signed with the League Management Company (LMC) with an advertising agency.

In the petition signed by a former Group Sports Editor of Thisday Newspaper and current publisher of Gongnews.com, Mr. Olajide Fashikun and addressed to the minister of sports Dr. Tammy Danagogo, the petitioner said he decided to call for the probe of the NFF leadership "as part of the desired changes which Nigeria's sports deserves following the years of maladministration and loss of focus by those saddled with the responsibility of developing sports".

Fashikun called on the government to investigate the $2 million paid by the Federal Government and $8 million paid by FIFA for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, observing that some players are still claiming that they have not received their share for participation having played in the qualifiers without playing in the finals. He also wants a probe into the movement of the $1 million reserved by the Sani Abdullahi led board for the furnishing of the Sunday Dankaro House and secretariat of the NFF in Package B at the National Stadium, Abuja; the N790 million for the 2013 African Cup of Nations; the N170 million received for the 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup in Brazil and the money paid by FIFA for same.

The petitioner further urged the government to probe the $1.5 million grant given by FIFA to prepare the Super Eagles for the 2014 World Cup; proceeds from the sponsorship deals with Globacom, Guiness, TomTom, Peak Milk and Adidas; N1.288 billion being the sum of the monthly subvention received from government from January 2013 to June 2014; N850 million received from government for the preparation and participation of the Super Eagles in the first round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the $8 million and $6 million expected revenue from FIFA for playing in the first round and qualifying for the round of 16 respectively.

"Nigeria football must be saved and helped to progress without committing the same error in the future, and as a measure to prevent this from repeating itself, given as deterrence, you must act in good faith," Fashikun said.

In the petition dated 4th July 2014, Fashikun said since football, is one of the 26 sectors under the purview of the minister and the fact that Nigerians are very emotional and passionate about football, it is urgent that a probe be initiated to address the anomalies in the system.

“It is sad and unjustifiable that monies taken from the public is being frittered away for unnecessary and under developmental purposes. That is why I am demanding from the minister of sports: an independent committee to probe the allegations or an investigation by a competent statutory institution," Fashikun said.

He stated that had the NFF board used the funds available to them judiciously, the eventual protest of the players that embarrassed the nation would have been avoided.

“The cost of that embarrassment cannot be quantified in money matters," Fashikun concluded.

If Nigeria does not reinstate the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari before Tuesday,  the country may be risking being suspended, the apex football regulating body, FIFA has indicated.

Maigari and other NFF leaders were sacked from office as a result of a court ruling on Friday, while Maigari was also arrested on returning from the World Cup on the same day.

"FIFA has taken note of the detention of NFF President Aminu Maigari carried out by representatives of the Department of the State Security Service," a FIFA statement read.

An Abuja High Court had on Thursday served a restraining order on the NFF leaders. The court had ordered the sports ministry to appointed one of its own officials to run the federation.

The face-off between NFF and the government followed Nigeria's exit from the ongoing Brazil 2014 World Cup.

Nigeria had played a goalless draw with Iran in their first game, they had gone on to win their second group game with a lone goal over World Cup debutant, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the country had lost its final group game 3-2 to Argentina, qualifying for the next round with 4points. However, Nigeria's world cup campaign was cut short with a 2-0 loss to France in the round of 16.

The country's coach Stephen Keshi had resigned after the game citing unfair working condition occasioned by the NFF as one of the reasons for his resignation.

FIFA had written to NFF "expressing great concern over different actions taken by Nigerian public authorities," over the removal of the federation's leaders.

FIFA had also stated that it would not recognise an NFF election meeting reportedly billed for Abuja on Saturday.

The football governing body had said an official football congress scheduled for 26th August and "only decisions and persons elected then will be considered legitimate."

In 2010, Nigeria's government had reacted aggressively after the country's national team, Super Eagles did not progress beyond the group stage in South Africa.  The nation's president, Goodluck Jonathan had threatened to shut down the national team for two years before FIFA intervened.

FIFA rules protect its 209 member federations from government interference, and a suspension bars teams and officials from taking part in international matches and meetings.

The national team's next competitive matches are 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers in September.

 

When the country’s senior national team the Super Eagles take on the Les Bleu of France as the French side are nicknamed on Monday in Brasilia in one of the Round of 16 games at the on-going World Cup, any likely loss to the French side should have the blames pinned on the shoulders of the bunch of racketeers we have in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) led by Aminu Maigari as well as some of their lackeys in the Nigerian sports media circle.

This is not providing a ready made excuse for the Super Eagles and their technical crew led by Stephen Keshi not to get their plans right and assume they wouldn’t be criticised were they to lose to France (whom I consider every inch beatable), but surely the NFF, Sports Ministry and by extension the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration would take a lot of bashing. You may wonder what has Jonathan got to do with the Super Eagles, well his government oversees every aspect of our nation and the Eagles are not left out. Thus for the Super Eagles to be trending all over the internet about their boycott of training last Thursday ahead of their game on Monday due to non-payment of their World Cup appearance fees is totally unacceptable and a big dent to our country’s image with all the blame lying on the NFF and indeed the Nigerian government’s shoulders.

Paying the Super Eagles bonuses or match fees for their games against Iran, Bosnia, and Argentina is totally different from paying them appearance fees. The NFF claim they paid the Eagles $5,000 each for their draw, as well as loss against Iran and Argentina respectively, while paying them $10,000 for their win against Bosnia. In essence, each player of the team has received $20,000 each for their group stage matches as match fees or bonus. This however, is totally different from appearance fees at the world cup. Every ardent sport follower know that players participating in major competitions e.g say tennis players at the Wimbledon Grand Slam are entitled to a standard appearance fee which is different from their prize money should they advance past each round.

What the Super Eagles players are asking for is that they be paid 30% of what the NFF gets from FIFA as prize money for each stage of the competition. That to me is even a bit on the low side as I would recommend each player gets at least $100,000 as appearance fee for representing Nigeria in the group stages alone. As it stands Nigeria through the NFF are to get $8 million for participating in the group stages of the World cup just like the other 31 participating teams. This is aside from the $1.5 million already given to the NFF by FIFA to prepare the team. For getting to the Round of 16 the NFF gets another $9 million whether the Eagles lose to France or not (see FIFA prize money breakdown for each teams : http://www.tsmplug.com/football/prize-money-fifa-world-cup-2014/ ) , so why would there be any argument or hanky-panky in paying these players their entitled rights? Are these NFF racketeers mad or something?

That we have to hold countless meetings with the players while the competition had already started is a big shame on the country. In 2012 before the European Nations cup, the English national team knew they were going to earn £100,000 if they won the Euros months before the tourney and it was incentivised for each stage they got too. The French team were expecting £290,000 for a trophy win, while the Germans were promised £250,000. These figures were different from the match bonus, in fact the Germans waived their group stage match bonuses for Euro 2012 due to the hefty appearance fees they were promised. For the World Cup in 2014, the terms for the appearance fees of the Three Lions of England were settled in January, a clear six months before the competition. Its easy to say that is England, but they also have an uneasy relationship with their players over appearance fees and thus they started negotiations many months before the competition between the FA and the players’ representatives. It resolved that each England player would get £350,000 each for winning the tournament and it was heavily incentivised for progressing through the group stage and this is different from what they get as match bonus for each games they play which the players usually give to charity as the appearance fee is way bigger than their match bonuses.

For the racketeers at the NFF this is too much for them to comprehend and they would do anything to sully the image of the players so as to escape with the money when FIFA pays them. Their allies in the sport media in Nigeria are even worse, as its a shame reading or listening to a sports journalist in the country who should know better defending the NFF. I listened to one the other day who has spent years as a football writer in a well known football magazine in the country and he was defending the indefensible. He practically argued that the Eagles were only entitled to match bonuses and not an appearance fee. I would like to ask such a person, what are the NFF going to do with over $17 million prize money($8 million for group stage and $9million for Round of 16) the Eagles players have helped them earn at the World Cup so far? Is it justifiable for the NFF racketeers to keep all of that money and not pay an appearance fee for the main protagonists (the players and technical crew)? The story is that in the past when the players weren’t aware of their rights, the NFF used to collect such monies from FIFA after the World Cup and deny receipt of it, sharing some of the bounty with sports editors so as to hush up the story.

Well not any more, times have changed and everyone is more enlightened including FIFA who know how corrupt some of these FA’s are. Its sad for anyone to blame Ghanaian or Cameroonian players for fighting for their rights. These agreements should be in place well before the World Cup, and not during. Ghanaian player John Boye was seen kissing his $100,000 appearance fee and I don’t blame him one bit as its his right. He’s a professional sports person and deserves to be paid his appearance fee for appearing for Ghana at the World Cup, that has nothing to do with patriotism or lack of it. So for the Eagles to boycott training has nothing to do with lack of patriotism, they just don’t trust these NFF racketeers and their spin doctors in the Nigerian sports media.

NFF’s Technical committee head Chris Green in the defence of the federation criticised the players for their request, saying it was an unreasonable request as they cannot be paid now and they have agreed with them that they would get it after FIFA must have paid the money. He also said the NFF is expecting FIFA to deduct our feeding, accommodation and transport expenses at the World Cup from the prize money. He further said: “In 2010, FIFA eventually gave us $6.4m out of the $8m grant. This time, we cannot get up to that because we are playing more games here in Brazil and the logistics of travelling here are so huge”. To understand how these NFF racketeers work, the question to ask them is what have you done with the N880 million released by the Federal Government out of the N1.4 billion the NFF budgeted for the World Cup? If accommodation, feeding and logistics are going to be checked out of our prize money (standing at the moment at a huge $17million) by FIFA, then why not pay the players their appearance fees from the monies released to them already by the FG? These NFF racketeers led by Aminu Maigari are plain looters and this racket has been going on for decades at the federation even before this present administration.

In any case FIFA’s secretary-general Jerome Valcke has waded into the appearance fee row threatening African teams including Nigeria describing it as sad, he said: "The players have the right to receive their money but it would be much easier to do this by bank transfer. The fact that the money (for Ghana) came in cash is also sad because I was ready to sign a letter, as long as I had a copy of the agreement between the national association and the players, that the money would be paid by Fifa by bank transfer into their personal accounts." Valcke further added that something needs to be done. "At future World Cups we will ask the national associations to provide us with their agreements with their players to make sure that this kind of episode does not happen again," he said (see full story on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28065553 ). So in essence, the Super Eagles players can take their agreements with the NFF to FIFA and ensure they are paid their rightful appearance fees. If the NFF racketeers try dodging payment, they should report them to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) through their representatives, as this stupid injustice and lack of common-sense must not be allowed to continue.

Come Monday though if issues are not sensibly resolved , when the Eagles file out they may just be playing against the NFF racketeers rather than France and we all know what the result may be. If you don’t know rewind to France 1998, when the Eagles were beating black and blue by Denmark in a Round of 16 tie, a match preceded by arguments between the players and NFA over bonuses and appearance fees.

Ola’ Idowu a Management Consultant and Researcher writes in from the UK.

 

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