Let me first of all acknowledge late Professor Pius Adesanmi,a literary giant, an Academia per excellence and a scholar of repute whose piece of work I read few days ago had inspired this article.
One of the best Satire writer the Country had ever produced. I had read his keynote address delivered at the 5th Innovention Series of Verdant Zeal Group in 2016 titled
“Iyalaya Anybody: Pencils, Nigerian Innovation, & Africa’s path in the 21st century”.Of course, I wouldn’t like to bore you with the detail of his address,but a tap on the internet will avail you the ingenuity of Late Adesanmi.
‘Owó lulè: Never you minid the phrase and its obscenity. While
Ówo means ‘Money’ in Yoruba language, lulè is also loosely translated to a ‘fall’ of something. More extensively, lulè in Yoruba’s phraseological meaning implies a drastic or monumental fall of something.
In essence, the Presidential candidate of APC had popularized the narrative of lulè when he vehemently made a remark about how he helped the current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 elections after four attempts where he failed- the full gists is for the adherent of Nigerian Politics.
Now the business
The failure of some teams to play the remaining quarter final matches of the Federation Cup which, due to sponsorship deal is now known as Aiteo Cup has called for a deep reflection and a thought provoking conversation I intend to pass through this piece.
The matches had earlier been scheduled to hold on the 20th of August before it was postponed to 27th of the same month- a lot has gone in between those days.
The Background
Before now, there had been an uproar and rejection from Club Owners Association of Nigeria when Kwara United was selected by the NFF as the second representative of Nigeria in the CAF Confederation Cup.
Club Owners in a statement claimed that the body wasn’t consulted by NFF before Kwara United were picked and it threatened to withdraw all her members from the Aiteo Cup competition of 2022 which was already at the quarter final stage.
The essence of Aiteo Cup of 2022 seemed to have been defeated when Kwara United was nominated. The decision, was believed to have jettisoned the age long convention of nominating the winner of the Aiteo Cup as the second team that will play in the Confederation cup alongside the third placed team on the final table of the NPFL.
Kwara United had earlier finished fourth on the log of NPFL and are now the beneficiary of NFF’s failure to meet the deadline of CAF in submitting a second team for the competition.
For fans of Kwara United and perhaps some onlookers, the continental ticket was a compensation the ‘circumstances’ that surrounded how the team lost its continental bid in the 2021- full gist in another day.
The tripartite conspiracy
The teams in the quarter-final appeared to be the victim of this decision which was evident in the statement released by the Club Owners.
However, amidst the uproar and the eventual tripartite meeting between the NFF, LMC and the teams, the quarter-final match between Katsina United and Heartland had held as scheduled while all other three centres which included other Six teams didn’t hold as planned.
Alas! Neither did the Club owners or the quarter finalists teams reject the nomination of the team that has earlier been appointed for the Confederation Cup nor even repudiate the decision in the meeting, they went ahead and make a ‘monetary deal’ with the NFF including the LMC.
Yes! a ‘monetary deal’ which has now found its way in to the annals of football history in Nigeria.
The resolutions from the meeting reads;
- Quarter final matches and the pairings as well as the centers be maintained except the Ilorin centre involving Heartland vs Katsina Utd that has been played.
- Quarter final matches to be played on 20th August, 2022;
- All the 8 Quarter finalists shall be refunded their expenses – #3m each as compensation;
b. Katsina and Heartland, if to replay, shall receive #5m each. - SEMI finalists shall receive #2m each as subsidy.
- Finalist shall receive #1m each as subsidy.
- Winner shall be compensated with an upward review of prize money of #25m with at least 50%;
- Winner shall automatically qualify to the Round of 16 in d 2022/2023 Federation cup irrespective of whether they qualify from their state or not.”
To the chagrin of many, the NFF executive committee at its meeting on August 18 adopted the resolutions which have now consequently joined the long list of shenanigan credentials of the current leadership of football in Nigeria.
First, the resolutions failed to solve the problem created in the first place as it neglected the major cause of the whole issue- a dysfunctional football calendar.
Secondly, it created another problem in view of the resolution number 8 where the champions of the Aiteo Cup of 2022 will automatically join the next year’s campaign at the round of 16 irrespective of whether they qualify from the State level or not.
To say the least, how does the NFF plan to inject a team at that stage of competition without impinges on the opportunity of another team- That was such an unnecessary privilege.
Thirdly, it has further set a bad precedents for Nigeria football in the event of a similar occurrence. It’s logical that the resolutions with its unsustainable basis may trigger another endless crisis if it all it’s consulted in the nearest future- not a soothsayer anyway.
One even wonder how an NFF that is always fond of citing non availability of fund and resources in prosecuting some of its activities will get those money it promised the clubs.
Also fresh in mind was the habitual crisis that always accompany the provision of cash prizes for the winners of the Federation Cup in the past.
With this decision and the attendant fiasco, the current leadership of NFF has once again showed Nigerians how inept they’re in the administration of football in the Country.
More importantly, they have also further ridicule their only heritage as far as competitions in Nigeria is concerned – the FA Cup- what more?
Now that most of the teams refused or failed to attend the remaining quarter final games despite the monetary tips from the NFF, the Aiteo Cup 2022 may likely be a forgotten story- even though the Women category has not been affected by the so called resolutions.
Sanctions or not?
Logically, the NFF has lost the moral right to sanctions all the teams for not playing the match. At least, the essence of the competition which has always been an exclusive and inalienable rights of the winner to represent the country at the continental level has been defeated with the nomination of another team.
In the said meeting, football was economically negotiated, sold and eventually have no one to claim its ownership. Now, football has rejected NFF money, who will take it?