Ayoola Adeleke
In an unrelenting pace of sensitizing the world and calling on the current Nigerian football administration, the train of ‘Save Our Football’, an offshoot of The Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN), on Monday stopped in Benin City with a peaceful rally that lasted for about one hour around the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium axis.
The proceeding started from inside the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium with ex-internationals turned administrators as well as other stakeholders marching peacefully through the stadium road to Oba Akenzua road with a display of placards and big banners calling for the Amaju Pinnick led the board to do the needful.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the proceeding, General Secretary of the Project 2022 Task Force, Edema Fuludu pointed out the purpose of the rally, the third of its kind.
“The task force objective is to ensure that we have a standard operating system in Nigerian football as is obtainable worldwide. We know that Nigeria Football has gone down the drain over some time, especially in the last eight years under Amaju Pinnick led board and the task force’s responsibility had been that we want to change the statute of the NFF so that we can have equal representation of our block, all footballers and the players union to get an avenue to run Nigeria Football.”
“Today, we are here on the sixth day of June 2022 as the third rally leg we have come to. We have done this in Abuja, Lagos and this in Benin City of Edo State and we’ll also go to other states nationwide – we will move to Delta and we’ve been contacted to come to Jos and other places.”
“People are not happy with the way our football is going in this country. People are not happy we could not get to the two Nations Cup back to back. People are not happy we could not qualify for Qatar 2022. These are the myriads of others concerning the maladministration of football in Nigeria has led us to say we want to take the bull by the horn.”
“It’s time for the NFF board led by Amaju Pinnick to throw in the towel and resign so we can have a footpath to future development in Nigeria Football. We are interested in Nigeria’s Football growth.”
“The players are suffering, our league is nothing to write home about, we want a quality league where we can measure the standard of football in Nigeria. It is not only about the Super Eagles of Nigeria, but football development is also measured by the quality of the league of a country and we have nothing to show as a result and this has become an anomaly we need to correct.”
“That is why the task force is taking this thing to the extreme to ensure we can turn the tide and make sure we have equal representation and those who are interested in becoming the president of the NFF can have the avenue. It is time for us to know we are five members of the NFF — The Players Union, The Players Association, The Coaches Association, The League and the FAs. If there are five members of the federation, how can one member be having 36 representatives as delegates? There is no room for anybody to get to the apex of Nigerian Football, we need to change the narrative of Nigerian football which is why we are here today.”
“We are here today, to sensitise the world. We will not relent until the new dawn comes into Nigeria Football,” he quipped.
In the same tone, Chief Victor Rumson Baribote registered the displeasure of the Task Force – an offshoot of the players Union.
“Well, in this protest, we are not witch-hunting anybody. if you are a leader of football administration in the country it is expected that you bring back the gains of football administration.”
“So what we are experiencing in the past eight years is rather than advancing our football or bringing back the gains of football administration to Nigeria instead people are using it to develop themselves. And in fact out of the five members if you look at it, the referees, the coaches, depend on what the players are bringing to the table, today if you ask the board of the Nigeria Football Federation, to come to Ogbemudia Stadium, you can count the number of people. But when you talk about the Edema Fuludus, the Harrison Jalas, and the Austin Popo, with the current numbers of players playing, you can see the gate cannot contain people. The game belongs to the players.
“So what we are simply saying is, fine we have allowed outside people to administer, thinking they can do better. Even colonisation, there’s a period we said enough of this. If you are not a governor, you cannot be chairman of the Governor’s forum. That this is about football, so when football is being discussed you expect that the players who are the ingredients, who are the owners, should form the better part of it. We are not saying others cannot come in, but we want to have our rightful place.”
“And in all, the people who are doing it are not doing it well, what we are saying is enough of this maladministration and enough of us the players, the owners of the game being relegated to the background.”
The General Secretary, Board of Trustees of the Professional Footballers Association, Comrade Austin Popo, called for having the right people in the right position as laid down by the statute of international football standards.
“It’s part of this administration. As you said, the strength of any football nation is measured in the domestic league. When you don’t have a visible league, when we cannot produce one player from the domestic league to play in the national team, in the past days, the likes of Edema Fuludu started from NNPC FC and the rest, people like Finidi started from Sharks, at a time we were teammates at the State camp.”
“You know Nigeria’s we have a playing tradition. We combine skill with robustness, but that has been taken away by bringing anyone that has it. You cannot play the Brazilian style of football more than the Brazilians, you cannot play the European style of football more than the Europeans. You cannot bring the Europeans to come and play and we feel we can do it better. And for us to do it better, we must bring in those people who have the wherewithal, the technical ability.”
“I don’t want to be personal, people that are heading the technical department of the NFF, how technical are they? While the players who have played the game, in our youthful days contribute to this football. Allow the people who own the take to manage their affairs.”
The protest was led by the General Secretary of the Task Force of the Save Our Football, Comrade Edema Fuludu, Secretary Board of Trustees Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria, Comrade Austin Popo, Chief Rumson Baribote, Chairman PFAN Edo Chapter, David Aigbovo amongst others.
Platinum News 