Obituary of Green Eagles

By Clem Oluwole

I do not rejoice over someone’s downfall. But when a man is the architect of his own misfortune, one cannot but look apathetic.

The acting Federal Minister of Sports, Social Development, Youth and Cultural Matters (what a mouthful!), Alhaji Bello Maitama Yusuf, was reported in one of the dailies to have said that as far as he was concerned, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) was no more. But when will he formally dissolve the monstrous body?

The acting sports minister will save millions of disgusted and disillusioned Nigerians the trouble of writing epistles calling for the heads of Col. Okwechime and his crew if he quietly sacks them.

But in writing the obituary of the Eagles whose premature death was caused by the NFA, it will be necessary, for the avoidance of similar mistakes, to recall the catalogue of happenings in the past eight eventful months that the outgoing NFA had piloted the Nigerian soccer ship to the shore of shame.

When the NFA was reconstituted along with other associations some eight months ago, I wrote in this column that it was a wrong thing to do in view of the fact that the World Cup race was already on and it was unwise to have changed the crew. While making that observation, I did not foresee Okwechime’s failure. I just felt that the change was improper and events have proved me right.

You see, when Col. Okwechime, whose appointment was announced by the Federal Government and not the National Sports Commission, came into office, he wanted to start on a clean slate. That would have been proper if the World Cup had not yet got underway. To apply new-regime, new-policy approach to the World Cup assignment was the most disastrous and fallacious step the outgoing NFA ever took. Okwechime and his crew saw nothing good in the NFA Supporters’ Club. Perhaps Okwechime wanted to take the credit of guiding the Eagles to Spain without any glory being shared with the old members of the association who piloted the Eagles to win the last Nations Cup, forgetting that a body which piloted the Eagles to beat the dreadful Tunisian squad in the opening duel of the ill-fated World Cup race must be treated with respect.

Besides antagonizing the NFA Supporters’ Club (telling them they were a tolerated nuisance), the tactless NFA also drew the dagger with members of the press.

By the way, was the retired colonel in the country when Nigeria won the last Nations Cup? I doubt very much.

You see, football supporters and sports writers are essential ingredients in making soccer taste glorious. You have to be a superman to be able to carry on successfully while at daggers drawn with these classes of people. I knew the NFA was bound to fail the moment Col. Okwechime had the temerity to tell the press off. Some of us were tempted to call for the return of the old NFA crew that fired the gun for the World Cup race. But who would have listened? While kicking against the dissolution of the old NFA, I did not object to the decision. What I disliked was the timing. I would have favoured the reorganization only after the race for Spain ’82, qualification or not.

Let me digress a bit. Recently, the management of the Plateau Publishing Company Limited, financiers of the Standard Football Club of Jos, decided to fire the executive committee of the club which had been in office since April 1976. The Chief Executive of the company, Mr. S. D. Makama confided in me and I advised against the dissolution of the committee when the 1981 National League was still in progress.

Being the incumbent chairman of the club, an inept chief executive would have jumped into conclusions that my advice was informed by the desire to keep me and my crew in office for much more than the company could tolerate. But the big boss reasoned with me and relaxed his finger on the trigger until all was safe. If the executive committee had been flushed out at that time, the club would have ended its 1981 league run in the cold arms of relegation just the way the Eagles gravely ended the World Cup race. This is what one would have expected Mr. Sunday Dankaro, Okwechime’s predecessor, to do… to advise the Federal Government against the dissolution at that time, and not to have jumped at the National Sports Commission chairmanship job at the expense of our World Cup assignment. Alternatively, Mr. Dankaro could have advised the government to leave his lieutenants intact until the World Cup race was over while he took charge of the NSC as its chairman.

Whoever, therefore, advised the Federal Government to sack the NFA at that time is a sworn enemy of Nigerian soccer, who should be fished out by the administrative inquiry set up to look into the causes of the Eagles’ October 10 disaster.

By the way, what has become of the panel set up to probe the N1, 000 allegedly squeezed from the NFA by the Eagles on the eve of the October 10 duel with Tunisia?

Now back to Col. Okwechime and his crew. In the heat of the World Cup race, the Eagles were split into two camps. One group called Team A was stationed in Lagos with Otto Gloria in command. The second group tagged Team B was moved to Ibadan and a German coach, Gothlieb Golla, who is a coach to the relatively unknown Julius Berger FC of Lagos, was hired free of charge (FOC) by the NFA to handle the Ibadan Eagles. I need not tell you that Brazil and West Germany play different patterns of football.

Amid shortage of strikers in the camp, Adokie Amiesimaka, Ifeanyi Onyedika and Emma Osigwe were recalled. But surprisingly, the Eagles handlers declared the three wise men from the east unfit. They were asked to go to Ibadan to pick form in Team B which comprised new, unpolished Eagles. Adokie and Co. felt insulted by the demotion from Team A to Team B. And like the three wise men in the Bible who, after sighting Christ, refused to return to Herod, the Eagles’ three wise men instead of going to Ibadan simply vanished somewhere along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Team B was a failure. It was disbanded and the FOC German coach plus about three survivors from the Ibadan Eagles returned to the Lagos-based Eagles. Otto Gloria was not happy about the new development. Then what followed was the establishment of four parties registered by the NFA. The parties were OGPP – Otto Gloria People’s Party, GGPP – Gothlieb Golla People’s Party, APP – Amechina People’s Party and NPP – Nnado People’s Party. These parties had their mini headquarters within the Eagles’ camp. I need not go into the details of the disadvantages which could bedevil a house divided against itself.

Then there was the crisis over Odegbami. Okwechime made a mess of that. And even when the luckless Odegbami eventually returned to the camp, the NFA had the problem of according him the status of a captain. It was not a surprise that he was overthrown en route to Algeria for the return leg. Okwechime would not have promoted Vice Captain Aloysius Atuegbu or appointed another captain from a tribe different from Odegbami’s. To do that would have further confirmed the NFA boss as an arch tribalist. So he picked Muda Lawal.

Then there was the ‘bloody’ coup in London. Otto Gloria People’s Party was overthrown by GGPP. OGPP was recalled from London and GGPP flew out to take charge of the Eagles for the second leg. Despite the concerted effort put up by the Eagles in the return leg, their doom had already been sealed on October 10 in Lagos.

And then there was the mass retirement of the professional players in a London hotel a few days before the debacle in Constantine. National Concord reported the way and manner the pros were sacked from their hotel in London. Tunji Banjo who had been having a fine time with the Eagles since the World Cup race began but did not click on October 10 (Chidozie should thank his stars for missing the first leg battle) was treated like a dog and chased away when he went to say ‘hi’ to the Eagles at their Maidenhead Hotel. The NFA told the nation that the decision to drop Tunji was because he left the camp without permission. How I wish Tunji would be given a chance to tell his own side of the story. With this London incident, I am not very sure our professional footballers would jump at the invitation to play for their country in future.

Now that the 1982 World Cup race is over as far as Nigeria is concerned, what next? Ah, Libya ’82 is around the corner!

We have barely five months to defend the Nations Cup in that country. How do we go about it? Is five months enough a period to groom a new brand of Eagles good enough to make us proud in Libya?

In my own opinion, a caretaker committee should be set up in the NFA. This committee should go into action right away. And because of time factor, young materials in the Eagles like Henry Nwosu, Fatai Yekini, Sylvanus Okpala, Bala Ali, Stephen Keshi, Peter Rufai, just to mention a few, should form the nucleus of new Eagles to defend our title in Libya. Anyone who attempts to call back one old Eagle should be shot at sight! You know the old Eagles I’m referring to.

We can spend the rest of the year hunting and screening new materials to join Henry Nwosu and Co. And by January 1, the full squad that will wear our national colours in Libya should be set, leaving us with two and a half months to condition them for the crucial assignment. After Libya ’82, a long term plan could be drawn up to have a very formidable squad befitting our size and status. Any squad to be raised after Libya should have an eye on the 1986 World Cup. In that case, such players should be lads. Remember, 1986 race will kick off by the end of 1984. So, we have just three years or so to prepare. And of course, after Libya ’82, a new dynamic NFA should be reconstituted. The NSC will have five months from now to scout for a highly capable NFA boss… a practical man who knows football too well and not just any garrulous football ‘administrator’ who knows next to nothing… who only knows that football is a round object.

In a lighter mood, on October 17, I promised Col. Okwechime an award. I did say that he would be entitled to that award if the Eagles failed to qualify for Spain. Will Col. Okwechime please step forward and receive his Member of the Gang of Failures (MGF) award? This ‘honour’ will henceforth be bestowed on any NFA chairman who fails to carry us to World Cup Finals.

Last line: I have just received a query from ‘My Health’ and it reads: ‘Sometime in September this year, you were asked to proceed on your 1981 leave. Instead, you went and hibernated in the office of the SUNDAY STANDARD Editor for more than six weeks in an acting capacity.

‘Could you explain within four weeks why I should not land you in one of the hospitals around?’

Well readers, I am off to answer the query. In other words, I am proceeding on break. I hope we have had a nice time despite the 1981 act of iniquity against Nigerian soccer which turned its full circle on October 30 in Algeria.

Happy Christmas in advance. But have you heard that Father Tiko is now the Chief Soccer Coach in Algeria – Algeria that sealed our hope for Spain ’82? That is a food for thought.

(Culled from Saturday Commentary, first published on November 7, 1981).