It is a scandal of unimaginable proportions that Nigerian Super (?) Eagles would lose to arch rival Ghana in the just concluded international friendly match played today in London by a 1-4 margin. Indeed, not since the Eagles were walloped 1-5 by the Desert Warriors of Algeria in the 1990 African Nations Cup group match in Algeria has Nigeria lost to an African team by a margin more than two goals, if at all. This is even more unsettling when the fact is stated that Nigeria , until this game, was the first seeded team in all of Africa . This match, a high profile international friendly tagged “The Grudge Match” by the organizers, was prosecuted with the best Nigeria has to offer, the Kanus, the Yobos, the Obafemis and the rest of the pack. What then is the problem with the Eagles that they cannot overcome a team like Ghana even if they are still reeling from their fine exploits in the World Cup? What is the excuse this time for failure? How could it be that a team like Nigeria with all the talents plentiful like the oil in its soil can lose so disgracefully in a match so keenly watched by the entire soccer-loving world? It could not be the field or the pitch, the favorite excuse given by our players and coaches after they lose a match as this match was played on the fine turf of London stadium. 

I submit that it is the law of nature finally catching up with our players. Most of them lie about their true age to prolong their playing years to the point of incredulity. When they are 30 years old, they claim to be 21, but if they can lie to man, they cannot lie to nature and that is exactly the problem. It is a curious fact that only Nigerian soccer players retire at their “prime” and we must question this trend. Take for example, right winger, George Finidi retiring at age “33” when most of the European players who are truly 33 are still very much active on the field and very much in demand. So was Finidi really 33 when he retired? And our priced jewel, Okocha, "30", who only last year dazzled English fans has now been contracted to the retirement league in Qater. How can a "30" year old deginerate so fast as to be thrown to the Qater league from the toughest league in the world just within a year? How do we explain this? What is Okocha's real age? Why is it difficult for Nigerians to be truthful about their age whether players or not? Even when one attends a birthday party of a Nigerian, hardly do the guests know the age being celebrated and as an unspoken rule, no one inquires as everyone just parties and leaves oblivious of the age they had just celebrated. Former Brazilian captain known as Dunka played until he was 40 years old. Spanish goalkeeper, Zoby, was 36 when Nigeria beat Spain 3-2 in the 1998 World Cup.  Cameroon's Roger Milla was 44, the oldest man to play in the World Cup and was still an eye catcher when he left the field for good. England's Gordon Banks retired at age 42 and countryman, David Beckham, 31, is still heavily sought by European teams and just recently signed a mouth-watering contract worth $250 million with the Los Angeles Galaxy.  But while Beckham still enjoys attention from teams at 31, our own Sunday Oliseh, former captain, has retired at “31.” The question thus, is, when our players retire at the official football age of “31” are they really not 45?

How then can the Eagles perform well as 45-year olds running around the pitch competing with younger players? The kanus who are claiming to be 30 and so on, are they really 30? Today, Ghana has exposed the true ages of our players as evidenced on the field. They could hardly run; they looked old and tired as the young Ghanaian players took them to the cleaners. Even a bunch of heavily pregnant women could have done better than those overpaid yet unproductive players. About five years ago, one of the current Eagles players, a prolific one at that, took a wife at the official football age of “17”. I have hardly seen a true 17-year old in Nigeria walking the aisle in nuptial bliss even those from rich families. Eye brows were raised when his new bride during the reception told the guests that she met her husband ten years ago when he was in secondary school. Now, my friends, we all know that not even Einstein attended secondary school at the age of 7.  So what was the true age of this player who was in the line-up today; 30?

The story was told of a Nigerian professional soccer player in Europe that suffered a serious injury on the field and was flown to the United States for treatment at a specialist hospital. Since this was a bone injury, the doctors advised him that he must tell them his true age to determine what type of treatment to adopt. We should note that his official football age stated on the team’s website was 26, but he confessed to the doctors after he learnt of the serious medical implications of lying about his age that he was actually 37.  Of course, he never recovered from that injury and his contract was eventually cancelled by his team upon discover of his true age.  

With this monumental defeat at the hands (or should I say feet) of arch rival Ghana , the Eagles, just like Nigeria , must go back to the drawing board. The disorganized NFA and our sports administrators must get their act together. Everywhere in the country, sports men and women are not getting the right kind of support. Most are deserting the country to pick up citizenship in countries where their skills and talents are well appreciated. Just the other day, it was announced that the fastest runner in Europe was a Nigerian running for an Eurupean country. Wrestler, Daniel Igali, from Bayelsa is now wrestling for Canada and in fact picked up a gold medal for them at the Olympics. When he returned home to help build a school, he was beaten and robbed, almost losing his life. Gloria Alozie is running for Spain and many more have jettisoned their Nigerian citizenship for greener pastures. It is very ironic that we claim to be the premier team in Africa in the same manner we claim as a country to be the so-called giant of Africa and yet we fell like the Biblical Goliath to poorly rated Ghana in the same manner we are bested by so many African nations in several spheres of life. The other day, I read that Tanzania conducted elections that were free and fair with violence hardly part of the equation. When it came time to handover, it was peaceful, democratic and truly belied the essence of true democracy. Even Ghana, our chief tormentors on the field, conducted very successful elections in 2004 that saw President Kuffour retain power for a second term and Kuffour has stated that he would retire after his term is over with no hints of an overstay.

But when it comes to Nigeria , it must be war and the heavens must be brought down as greed and avarice become the order of the day. Even before the race went into top gear, Funsho Williams, the governorship candidate in Lagos State and his counterpart in Ekiti had been slain as a precursor of what to come. Many more have been threatened and cowed into hiding. In 2003, Dr. Marshall Harry was assassinated right there in Abuja not far from the police headquarters as was Dikibo leading up to the 2003 election. It behooves the mind that a country like Nigeria with all the enormous human resources and intelligence that abound, just like the skilled Eagles, cannot conduct a peaceful election without the extras of blackmail, thuggery, murder, assassinations and what have you.

In all these, the citizens remain the happiest people on earth rather than taking to the streets to protest against this most inhumane treatment melted out to them by their leaders. Here is a government that hardly cares about its people, all over the world, Nigerians are treated with utter disdain and disregard. Even small countries like Tanzania , Kenya and Zimbabwe liberated and fed by Nigeria treat Nigerians like criminals in their countries and yet the federal government remains mute and unperturbed. Just two weeks ago, a Nigerian boy was hanged by Singapore after receiving what many legal pundits agreed was an unfair trial , and it was only at the eleventh hour that the federal government, at the urgings of the boy’s Singaporean lawyers, woke up from its deep slumber and wrote a half-hearted letter of protest. Which self-respecting government acts in this manner? And yet, we heard that the same federal government has just placed an order for $2 billion worth of arms to fight the Niger Delta militants instead of using the money to develop the area and assuage the militancy and the genuine demands of the people. When will Nigerians wake up and hold the vagabonds in power accountable for their actions? When will they stop being the happiest people on earth and take stock of their miserable existence? Where is the outrage, condemnation and the rebuke? Invariably, my friends, Nigerians deserve their leaders in so long as they elect to be the happiest people on earth.

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The author can be reached at alalibo@gmail.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 var sbtitle8298=encodeURIComponent(Scandalous:...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 17.02.2008 05:59