Former NFF president asks FIFA to reinstate him in meeting with stakeholders

He is the same man who many believe helped create the disaster we face today; the same man who, allegedly driven by personal interests and his well-documented disagreement with the then NPL president, Chief Oyuki Obaseki, popularly known as “The Moving Train”, weakened the leagues by taking away their voting rights and handing them over to the 37 FA presidents who have now become a bone around our necks.

Today, at a meeting in Abuja between former NFF presidents, secretaries and FIFA representatives, one would have expected a mature and forward-looking conversation on the crisis facing Nigerian football and its possible solutions.

Instead, this former NFF president took the opportunity to review the events surrounding his removal from office years ago.

No one asked him to tell his terrible personal experience.

The question was simple: What, in your opinion, are the main problems facing Nigerian football and what do you think should be done to move the game forward?

But instead of addressing the bigger picture, he allegedly launched into a lengthy account of how much he had contributed to Nigerian football, how he believed he was the best president the federation has ever had and how he was prevented from completing his term.

At one point, one could almost wonder if he expected FIFA representatives to reinstate him as NFF president.

Then came the biggest shock.

He refused to sign for or against the proposed Normalization Committee, insisting that his mandate must first be returned.

His position is said to have infuriated several of his colleagues and friends, who openly berated him for taking advantage of a rare opportunity – a FIFA visit aimed at addressing the broader issues in Nigerian football – to reopen a personal battle from more than a decade ago.

There is a time to fight for the future of football and there is a time to accept the realities of the past.

You can’t keep crying over spilled milk while the whole house is on fire.

Nigerian football needs statesmanship, maturity and solutions, not the resurrection of old personal grievances.

The game must come first.

By Adewale Ajayi