By Victor Enyinnaya, Lagos on April 21, 2016

Former Vice President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Rev. Dr. Moses Iloh, has called on Chris Giwa to bury his ambition for the sake of Nigerian football which is at the brink of extinction because of the raging crisis in the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).

Iloh advised Giwa to go back and prepare very well for the next election instead of the distraction and international embarrassment to which he has subjected the country in the past two-three weeks now in the name of fighting to take over the leadership of the NFF through the secular courts.

Rev. Dr. Iloh said: “You see, many things unfortunately happen in Nigerian football nowadays. Shamefully, every Dick, Harry and Tom want to become the President of the place without even having any concrete agenda for the game, which is run profitably in other climes. I was told this Giwa has a football club based in Jos. That to any civilised person is not enough to earn him the plum job. Where is he coming from? What is his pedigree in the sport he aspires to lead? We must be careful.

“I should not be misunderstood either; I am not downgrading Giwa or doubting his ability to administer the game grandly, but the way and manner he is going about it leaves a sour taste in the mouth and paints him as over-ambitious, desperate and power drunk. The most honourable and sportsmanlike way to pursue such should be done without causing any acrimony that portrays Nigeria that parades arrears of first rate administrators in bad light before the international sporting community, be it FIFA or IOC as this senseless and protected dragging has presently done.”  

The former President of the Nigerian Cycling Federation restated his belief that Nigerian football is yet to find a messiah that would salvage it and put it back to the neighbourhood of competing strongly among her African counterparts and make a strong showing at the world stage as it did in the early 1990’s. His take is that such would come gradually, bearing in mind that no army in the world can stop a revolution whose time has come.

“Amaju Pinnick and his board should be given the leverage to perform their duties; anybody that wants to mount the stage should go through due process, which is election. Nigerians of all shades owe the current executive committee the obligation of total support; no more, no less. That is fair play, which the game preaches. Anybody that goes out that does not wish the sport and its teeming fans well,” he said.  

The Steward of Soul Winning Chapel Yaba rued the absence of selfless people in sports administration nowadays, insisting that the federations are peopled with only those that grab from the treasurer, a situation which he lamented has opened sports administration to all comers of every background whose presence has retarded the development of the Nigerian child through sports.

He called on the Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, to stamp his feet firmly on the ground and ensure that the crisis is resolved. The minister, he said, must wield his power as the supervisor of NFF and call Giwa and any other challengers of NFF to order.

The veteran sports administrator called on Amaju Pinnick to widen the space and work with broad-minded individuals who know the terrain of African football politics inside-out to avoid further heartaches on the African scene during crunchy times. 

•Photo shows Rev. Dr. Iloh.

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 21, 2016

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