By Tony Ubani
There is no smoke without fire.  The news or rumor making the rounds here is that all is not well in the Eagles hide-out in Richards Bay.

The rumor had it that some players were not happy with their bonuses that have not been settled. Bonus? What bonus? Bonus for losing two games? I decided to find out. With Nigeria anything can happen. It has happened in the past where FA officials paid players in advance for matches that had not been played. Players were paid their winning bonuses ahead of a match that had been played and in some cases bonuses were paid after losing matches.

The payment was meant to encourage the players in their remaining matches. With all these in mind, I set out to confront Ademola Olajire, the spokesman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA. He hailed me Tonero Muchangola(a name he took away in his days in Vanguard courtesy of Vikolo Muchacho –Victor Omoregie, our Corporate Affairs Manager who has a name for everybody.

“There is no truth in that rumor”, Olajire said adjusting his wind cheater. “I have received calls asking for the authenticity of the rumor.

Please, just treat it like what it is – rumor. How can they agitate for a bonus when they have not won any match?”, Olajire looking blank asked. I reminded him that it had happened in the past and he said that there was nothing like that.

There is nothing that too much money cannot cause. Officials know that once they pay players, they receive double the amount.

They are the ones who are in the vanguard of paying players in advance to motivate them, encourage them, empower them, tell them that Nigerians are behind them.

They hide under those sweet words to receive their double allowance. But in this case, we consider it as rumor. At least, for now.

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Is the cold too bad to go shopping?

I received a call from one of my female friends from Nigeria. After showing concern over the hardship in South Africa, she wanted to know if the freezing cold would stop me from going shopping.  “I hear that South Africa has gold and there are good materials. Please, let me know when you are going shopping”.

I laughed and it reminded me of the people  mourning the death of a Priest who died in a conflagration and one church member asked if the fire burnt the Priests’ moustache?

There are many sponsored Nigerians in South Africa. Cold permitting, they are the ones who are combing all the shopping malls here buying even the ridiculous items.

They have been empowered with estacodes under the pretext to come and cheer the Eagles to victory.

They are cheering themselves, instead. As for me, I am strictly on business and not on a pleasure trip. The shopping mall that I frequent often is African Dish centre where you get something closer home to eat. But with the deluge of customers there, you can only eat there once. The prices are not friendly to the pocket.

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Whore Cup players double their charges

By our calculations, once the group matches and some countries head home, prices of things would come down. That is what we think.

Some us who have run out of toiletries like tooth past and brushes have refused to buy new ones hoping for a fall in prizes. The victims are the ones they talk to early in the morning.

But one thing that would definitely defy that law are the players of the whore cup. I gathered from very reliable sources that instead of reducing their prices, they are instead increasing as as they get more patronizers. The cold is driving many men out on the road to look for alternatives to electric bedsheet and heaters. The natural heaters are making so much money.

“They have doubled their prices”, my very reliable source informed me. I have refused to be tempted because I know my strength. I dont want to be praying forgive us our trespasses when I know that I can prevent it by praying lead us not into temptation.