By Patrick Omorodion

The Holy Bible says that what a man sows he will surely reap. That is exactly what is happening to Nigeria’s football today because when a group of self centred football administrators ganged up in 2006 to push out Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima unceremoniously as Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA, they never knew they were sowing a bad seed.

The harvest of crises and fraud the football house has witnessed since that day is a direct result of their greed. Whether they agree or not, Galadima’s sin was because he did not allow them and their godfather dip their hands into the treasury of the NFA.

Immediately Galadima gave way, they descended on football and have been feeding fat on it legally and illegally, causing in the end, the death of football to the extent that Nigeria could not qualify for the African Nations Cup which ends today in Gabon.

First they feasted on football, allegedly carting away billions of Naira after arm-twisting the late President Yar’Adua to accept to host the U-17 FIFA World Cup. No account has been rendered till date on that venture.

After that came the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where Nigeria almost failed to qualify. The hawks again went on rampage with public funds, misappropriating and misapplying millions of Naira approved for Super Eagles preparation and participation in the World Cup.

In the process, they caused the nation embarrassments over hiring of faulty aircraft and booking of substandard hotel for the Eagles before then Sports Minister, Alhaji Issa Bio came to the country’s rescue. Some of them are still answering for their roles in the misappropriation at the EFCC.

During this time also, a whopping $236,000 dollars vanished from the NFA coffers and some people were arrested but till date, no one has been jailed nor  ask to refund the stolen money.

These (mal)administrators who think they are greater than the government which funds the game also did another abracadabra by ensuring that they sacked a legitimate chairman of the league Board, Davidson Owumi because he does not belong to their camp and may not allow them squander, as usual, the sponsorship money secured from a communication firm.

Their stooge was installed and before one could say NPL, the sum of about N30 million disappeared from the body’s coffers. They set up a probe to look into it and returned with a verdict of ‘no money got missing’.

Apart from the missing money, Owumi even cried out that he left a certain amount of money but he was labelled a ‘liar’ because he had lost out. While all these happened, the parent body, the NFF never blinked an eye, agreeing with the league Board that all was well.

Football administration thus went to the dogs and became avenue for all sorts of fraud and inconsistencies. An alleged match-fixing was botched by the Vice Chairman of Lobi Stars of Makurdi, Dominic Iorfa and the league Board pretended nothing happened. But for the insistence of Iorfa who said he caught the officials of the clubs and referees red-handed, the matter would have been swept under the carpet.

In the midst of the mismanagement of football, an accounts officer of the NPL allegedly forged his superior’s signature and made away with N12 million. The officer was not charged but asked by the parent body, the NFF to refund the money in bits, we heard, until the police waded in and arrested the culprit.

And then the bizar re decision over the match-fixing scandal. The clubs involved were fined N20 million and N10 million respectively, some officials banned for upward of five years. But courage did not allow the NFF go the whole hog because they may have also compromised along the line.

The law stipulates that apart from paying fines, any club so found to be involved with match-fixing should also be demoted to the lower cadre of the league. The NFF decision was silent on this aspect. We now ask, why? If the clubs have been found guilty as to warrant paying of fines, the other aspect of demotion should be complied with immediately to check the menace in future no matter whose ox is gored.

In Italy, Juventus were found guilty of match-fixing, they not only got fined, they lost their league title and were demoted to the lower rank of the Italian league. They suffered for their misdemeanour, swallowed their pride and fought back to the top cadre of the league.

Nothing was spared because it was a big club, the name of the country and the image of the game was paramount to them. Nigeria deserves same treatment for God’s sake and the NFF should save us from this shame.