SUPERVISING Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi  yesterday opened up on his trip to Zurich, FIFA headquarters and confessed that he was rattled by the outcry in the media before the trip.

“If I listen to Radio they say that I will be received by a cleaner. If I read Newspapers, I hear that President Sepp Blatter will be away to Brazil. I was confused and had to ask again from our Ambassador if indeed the FIFA President will receive us”, the Minister who was received by the hierarchy of the football-controlling body said.

But he also confirmed that Blatter said that he rescheduled  going to Brazil to receive the Nigerian delegation because of Nigeria’s  greatness and contribution to football in the world.

“I saw Blatter, I saw the Secretary General and other top officers of the body. I did not see any cleaner. Once we entered, I saw a Nigerian flag hung at the venue which confirmed that the day was Nigeria’s day. Interestingly, they came in with a case file and mentioned names of Jaja and Nnaji. They did not mention names of those Nigerians in FIFA and CAF. We told them we reached a compromise position and did not bring a problem to them. They were happy. I saw a FIFA  ready to assist. They asked questions on development of the game.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Blatter expressed concern with the results of Nigerian teams but acknowledged the greatness of the country and its achievements. It was a good trip and we talked at length on the issue of hiring a foreign technical Director by the NFF. One important thing I learnt is that FIFA itself is reforming its statutes to accommodate transparency and accountability. There was no hostility of any sort as earlier suggested by reports by the Press”.

On the issue of setting a bad precedent by the honourary membership conferred on Dr Sam Sam Jaja and the compensation and un-banning of Barrister Ray Nnaji, two of the people who took NFF to court, the Minister said that the important thing was to stop the bickering. “When two people are fighting, the  first thing to do is to stop the fight before judging who is at fault.

The problems are political and have been settled politically. I know that there are others like Segun Odegbami, Harrison Jalla, Tenebe and others. The peace process is not over yet. I am still going to meet with them and beg them to forget the past. We cannot move forward with bickering in Nigerian sports.