By Patrick Omorodion

Before the arrival of Stephen Keshi, the Nigeria Premier League was not worth a toilet paper or shit money as the Asians once described Ugandan money which incurred them the wrath of the Ugandan strong man, Alhaji Idi Amin Dada who sent them packing from the east African country in the 70s.

Even the supposed administrators of the league, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF and surprisingly,  its indigenous national team coaches, Shaibu Amodu and Samson Siasia didn’t touch the players with the longest of poles when selecting their players for competitions.

However, the arrival of Keshi in 2012 as national team Chief Coach changed all that as he, being a good student of Clemens Westerhof, decided to look inwards to pick some league players in the process of rebuilding the Super Eagles from the debris of the Siasia era.

Many thought he was embarking on a gamble and never gave him and his rookies any chance to even go beyond the group stage of the 2013 Africa Nations Cup. This was at the background of Nigeria not qualifying for the 2012 edition which held in Equatorial Guinea/Gabon, the last on even number years.

It is no longer news that the home boys or league players never disappointed and actually played a major role in the Eagles’ surprise triumph at the expense of highly favoured Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire who they sent packing in the quarter finals.

That singular decision by Keshi brought back the competitiveness in the Eagles and vibrancy in the local league thought to be dead before the effort of immediate past sports minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi to trust Nduka Irabor with the onerous task of repositioning the league.

Many  football administrators who go by the name football owners when in actual fact they are civil servants and employees of the various state governments who own the clubs or are political ‘friends’ of the governors never wanted a change from the status quo and are still battling with the League Management Company, LMC on how the league should be run.

Despite the surge of interest in the local league by Nigerians and the new zeal in the league players to display their skill and get invited into the Eagles Team A or B, the performance of two of the leading club sides in the country, Kano Pillars and Enyimba in the 2013/2014 African Champions League leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Followers of both teams are already  heaping the blame of their failure on the late start of the football season which they claim made the players match rusty. No blame has however gone to the administrators of the clubs who never plan ahead for competitions.

On the part of Kano Pillars however, poor planning could not be said to be the cause of the disappointing outing as the structure put in place by the immediate past chairman of the club, Mallam Abba Yola was destroyed by an appointee of the state government whose interest was purely selfish and detrimental to the club.

Before the governor could realise the damage the new policies of his new adviser on football matters have caused, Pillars were out of the Champions league, shockingly before the lucrative stage where it all matters.

Enyimba, since the exit of  Orji Uzo Kalu, have never been the same as the present government pays very little attention on the affairs of the club unlike its hay days when it won the African Champions League back to back.

Apart from the lukewarm attitude of the Abia state government towards the club, the management of the club has a penchant for firing its coaches, whether they are performing or not, once they challenge decisions they deem not in the best interest of the club. A good example was the case of Sylvanus Okpalla who was eased out from the club unceremoniously for daring to ask questions about their management style.

Another example was when a coach who led the team to win the league not long ago was sacked to the chagrin of some sports journalists who follow the league religiously. Some of the journalists were surprised and asked a top manager of the club who responded arrogantly.

The officer asked the journalists why they thought it was the coach’s savvy on the bench that earned them victory. He was alleged to have  shockingly said, “we know how we win our matches”. When told the implication of his statement, the manager begged that it was not for publication. The two scenarios paint the true picture of how administrators ruin clubs in the country.

It is rather flimsy on the part of both Pillars and Enyimba supporters to blame late start of the league for their ouster when two other clubs in the same Premier League playing in the less prestigious CAF Confederations Cup, Warri Wolves and Bayelsa United conquered their opponents from equally rival countries, Cameroun and Congo respectively.

Even if the league was not on, didn’t the clubs know they had continental assignments? The Abba Yola regime arranged for a playing tour for Kano Pillars but it was canceled by the government’s adviser whom, it was gathered, said it was a waste of resources. Such a tour could have put the club in shape for the assignment.

The poor outing of both Kano Pillars and Enyimba in a year when the Nigerian league was rated highly and its products not only qualified for the African Nations Championship, CHAN for the first time but put up a respectable performance which earned them the bronze, was to say the least, disgraceful. Such must be guided against in future.