World renowned Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang a song ‘When cat sleep, rat go bite him tail, wetin he dey find?’. Trouble, or confusion, or abuses, if you like. Fela called it ‘palava’.

This is exactly what our Delta-born Debonair football administrator, Melvin Amaju Pinnick, who is always proud to call himself ‘Warri boy’ has brought upon himself.

Nigerians had forgotten about his time as the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, especially the pain- ful part when the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the first ever in the Middle East right here on home soil at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

That day equally reminded those who were old enough to watch how an own goal through Godwin Odiye’s header at the National Stadium in Lagos in 1977 beat Green Eagles goalkeeper, Emmanuel Okala and helped Tunisia pick the ticket to the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

In 2022, it was away goals rule that gave Ghana the ticket over Nigeria. The pain was so much so that fans ran riot at the stadium, throwing urine-filled plastic bottles at players and football officials while pulling the fibre chairs on the stands.

Pinnick’s tenure ended and one of his fellow board mem- bers, Ibrahim Musa Gusau succeeded him. He too didn’t in- spire any hope but fans had no choice but accepted him to steer the ever turbulent NFF ship.

Just like Nigeria missed the 2022 World Cup ticket to Ghana, the country will be missing this year’s World Cup because the Super Eagles lost the lone ticket of their group to South Africa.

The lifeline they got by qualifying as one of the best four los- ers to play in the play-offs for an opportunity to pick one of the two tickets left to make up the 48 teams expected at the competition was truncated after they fell to DR Congo on penalties in the African play-offs decided in Morocco.

The hope of Nigeria still qualifying through the disqualification of DR Congo following a petition the NFF filed to FIFA because of their use of ineligible players in the play-offs is very thin. And many Nigerians are neither expectant nor enthusiastic.

That was the state their hearts were, taking the back to back absences at the World Cup with equanimity, when suddenly Pinnick reawakened their consciousness on the vexed issue.

What did he do? He said, “‎ In 2018, we had the toughest group ever; we had all the AFCON winners. If I were there, definitely, Nigeria would have qualified.”

Continuing he said, “Algeria hadn’t lost in over 20 games, Cameroon were defending champions, Zambia were cham- pions, and Nigeria was the least considered. But guess what? We qualified with two games to spare.” His claim was immediately shot down by no less a person in the country’s football fraternity than Dr. Rafiu Ladipo who argued that people should always deal with facts.

According to him, “Under Amaju Pinnick’s leadership, Nigeria did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That reality alone makes it difficult to justify the claim that things would automatically be different now if he were still in charge.” Dr. Ladipo added that, “Nigerians have not forgotten that we were eliminated by Ghana in the play-offs for Qatar 2022 while he was in office.”

Another salvo was thrown by Barrister Godwin Dudu-Orumen, a man of many parts who those managing football in Nigeria love to hate because he doesn’t spare them in saying they lack what it takes to turn the game around. 

In a piece he wrote, ‘Silence Of Our Football – Shamelessly Sponsored By NFF, Dudu, as he is fondly called, expressed shock that despite the country missing out of the 2026 World Cup, “I am reading amnesiac comments credited to former NFF President, Mr Amaju Pinnick that we would have qualified for the World Cup if he was still NFF President”.

He wasn’t done yet as he said, ” I checked for who was President when we didn’t qualify for World Cup 2022 and saw it was the same gentleman”.

He said surprisingly, “the superintending body, the National Sports Commission, NSC, looks the other way or has NOT the moral bastion and fibre to ask questions. Maybe it is complicit”.

Dudu’s comment re-energised fans who have been boiling over the World Cup disaster and their salvos on Pinnick start- ed pouring like the deluge in the days of Noah. One of such came from Olawaye Yomi Johnson who wrote, “Pinnick just opens his mouth and closes it…He thinks Nigerian football fans are happy with him.. abi…? A great football country like Nigeria missed two World Cups in a row and you now came out running your mouth anyhow?

Another fan, John Benjamin wrote “Amaju Pinick thinks he can fool us. Maybe he wants to contest again that’s why he thought we have amnesia on Nigerian football.

“The involvement of Pinnick brought an end to the development of our football and he would still not let go,” Debo Bioshogun opined.

Taking it further, Ayodele Ojeagbase wrote, “Look no further, Nigeria Football Federation is our major problem. From the statement credited to the former N.F. F. President, we’ve come to understand that some people are working against the pro- gress of the nation”, and with emphasis affirmed that there are “SABOTEURS IN THE HOUSE”.

The famous reggae crooner, Lucky Dube sang, “if you don’t have any good thing to say about somebody (or something I add), just shut up”.

My honest advice to those still reminding Nigerian football fans, who are still seething over the Super Eagles World Cup disastrous campaign, of the loss of the ticket, is to ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’.