By Philips Adefioye
Former striker of the national team of old, the Red Devils, Amusa Shittu has described the country’s crisis-ridden national football as a ‘slave trade’ and in bondage with the wrong set of people managing it.

Shittu told Saturday Vanguard sports in an exclusive interview in Lagos that the country’s football situation is getting worse despite the effort of some honest Nigerians to bring change to bear on the sport.

Shittu stressed that surprisingly some Nigerians who ran the sport aground and still have cases to answer with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) are lobbying and manipulating elections to return to the Nigeria Football Association, NFA.

“It is amazing that those who have ruined our football don’t want to quit from the Glass House. Our football is like a slave trade, our football is in bondage, the past glory might not return.

“Some elements who have cases to answer before the EFCC are returning to power gradually, they have refused to go, which simply means our football will never grow.

“During our time, football wasn’t like this despite the fact that there was no sponsorship. We played with all our hearts, the administrators acted very well to see that the game was embraced by the fans. Then if one comes late to the stadium,  it was certain that the person will not have a space to sit. Some others climbed trees to watch games in those days.

“Now no more passion for the game, some set of people have hijacked the lovely game. The game has been killed, the love of the game has vanished from the hearts of Nigerians who now prefer foreign leagues like the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga to our own games. Even up to the national team, no progress in the game in the country anymore,”he lamented.

The one time member of NFA’s technical committee stressed that the only way forward for the game is to call a national conference to address the country’s football and kick out those who have ruined the game.

Shittu said that there are some people who claim to be true supporters of Nigeria’s football but they are among the elements that have contributed to its dwindling  fortunes, adding that they are just hanging in there because of what they are getting from it.

“Some people claim to  be true supporters of football but they are among the elements that have ruined the country’s football. What have they contributed so far to the growth of the game, what benefits have they brought to the development of the game? All they want and why they have refused to allow other people to get there is because of what they are gaining from the game.

“Those who suffered for this country and played the game are nowhere to be found. People should not be deceived by their cunning ways of doing things. We cannot be fooled anymore, we need a radical change in our football,” Shittu posited.