•*Says emphasis  should be on how  football is run

By KATE OBODO

As reactions on the defeat of former chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima in the race for the FIFA Executive Committee seat continues to pour in, former Attorney General of Rivers State, Adokiye Amiesimaka has said Nigerians should put the loss behind them and show more concern on the state of the nation’s football.In a chat with Sunday Vanguard sports, the former Green Eagles winger said though the loss of the FIFA seat affects the nation, concern should rather be on whether football is being run the way it should be.

“Our concern should not be whether Galadima won or lost, that should not be our concern. After all before Galadima, we had another person that was there. Amos Adamu was there for a couple of years but how did that help us. So the focus should not be on a Nigerian occupying a CAF or FIFA seat.

*Galadima

We are always thinking of  individuals and  high office. No, it’s  not just as important as the question.  What are these individuals doing with our slot? That is a more crucial question. If we send anybody to represent us in an international organization, we should ask our self, what are the credentials of this person, what are his antecedent, is he the kind of person that will represent us effectively and efficiently?

Secondly, even  if we do not have anybody representing us in CAF /FIFA it should not be a problem, after all it’s not every country that has a representative in CAF, it’s not every country that  has an indigene as a representative in FIFA.

There are so many countries that are not complaining the way we are complaining, even with the fact that they  are getting there act togther and we are not getting ours together.

So, what should be important than anything to us as far as I am concerned, is whether or not locally, back home we are getting our acts together.Take football for instance,  are we running football the way it should be run as I have always advised? It’s now like a song, I keep on singing  the song.

Initially we had the NFA Act 2004, the supreme legislation of football administration in Nigeria. Meanwhile you know that is completely against what FIFA said. How do yo expect to run the game right and do you expect not to be in FIFA’s bad book? A situation where we are always thinking of cheating even in an age grade competition instead of using it as a developmental platform. How do you think we are going to get it right any where.

So our concern, as far as I am concerned, is to ask ourselves whether we are running football in strict accordance to FIFA’s approved status, where our football association is development oriented, whether they are doing things right, that’s what we should ask ourselves, not whether Galadima lost or somebody else. The fact that Galadima did not succeed does not me too much. Galadima I know is a gentle man. May  be if he had succeeded, he would have represented us better than his predecessor.

“Do you know why Nigerians are so excited in putting somebody in their country in such positions, let me tell you why. It is because we have not been doing things correctly, so we want somebody who will cover our track. Yes, that is the reason. So that when we cheat, they would go and tell them we did not cheat. Really if we are doing things correctly, we do not need somebody there. Since we have lost our position, if they want to do anything against us, we should show them the rules.  So I think it’s the mind set that  needs to be addressed.