By Jacob Ajom

When the Presidential media aide, Bayo Onanuga announced last month of an imminent cabinet shake-up by President Bola Tinubu, little did anyone in the sports fraternity expect far-reaching changes announced Wednesday by the President after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Villa. Although not many could vouch for the ‘survival’ of the outgone Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh in office, nobody ever thought of the scrapping of the entire ministry and revert to the time-tested National Sports Commission.

As a result, Senator Owan Enoh was redeployed to the Ministry of Trade and Investment while Mallam Shehu Dikko was named as chairman of the new National Sports Commission. Naturally, this major policy summersault by the Tinubu administration has been welcomed with mixed reactions from the Nigerian sporting community.

Peterside Idah: A bold move by President Tinubu

A former Nigeria international, Peterside Idah commended the President for making the ‘bold’ move in a bid to reposition Nigeria sports. Idah, who said he was out of the country, told Sports Vanguard that it was a positive development. Hear him, “To me it is a very positive development because for the first time in a very long while, we are having somebody who is from the sporting family to take charge of sports in this country. Although I would have preferred a former athlete, he is still a good choice.

Shehu Dikko has been around for sometime now, he was the Vice President of the NFF and chairman of the League Management Company. I want to congratulate him and hope that he will bring about the changes we desire. We expect that he should be able to create the necessary changes to turn things around in the sector.
“He should not be too political about this thing. There are people he needs to gather together who can help him. He has to spread his wings and show good intentions about genuine change.

I think he should start by calling the NFF to order. He contested with me for the NFF presidency. It affected all of us. He needs to put his foot down and initiate changes, not just in football but the entire sports sector. Kudos for him because this is a very, very, good appointment.

Dare Esan: Best appointment for sports in a long while

It has been long in coming. We have seen the change in nomenclature and I want to believe the change is total. What I mean is that the change should be total because I hope we don’t just change names, there should also be changes in the way we operate.
In terms of Shehu Dikko, I would say this has been the best that we have seen in recent memory. You know we have always advocated for a professional coming in – not as an ex-athlete or footballer- but one who has been in sports administration or sports business. This is perhaps the first time we have been given one.

Maybe the nearest we have had of one who would have grown to become something close to a professional was the last but one Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, who came in as a novice and started learning and before he left, he did a lot of things that his successor didn’t continue with. But now, I think we have got somebody who will sit down and look at the whole gamut and position sports the way it should be. I just hope they won’t use politics to spoil it.

Dikko was LMC Chairman and Vice President of the NFF for 8 years. Would you say he excelled while as LMC chairman?
It depends on what you mean by excel. For once, we had something new from what we used to have before, which the new NPFL people have built on. Based on that, I would say he tried because he tried to position it. You can’t just judge someone until you see the final result.

It is the final result that determines if someone has excelled or not. Even those that are there now cannot be said to have excelled in terms of the kind of money they should be bringing in but they are going in the right direction and one can say that Dikko started it all.

Duro Ikhazuagbe: Dikko can make a difference

For me, what has just happened is just a change of nomenclature. It is not the first time we are seeing the sports ministry introduced and back to the National Sports Commission. What I think is important is the leadership that is fostered in the sports sector of this country and what the leader is bringing to the table. When you have a leader who knows what to do, our sports will grow. Unfortunately, apart from the last minister that just left, John Owan Enoh, who spent barely a year, you can hardly judge such a person. But for the others like Solomon Dalong and Sunday Dare who spent about 8 years in between them, they were complete disasters to Nigerian sports. Nigerian sports didn’t benefit under them. So, if you have any leader like that coming in as chairman of the National Sports Commission he won’t bring any changes.

I take Shehu Dikko as an exception because he has been around sports for sometime now. Given his background in sports marketing, I see him as someone who is coming to effect the change in Nigerian sports; someone who is coming to turn around the situation we are in right now, a situation in which we went to Paris Olympics and returned empty-handed except in the Paralympics that we were able to win medals.

My only worry is, I hope he is not going to be the chairman of the NSC that will concentrate on football alone.
There were allegations against him that he made money for himself instead of the League Management Company which he headed.

Those were mere allegations that were unsubstantiated as no court of law has convicted him of any allegation. That is immaterial,as far as I am concerned.

Dikko’s appointment a misfortune for Nigeria sports – Jalla

In his own reaction, a chieftain of the Footballers Union, Harrison Jalla criticised Shehu Dikko’s appointment and described it as a ‘misfortune for Nigeria sports’.
He acknowledged the President’s commitment to the upliftment of sports in the country despite him not being a sportsman.

“After barely a year in office, President Tinubu stands out in Nigeria’s sports history as the President who has taken the most pragmatic steps in terms of financial investment in the sector.”

Despite these efforts, the President has not achieved a vibrant sports sector because his appointments in the sports sector thus far have been “ill-advised and politically motivated.”

Jalla noted that “the former Minister of Sports, John Enoh, was a huge mistake, while the appointment of Shehu Dikko is nothing short of a complete disaster.”

He asked, “on what basis was Dikko appointed? Certainly not on merit as his track record as Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC) is in the public domain for all to see. Under his leadership, the flagship of Nigerian domestic football, the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), died. In 2022, after 11 years as LMC chairman, Dikko was removed from office, and the NPFL had been reduced to ground zero.”

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