By Kate Obodo

Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, 74, is a technical committee member of the Confederation of African Football, CAF, and a former coach of the Super Eagles to the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. He was the first indigenous coach to take the Eagles to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in   Cote d’Ivoire but lost 1-3 to Cameroon.

Despite the silver medal, Onigbinde was relieved of his job. He said though it was painful he took it in good faith and never saw it as a problem. He believes that whatever situation he finds himself  today was destined by God. Excerpts:

My toughest moments

It is usually difficult to say I have had or encountered difficulties in life. I believe anything that has happened to me in my life was destined by God. I may not have understood immediately but later it would turn out for good. For example, I won silver in the 1984 Africa Nations Cup but was relieved of my job as the coach of the national team, till date nobody has told me that my tenure was a failure but I was removed. And people came to me urging me to pull some strings, that was in 1985.

My involvement in   CAF

In 1988, at the Africa Cup of Nations, when Issa Hayatou was elected as the President of the Confederation of African Football, CAF,  he wanted to get people who understood the game then a Tunisian wanted to know who brought Nigeria to Côte d’Ivoire in 1984.  That was how they started looking for me and that I was how I got into CAF.

If I was still in the national team then, people would have said I won’t have time for CAF. Also, If I had caused trouble or commotion because of the way I was maltreated by the federation, people would have protested when I got the CAF job, saying I’m a trouble maker. That would have been the end of my coming to work in CAF.

So, anything that happens in my life today, I look up to God for solution, especially to give me wisdom on how to go about it. And I did same when I was relieved of my job as the national team coach, and that is the way I take things up till today.

My problem with my employer

Let me tell you another practical example which has run me into trouble with a lot of football administrators as a coach. The fact that I always expose my team list hours before the match was always a problem for them as they  were not comfortable with it. In most cases when they are forceful, the best I could do was to stand my ground.

In some cases, I did not decide until probably two hours before the match because I would always communicating with my creator to tell me what to do. An example is the match against England at the 2002 World Cup. A day before the match, I assembled the board and told them I was going to use Nigeria’s future team and that was what God told me to do.

They were all agitating, appealing to me to stick to their plans but I said no way. Believe me, God had already given me instruction on what to do. They asked for the team list but when I told them it was not ready, they never believed me. I did not announce the name until I got to the dressing room. And that was how people like Vincent Enyeama and other Super Eagles stars were brought to limelight.

Overcoming my trials

So when you put your mind on negativity you tend to have problems.  Though it hurts as a human being, especially having put much effort on the job but like I said, I wasn’t bothered by the situation at that time. With the wisdom of God, I surmounted my predicament.

Lesson learned

In a nutshell, I have learned to work according to the direction of God and His wisdom. And That is what has kept me going at 74, alongside a positive mind. So, I have never seen any situation as the end of the world for me.

My advice

No matter what the situation is in life, take life as it comes because you can not be wiser than God. If your belief is so absolute that God is the only power that exists,  then your problems are solved.

As a human being, it may hurt but it does not last.

My advice for people is that, whatever you find your hand on, make sure you do your best and get the best out of it. And that is why I tell coaches that coaching is not a two hours job. It all boils down to commitment and devotion. If you are a tailor or carpenter or any profession today, you are expected to bring out the best and be truthful.

My father used to say that any short cut to life is also a short cut to death. If you want to take a short cut to success, the implication is always deadly. So work hard, do your best and leave the rest for God.