Allegations of corruption against FIFA are not new. One of the major ones was against Sepp Blatter in 1998 during his campaign for the FIFA presidency. He was, along with his godfather, the departing FIFA President Joao Havelange, accused of bribing delegates to the FIFA Congress to vote for Blatter who wriggled out of the morass with claims that the money was federations to develop the game.

IN his own analysis of why Nigeria has been crawling annoyingly while it should be running fast after Independence, President Jonathan saw the failure of leadership as the greatest obstacle to the desired growth – political and economic.

TRANSPARENCY International (TI) is a civil society organisation that spearheads the fight against the dubious practices that jeopardise the welfare of the poor all over the world and prevent so many countries from fulfilling their potential.

AGAIN, I am taking President Goodluck Jonathan to task over a pronouncement by him on a major political issue.

AS far back as August 1600, William Shakespeare, in one of his best comedies, As You Like It, had reasoned clearly: “Sweet are the uses of adversity, which like the toad, ugly and venomous; wears yet a precious jewel on its head…”.

Sometimes, it’s hard to accept the obvious, especially when it is expressed in such a blunt manner as to inflict sadness and pain on the innocent victim.

I DO not belong to any political party or campaign organisation. But I am not apolitical. I do not know who will be president after the 2011 elections, but I do know that Nigerians will be committing political suicide if retired General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida were allowed to return to power.

AFTER its executive council meeting in Zurich last Wednesday, Nigeria’s Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii of Tahitii were formally suspended from FIFA. Adamu, Nigeria’s sole representative in FIFA has, along with Temarii, a Vice President of FIFA, been at the centre of a cash-for-votes scandal that is threatening to bring FIFA’s house of corruption down on its head.

IT is not my usual wont to write tributes on this page. Today, I make an exception as I dedicate this space to one of Nigeria’s most unusual personalities, the retired Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe.

All efforts to keep myself out of today’s column have proved abortive. Colleagues who thought they could call me up to get scoops have so far being disappointed. On Friday morning one of them called and after talking to me for twenty minutes concluded that I was sitting on the fence.