When in the
early hours
of Friday
February
19, the news
started filtering in through
the social media that the self
styled self acclaimed ‘’pep
Guardiola’’ of Nigeria, Coach
Sunday Oliseh has resigned
his appointment as the coach
of Nigeria national team, the
Super Eagles, it did not come
to many followers of his nine
months at the helm of affairs
as Super Eagles coach as a
surprise but an action that was
long overdue.
What came to many
followers of Nigeria football as a
surprise is the way and manner
Oliseh took to ridiculing his
employers, the Nigeria Football
Federation NFF by resigning
his appointment through
an E-mail for the job he had
always claimed he was begged
to accept.
Since his assumption as the
national team coach, Oliseh has
never hidden his disdain for
those who gave him the job for
either their alleged primitive
mode of administration or
lack of transparency in their
dealings with him.
He was always quick to
express his grievances through
the social media that his
expectations were not met, his
team not well motivated, or his
salaries not paid as at when due
as factors responsible for his
short comings.
But in all of these, the egg
heads at the Nigeria Football
Federation, NFF who brought
him without subjecting him
to public scrutiny about his
experience as a coach or his
state of mind kept bold face,
deciding instead to bury their
heads in shame by pretending
to be giving him time to make
amend or change his attitude in
order to avoid the time bomb
that would have exploded
if Nigeria fail to qualify for
AFCON 2017 in Gabon.
It is no longer news that
when Oliseh was appointed,
many Nigerians had come
out openly to express their
doubt over his capacity to
take Nigeria Football out of
its slumbers.
Prominent among them
was former super Eagles
interim coach to the World
Cup and a member of the
Confederation of African
Football, CAF and Federation
of International Football
Associations, FIFA, Adeboye
Oningbinde.
While some pretended
to be in support of Oliseh
by pleading for more time
for him to enable him build
a formidable Super Eagles,
Onigbinde openly expressed
his reservations about
Oliseh not only for his lack
of experience as a coach
but for his antecedents as
the rebellions captain of the
super Eagles that cost Nigeria
the Mali 2002 Nations cup
victory.
When Oliseh failed to
take the Super Eagles beyond
the first round at the 2016
Africa Nations Cup CHAN
in Rwanda, his former team
mate and Personal Assistant,
Tijani Babangida as well as
NFF Technical Committee
Chairman, Barrister Chris
Green rose in stout defence
of their master and anointed
God son.
According to Babangida,
the failure at CHAN
notwithstanding, Oliseh is the
right man to lead the Super
Eagles stressing that there are
a lot of potentials in the team
that the people would soon
begin to witness.
On his part, Green said
Oliseh has a great lesson from
the failure at CHAN and
promised that the federation
will give Oliseh all the needed
support as they look forward
to beat Egypt ahead of
AFCON 2017 but not the fire
spitting Adeboye Oningbinde
who blamed all the atrocities
of Oliseh as the Coach of the
Super Eagles on the Nigeria
Football Federation, NFF.
In the aftermath of Oliseh’s
youtube drama where
he took his frustration
on the NFF, the media,
his backroom staff and
Nigerians describing them
as insane for criticizing him
over his failure at CHAN,
Oningbinde described
Oliseh’s outbursts as a
distraction for his technical
crew and his players ahead
of the AFCON qualifiers
against Egypt.
Oningbinde who said a
lot factors should have been
considered before Oliseh’s
appointment as Eagles head
coach regretted that he had
never seen a situation where
an employee lambasts his
employers.
“Oliseh is on contract and
whether that contract allows
him to do what he is doing,
I wouldn’t know, what
I find ridiculous is the
embarrassment this is
causing the image of Nigeria.
“Again that is not his fault,
it is the fault of the system,
before he was employed, was
his state of health considered;
has it reflected in his
performance? Was his levy
of experience considered
before he was employed, so
all these blames cannot be
placed on him”, he stated.
So if according to
Oningbinde, all these
factors were not considered
before he was employed why
then has NFF kept mute
and refused to apologize
to Nigerians whose state
of mind Amaju Pinnick
and his cronies at the Glass
House have played with for
this nine tortuous months of
Oliseh at the helm of affairs
of the super Eagles.
Olisehs’ first sign of
arrogance and rebellion
began to rear its ugly head
when he was involved in a
confrontation with super
Eagles goalkeeper and
captain, Vincent Enyeama
whom he forced alongside
Emmanuel Emenike to
retire from international
football because of his
uncompromising attitudes.
This was to be followed by
series of uncompromising
attitudes towards the NFF
technical committee and
his refusal to play the
forthcoming AFCON
qualifiers against Egypt in
Kaduna and his youtube
insults on Nigerians before
his aggravated resignation
via an E-mail without
recourse to procedures.
In all of these, the NFF
has kept bold face and has
refused to bury their heads
in shame and despite their
magnanimity to pay off
Oliseh all his outstanding
salaries, he has threatened
to take NFF to court to seek
redress.
Oliseh’s resignation having
put the NFF in a dilemma
over what would become
the fate of Nigerians at the
AFCON qualifiers making
them to make a u turn to
go back to their prodigal
son, Samson Siasia for a
rescue mission to salvage an
impending disaster of not
qualifying for Gabon.
NFF President, Amaju
Pinnick who has put Nigeria
where they are today tend
to compound an already
bad situation by making a
statement in far away United
States of America that the
road is now closed on local
coaches.
This brings us to the
question of why closing
doors on local coaches
after Oliseh has deceived
your intellect, making you
to appoint local coaches to
salvage the situation.
Was Amaju right in his
choice of words or was
he saying it to remove the
shame he has brought on
himself, the NFF and the
entire Nigerians?
If the answer is in the
affirmative, let him be bold
enough, to swallow his
shame and apologize to
Nigerians for taking them
for a ride and if it is in the
opposite, let him come
out to tell Nigerians what
become of the local coaches
after success or failure of the
AFCON qualifier