Emmanuel Emenike showed that he is a true professional by insisting on collecting the $5,000 match -winning bonus for beating Malawi in Calabar last Saturday.
Emenike hinged his decision on the fact that it was a privilege to play for Nigeria, with a population of close to 190 million people. He felt honoured to wear our colours and looked forward to subsequent appearances for the country, unlike John Mikel Obi, Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide, who were up in arms to fight for $10,000.
Emenike’s decision quenched the fire in the troika, who were said to have had the coaches’ support. No one would say that Emenike is NFF’s lickspittle, not after his harsh words to the federation’s chiefs for failing to show concern about his welfare when he was injured playing for Nigeria.
Emenike drew a parallel with his club by stating that he was satisfied with what he earned and would rather see playing for Nigeria as payback. This is not the first time that Emenike has shown love for a dear country, irrespective of what we say about NFF chiefs. He dumped playing for South Africa and a few other countries. Indeed, he pestered Joseph Yobo to convince Eagles coaches to invite him to prove his mettle. Little wonder Emenike doesn’t spare any moment to pour encomiums on Yobo.
Interestingly, one former Eagles coach told me that the reason why our players insist on getting such ridiculous figures is because they are bench warmers in their European clubs. One is tempted to believe this coach, given Emenike’s, the late Rashidi Yekini’s and the late Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji’s commitment to Nigeria’s matches.
It is absolutely ridiculous that some players could contemplate another bonus row on a day when they shared N25 million given to them by Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke. Do the Eagles think that the money they received was the governor’s personal cash? Do the players not know that the N25 million came from taxpayers?
I really cannot understand why Mikel keeps spearheading revolts in the Eagles. He plays for one of the biggest clubs in Europe and should know how requests for changes are made. What Mikel and his ilk don’t understand is that they would have been languishing in one of these novelty football-playing nations but for the opportunities they got to play for Nigeria. I would have been excited to hear that Mikel, Enyeama and Ejide rejected theirs when the matter was resolved.
That they took the $5,000 tells a lot about their character and it is rather unfortunate since they are our ambassadors in Europe. Wait a minute: Didn’t Mikel get Tom Tom’s Man of the Match award of $5,000? So, what does he really want? Or is playing for Nigeria another casino?
Except for Victor Moses and, indeed, Shola Ameobi, every other person in the Eagles got to Europe playing for one of our national teams. It behoves on them, therefore, to play for Nigeria on grounds of loyalty and show understanding when there is cash crunch.
Sadly, we don’t have the right leadership in the team to call Mikel’s, Enyeama’s and Ejide’s bluff, largely because they also benefit from the increased largesse if their protests succeed. We are the laughing stock anytime issues such as bonuses, are discussed in the media. The big questions are – how do others do theirs without rancour? Is there no instrument in place to punish offenders? Will the trio say they are unaware of what has been said about the bonuses even after the show-of-shame in Namibia?
Could this be the reason why Mikel feigned injury and headed straight to London, when his mates were busy playing for their countries in the European Group World Cup qualifiers?
Mikel needs to exhibit the traits of a role model and desist from this despicable act whether or not he is being propelled by bigger forces in the squad. At this rate, it would be suicidal to make Mikel Eagles’ captain in sync with what is happening in other countries, such as Argentina where Lionel Messi is the captain.
Mikel stands in good stead to become 2012/2013 Africa’s Footballer of the Year and he needs to be worthy in character, based on his stay in Europe where he ought to have acculturised to the European ethos. As for Enyeama, it is about time he stayed off the team. When Samson Siasia wielded the big stick on Enyeama after a mutinous act in the Eagles, we cried foul and begged Siasia in vain. We can now appreciate what Siasia saw then when he tagged Enyeama as a very bad influence. Let me tender my apologies to Siasia for hitting him so hard for refusing to accept pleas from Nigerians to return Enyeama to the fold. I really don’t know where to start in explaining Ejide’s conduct. A good goalkeeper, no doubt, but I didn’t know him to be a disobedient player. His calm mien disarms you. But his recent role of spearheading protests is shocking. Enyeama, Ejide and Mikel are our potential captains. It says something about their protests. Read my lips. Don’t ask me how. Let me urge Maigari and his NFF men not to succumb to any threat on this bonus issue. We cannot pay players match bonuses for all the games, yet they will also insist on having a share of Nigeria’s share of the gate-takings accruing from matches played by the Eagles at the World Cup. It amounts to eating their cake and having it. In other climes, revenues from appearing at the World Cup are ploughed back towards developing the facilities in their countries. But in Nigeria, our players share it. This dastardly act must stop. If the players want the revenue from our World Cup participation, they should forget about match bonuses. Thumbs up Jonathan President Goodluck Jonathan scored the bull’s eye in Abuja on Wednesday, when he decorated Africa’s speedster Blessing Okagbare with a national honour and gave her N3 million. It may be less than what the footballers got but the thought of rewarding her is commendable. Jonathan’s tall order to the sports administrators and athletes to win gold medals at the Brazil 2016 Olympic Games is good, except that the President ought to have told us how much his administration is pumping into the challenge. The President should also tell us when the cash will be released for the athletes because the task of winning any gold medals at the Olympics is a four-year project anchored on proper planning. As I have canvassed in this column in the past, the President needs to direct that a presidential dinner with Okagbare and the business community should be organised for our Olympic Games plans as envisioned by Jonathan be laid bare before these technocrats. Jonathan needs to ask what happened to the sports lottery projects in the past. Another sports lottery with a different organogram is required to lift our sports. The President must be commended for retaining Bolaji Abdullahi as the sports minister. The fillip in our sports owes its course to Abdullahi’s transparent handling of issues bogging the industry. Adbullahi has plugged all the loopholes in our sports with his enduring policies. His unbiased approach to issues that have bedeviled the industry underlines the relative peace in the federations. This has indeed restored confidence in the athletes, knowing that their efforts would be recognised with every feat achieved. Take a bow Abdullahi, for wonderful job. Jonathan should challenge Abdullahi to fix the rot in our sports lottery scheme, if we hope to attain the heights befitting of our athletes’ stature. We should have a deliberate policy to support the athletes and safeguard their future. This must have a presidential backing for the blue-chip companies to identify with. Our administrators must learn how to account for the cash given to them. No company will want to tag its goods or services to any form of scam arising from the misappropriation of cash given to sports federations to organise competitions. Corruption has been the bane of sponsorship of sports. Okagbare as a Nigerian brand with any company will signpost the way forward for sports and the athletes. It could also resolve the problem of securing their future since most of them would be funded by these companies to combine sports and the acquisition of quality education.
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