By Nelson
Ekujumi
Following the ouster of the Super
Eagles from qualification for next year’s Africa Nations Cup to be co-hosted by
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, yours sincerely like millions of Nigerians was
thoroughly disappointed and the reactions that followed the shameful loss was
typical of Nigerians who have been pouring out their heart over the show of
shame and more is expected in the days to come.
Well, without holding brief for
Coach Siasia and the team, I want us all to accept his apology that the team
let us all down and look ahead to where do we go from here? The hallmark of a
great man is the ability to rise up after a fall which is inevitable. For a
long time now, people have turned deaf hears to the cries that our football
cannot be exempted from the national malaise of failure after all we have
repeatedly experienced governance, infrastructural, security, examination,
bank, family, relationship, promise keeping, etc failures and our people who
have behaved as if failure is in our character are now crying loudly because
this disease has finally caught up with their most cherished passion, our
football. Oh, what a pity or have they forgotten that whatever affects the nose
also affects the eyes?
I bear no one any grudge but must
admit that we are all culpable because even the Holy Book says that “Truth
exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people”. Without sounding like a
puritan, I suggest we all examine introspectively if it’s not the law of karma catching
up with us? What did we expect now, when all this while we have all been living
a life of lies? We have continuously cheated in every age grade competition,
thus defeating the purpose of such lofty ideas of discovering young talents and
inadvertently shooting ourselves in the foot.
I hope our football administrators
will also share part of this blame rather than shifting all on Siasia’s head if
we all recollect that they contributed in no small way to this embarrassment by
toying with the first leg that the Super Eagles lost in Conakry under the
tutelage of Austin Eguavoen just because they lacked focus in appointing a
manager on time for the team. That they failed to qualify by beating Guinea on
Saturday wasn’t because they didn’t try but because their best wasn’t good
enough. This is the reason why Siasia should be allowed to learn from his
mistakes and become a better coach and like the Yoruba’s say, “Cutting off the
head is not the cure for headache”
As for those calling for the sack of
Samson Siasia over this loss, I disagree even though yours sincerely was a
strong critic of his employment as the Super Eagles Coach in the first place.
Despite his shortcomings which are applicable to all human beings, one thing
which Siasia has been able to inculcate in the Super Eagles and which for a
long time had taken flight in that team is Discipline. For a long time, lots of
Nigerians lost interest in the senior national team due to its high level of
indiscipline which manifested in their lackadaisical style of play under
Siasia’s predecessors. Under Samson Siasia, players now report to camp early to
fight for jerseys which before now was the birth right of some privileged ones.
So, sacking Siasia is not a wise option for now if we are really desirous of
the long term growth of our football of nurturing our materials to become world
class prospects.
We can save ourselves heartaches and
this kind of embarrassment in future if we learn and agree to turn a new leaf
by being honest and do away with the philosophy of win at all cost which is
very similar to our politics of do or die invented by Former President Obasanjo
and which has become a way of life. We can only do that if we demand a total
overhaul of our sports/football administration by making sure that only
credible persons who are sincere, sports/football knowledgeable and committed
administer our sports/football at all levels. That is the only and sure way to
go.
