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Monday, November 09, 2009
Amiesimaka and the Golden Eaglets
By Emeka Oparah
I REALLY do not owe anybody any explanation regarding my relationship with Adokiye Amiesimaka, but in a country where cronyism and nepotism are the most efficient levers for social, political and economic advancement, it is crucial to come clean on such lest one is branded. I have never met Mr. Amiesimaka in my life except through the media and I do not have his or anybody's brief to do this piece. (And please note that this does not suggest I wouldn't want to meet him). Indeed, I was not old enough to appreciate his soccer exploits first hand, but my older cousins (and of course, media reports) speak quite highly of him in the sport and in the Green Eagles. To that extent, therefore, I can claim some acquaintance with him, albeit imaginary.
Way back in the early 80s, I recall tuning to Radio Rivers 2 FM Stereo one morning and hearing "the news, read by Adokiye Amiesimaka". I was pleasantly surprised to learn, on inquiry, that it was the same Adokiye of the Green Eagles. I later found out that he was actually combining the news casting job with his government job as Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of Rivers State. I was absolutely enthralled to read an interview much later in life where he was telling his story, especially how he combined football with Law and Broadcasting. According to him then, he resumed at the station to cast the morning news, went to play soccer for one hour before resuming at the Ministry of Justice, where he later rose to Attorney-General and Commissioner.
As far as I am concerned, he is perhaps the most accomplished of all the Nigerian footballers of his time, if not all time. He literally juggled the balls (pardon the pun) in Law, Broadcasting, Football and now journalism. Currently, he writes a captivating weekly column in The Punch known as "Penetrating Passes", a title apparently inspired by his ball-passing skills, which the late ace football commentator, Ernest Okonkwo, would have described as "penetrating". Anyway, my point here is that the man Adokiye Amiesimaka is indeed an institution as well as an inspiration to young people in Nigeria. He demystified the notion that a footballer cannot do well academically. In this regard, he has the company of the indefatigable Segun Odegbami, who has done very well for himself and Nigeria through football. In view of the exploits of these duo, it is no longer perceived as academically suicidal for children to take to football knowing full well they can still make it like Odegbami, Adokiye, Zico of Brazil (a medical doctor) and several others.
Adokiye went even further than playing football to administering the sport. He was at a time the Chairman of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt, where he trained frequently with the main team and doubled as Coach of the feeder team. What else can one ask from a man, who is still very young and vibrant and capable of doing this country proud? It is, therefore, in the recognition of his accomplishments and contributions (which I have so poorly narrated above-my apologies, please) that I took umbrage at the unsuccessful attempt by Justin Akpovi-Esade to disparage his personality and rubbish his reputation for speaking out against age cheats in Nigerian football ("Amiesimaka, the Golden Eaglets and age cheats," The Guardian, November 5).
If I did not know Akpovi-Esade as a journalist, in the highly regarded flagship of Nigerian journalism, The Guardian, I would have said he had been reached by Adokiye's detractors to malign him, but then you never know with people. Adokiye, as an elder statesman, if you will, in matters of football raised an alarm over the ugly phenomenon of age-cheating in football. I agree with Justin that Adokiye was not saying anything new, but it is good for someone with his profile, experience and clout to speak up on the matter.
The Nigerian football sidelines are replete with so called Under-17 stars wasting in abject oblivion because they entered the age group tournaments claiming less than half their ages! There is the famous case of a member of one of the previous Under-17 teams, who was recruited by a European club side into their feeder team believing he was a youngster, but he "blatantly refused to respond to grooming", and failed to grow into the senior team. He ended up in the streets, after the club refused to release him until his long contract expired. Justin also mentioned Nduka Ugbade and Wilson Oruma who, according to him, could not have been within the age range when they captained the Under-17 team to victory. I overheard two friends arguing over the real age of Julius Aghahowa, who featured prominently in the Nigerian Under-20 team at Nigeria'99 and now in Shaktar Donesk after two fruitless seasons in the English Premiership League. As a Police Sergeant back then in 1999, there was no way he could have been under 20 years, as he claimed.
Now, there is something wrong with the timing of Adokiye's alarm, which still does not abnegate the appropriateness of his action. If he had spoken up immediately after the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests, he would have done two things: Correct a wrongdoing and save Nigeria from potential embarrassment. But curiously he chose to tarry, which is why, I believe, Justin is inferring ulterior motives even as he describes Adokiye as a patriot. It is human to err, but the gracelessness in Justin's assertions makes it look like he is the one on vendetta mission. He elected to focus on the messenger and not the message, which, to me, is inappropriate and almost made him sound like "we have been cheating in football, so what the heck is Adokiye making noise about if we cheat one more time?"
The introduction of MRI tests this year by FIFA really opened a can of worms on football, especially in Nigeria. That Fortune Chukwudi slipped through the eagle eye of the scanner, so to say, is neither the fault of the NFF nor the young man himself, but squarely that of FIFA and their scanner. However, the fact that the player lied about his age is absolutely reprehensible. It is about time the challenge of age falsification in football and other areas is tackled like every other cankerworm eating into the fabric of the Nigerian socio-economic system. Between registration of births in hospitals and churches and the application of MRI tests before selecting players for age-group tournaments, we stand a chance of checking this ugly trend. We also need to make an example of established age cheats to serve as a deterrent to others or intending age cheats. So, I hope the allegation made by Adokiye is thoroughly examined and investigated and appropriate actions taken against any infractions.
I would be damned if a very accomplished man like Adokiye will be going after a player or the NFF just because he was not appointed to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) or whatever, after all my brother Godwin Dudu-Orumen resigned from the Committee mid-way. The real issue here is that Adokiye claims Fortune Chukwudi is an age cheat. He suggests that Nigerian football authorities are aware. The timing may be wrong, but that does not change the import of his message. Let's call a spade a spade and start to change things in sports and in Nigeria as a whole.
- Oparah is a company executive in Lagos.
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