I am writing this late on Thursday evening. I am hearing voices. I have just returned from Akure.  My Akure experience has been a test of my nerves, perseverance and patience. After it I have now resolved to trust less, to take people’s words with a pinch of salt, to always look beyond the superficiality of things, trust only in my instincts and that which comes from the deep recess of divine inspiration and wisdom at this very critical period in the development of our football.  The times are becoming dangerous. I feel physically isolated even if I know that God is with me and would always remind me not to fear or falter, but to march on regardless, even when everything points the other way. I am in wonder of the endless drama around the NFF elections and I am struggling hard not to be overwhelmed by it.  My brain has gone numb. It has done more than its fair share of thinking in the past few weeks, wondering about the concocted stories, the lies, the intrigues, and even the threats.

Yet in the midst of this cacophonous atmosphere I hear the voice of the Nigerian people rise above the din. I hear their voices everywhere I turn to, in the streets, in conversations in restaurants, supermarkets, shopping malls, taxis, everywhere! I hear them on radio, during several television programmes, in reports in the newspapers. The message is the same, resounding like a broken record – Nigerians are tired of the pain of underachievement; of winning through cheating; of  being subjected to unnecessary ‘hypertension every time their senior national team plays; of the stories of neglect of their heroes that have served their country and are languishing in poverty and neglect, denied the fruits of their labour by those that have done nothing but feed fat. Nigerians support the present clamour for change in the manner football is being administered in the country. They want to play and win fairly and with integrity, and even when they lose it should be with dignity and not because they have not given their best! They want a change in the mentality that celebrates victories of some of our national teams masquerading as juniors.  They want change from the mentality that our victories at junior level are an end in themselves and not a means to a better end, They want a change from the mentality that suggests to the youth that it is alright to abandon their education, falsify documents, lie about their age and cheat in the quest for victory in football.  I hear all these voices!

Of late the conversation about the elections have been loudest. Why the desperation to hold elections whose procedure is faulty?  What is wrong in taking our time to make the necessary corrections, and get things done the right way if there is no hidden agenda?

The congress of the NFF is not infallible! It obviously made a mistake in Makurdi in 2008 as several members of that congress have confessed to me in the past few days. Fair enough, we are coming newly into the era of true democratisation of our administration, and many of us (including myself) do not yet fully understand the rules and do not see the long term implications of some of the decisions we take. Some others in the system use that to railroad us into decisions cleverly designed to achieve their narrow   pre-conceived agenda! Obviously, the Makurdi decisions were wrong. The legal heads in the NFF saw the mistakes earlier and quietly expunged them from the Statutes where they had earlier inserted them. What they failed to do is let all members know that a mistake had been made, that a decision was taken that should not have been taken, that an amendment needed to be made! What is the problem now of owning up and making the corrections?

They fear the consequences. Some of the members would obviously not be returned in their State elections! So, they embrace the mistake if it will provide them a life line even if it is to the detriment of the game and the growth of administration. That is the problem. That is why the entire country has been embroiled in the drama of the past few weeks. Some people are not willing to make the sacrifice and pay the price that will usher in good governance, credibility and justice.

The battle is not really about who wins the elections. There are a whole number of good people that can take Nigerian football to new heights. The battle is about starting the change and reforms in Nigerian football through an authentic process of elections. We must set new standards of morality and good conduct in administration. If we go about it by doing wuru wuru to the answer we will end up with a wuru wuru board that will continue in the same old tradition that has brought us to the diadem that we presently find ourselves. One of the contestants for the NFF presidency told me the other day that he is fed up with the crisis and that he is supporting that the elections take place today so that we can get it over and done with and he can return to the peace of his business. I told him that he is lucky to have another life outside of football, that for some of us our lives are inextricably tied to the game having spent the best part of our formative years serving the game and the country and do not have any other business outside of football. We are the club owners, the players, the coaches, the sports journalists, the groundsmen, the games masters, the referees, the supporters, in short, the genuine stakeholders in the game. We do well only when the country’s football is doing well.  I told him he has no business taking part in the elections in the first place, not with his shallow commitment to the cause of integrity and fair play. Nigerian football at this point does not need leaders who want to embrace ‘wrong’ just so that ‘peace’ will reign!  Fortunately, such persons are in the minority. The vast majority want change starting with a correct process of electing the leadership of the football house. We hear it in their voices.  We have heard it through the National Sports Commission that wrote to the NFF advising them to postpone the elections. We heard it when many of those that spoke on the issue at the football stakeholders summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee on sports, held in Abuja two weeks ago, overwhelmingly supported holding State elections before national elections. We heard the voice of the people when the same House of Representatives Committee on Sports later passed a resolution advising the NFF to postpone the elections to allow for the State elections to come first. We heard it in the communique issued by Commissioners of Sports from all over the country when they met two weeks ago. We heard the people’s voices also in the several cases in court instituted by some aggrieved stakeholders that are unhappy with the election process and statutes, and seeking an injunction that the national elections be stopped from taking place until State elections are first conducted to produce legitimate delegates for the national elections.

There have been dissenting voices also.  Dr. Amos Adamu, CAF and FIFA executive member, sees it differently and insists that the we must live with the mistake of the congress and must hold the elections on August 21.  The Electoral Committee understandably also would want to go on with its mandate to conduct the national elections even if they know the process is irregular. The Chairmen of State FA’s who would be most affected by any corrections would not hear of not holding the elections so that they can remain in power in their States.  Any attempt to conduct State elections will see many of them not returning to the congress. So, the outgoing NFF Executive Committee, on its part, has simply turned a deaf ear to the loud voices of Nigerians!

I remind them all of that simple wise old saying: ‘Vox populi, vox deus‘. It is Latin for ‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’.  The Nigerian people have spoken. He that has ears let him hear!