09012021 - Nigeria must stop paying ransom to kidnappers

Night of a galaxy of Stars
– celebrating the ‘Chairman’.
TWO nights ago, I hosted my
regular television program,
The Sports Parliament, on Africa’s
largest television network, Nigeria
Television Authority, NTA. It
featured a number of megastar
African football players from
different parts of the continent.
Many persons have wondered how
I pulled it off, getting all of them to
agree to join me in celebrating
‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu, a
legendary African player who
played at a time when none of the
6 players on the show was active.
When Anthony Baffoe and I were
discussing the idea a few days
before, and he was listing some
names, the first question I asked
him was: ‘Will they remember who
‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu is?’.
‘Who does not know the
Chairman of African football?’,
Tony responded with his own
rhetorical question. ‘It is like
asking, if I remember
‘Mathematical’”.
He is quite right, of course. I have
known Tony for quite a while. We
did not play in the same era. When
I retired was the time he started in
the next generation with Wole, my
younger brother. They only met the
lingering ‘scent’ of our stardom on
the continent. That was the era
when playing in Europe started,
became fashionable and the
‘umbilical’ links with us were
severed.
In the case of Anthony Baffoe, I
had read about him and his
exploits; how he played all his
professional football in Germany,
speaks German, French and
English very fluently, and played
for the Ghana Black Stars for
many years.
We met a few times several years
after his own retirement when I
was a member of the Players’
Committee of CAF and he was a
very active member of one of the
committees also in CAF and FIFA
at the time. Even at that time, I
could see that he was not your
regular retired player. He was very
educated, eloquent, confident, and
upfront about his intentions to be
an active part of football
administration, not just in Africa
but in the world.
He had the incredible gift of good
human relations – respectful,
inquisitive, friendly, easy going,
smooth and confident.
That’s why it is not a surprise that
he moved up the rung of football
administration in both FIFA and
CAF slowly but steadily. Through
all the crisis in both organisations
over the years he stayed above the
fray and survived, so much so that
currently he is the Deputy General
Secretary of CAF, a very powerful
position in the emerging new CAF.
Do not be surprised, one day soon
he could be sitting on the chair of
either the General Secretary of
CAF or of FIFA, on merit. He is
that good.
“Shall I call and let’s talk with
Yaya Toure, and Patrick Mboma,
and Samuel Eto?” Anthony asked
me.
“They may not know Chairman’,
I insisted.
“Look why do you underestimate
African footballers? We know our
history. Samuel Eto knows African
football history very well. Like
Yaya Toure. You too, you know so
much about the history of African
football. We know ourselves’.
Most of our generation have
disappeared from the radar of
African football. I used to have the
contact of many well-known
This is to thank
Anthony Baffoe, Abedi
Pele, Yaya Toure, Jay
Jay Okocha, Godwin
Odiye, Emmanuel
Merenini, … and all
the parliamentarians
on the show for
making the celebration
of ‘Chairman’
Christian Chukwu
possible
players from my generation;
players from Egypt, Algeria,
Tunisia and Morocco in the North
to Ghana, Cameroon, Cote
D’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia
in the West. I also had contacts with
a few players from East Africa.
None from Southern Africa.
With Nigerian megastar players,
I do not have any problems really.
For some reason, I did not hear
from Papillo when I sent him a
word. Jay Jay responded within
minutes. He was ‘game’, and ready
to honour his ‘father’ and coach!
So, that’s how Anthony Baffoe
took up the challenge and within
a few hours it was done.
Kalusha Bwalya has been my
friend for ages. He had come to
Lagos as head of a delegation of
the youth national team of
Zambia. For some reason, the
team had to pass through Lagos
and spent a day, or two. He had
called me up and we met in the
hotel where the team was staying
somewhere in Ikeja, I think.
That’s how we spent hours
together and became very
acquainted. After that we met
several other times around the
African football circuit
particularly around CAF.
Abedi Pele and I were in the
Players’ Committee of CAF for
several years and were the closest
of friends because we were the only
two that came from Anglophone
African countries and could
communicate in English. He had
SATURDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 9, 2021—29
the advantage of being able to
speak French as well and became
my translator whenever we went
out. At different times, there were
Basile Boli, Francois Mpele, Jules
Bocande, Theophile Abega, and
several others on the 13-player
committee.
Beyond that, Abedi and I spent
great times hanging out in Accra
as well as in Lagos on different
occasions.
Yaya Toure. I have never met him
up close. When he won the African
Best Player award for the first time,
I was in Lome, Togo as part of the
African Football legends invited by
Globacom to ‘decorate’ the venue
of the event with our eventually
‘subdued’ presence. But that’s a
matter for another day. It
underlines how players are often
treated, given only the less serious
things in football governance.
We met briefly but did not have
time to be properly introduced. He
flew back to France that night,
immediately after receiving the
award.
However, since then, I have left
the CAF Players’ committee, my
shelf-life as a recognizable African
football star has waned, new
players have taken over the space
on the display shelf, and CAF have
stopped inviting older generation
footballers to their events,
understandably.
I used to be quite an activist in
African football, always ‘fighting’
for causes related to footballers,
always demanding respect,
relevance and better welfare for
African footballers within the
scheme of things. We are often kept
at a distance from the seat of
administration. I fought for retired
players to be used technically, to
help educate and supervise the
construction of good football
grounds all over the continent as a
panacea for good football and
more lucrative marketing of the
game. Not too many players are
allowed into the fold of CAF
because to do so is to court jealousy,
or contempt of administrators who
love to share the limelight with the
players but hate to see them in the
space where dividends are shared.
On one occasion in the mid
1990s, I think, I sat by my desk at
home in London and decided to
organize the first conference of
African footballers in Cairo, or
Johannesburg, or even in Lagos.
I called up my friend, Jenny
Horrocks of the BBC, who is an
encyclopedia of African
footballers and has every known
African footballer’s contact
around the world, to help me with
I thought Chukwu didn’t like me — Odiye
By Jacob Ajom
ONE of Nigeria’s most
celebrated central defenders in
the 1980s Godwin Odiye has divulged
one of his long kept secrets when he
disclosed that at the beginning of his
association with his former teammate
and captain, Christian Chukwu, who
was his room mate at the national team
camp, he did not know his partner.
Odiye said this while contributing to
the programme, “The Sports
Parliament’ on NTA Thursday night,
put together by a member of the 1980
AFCON winning Green Eagles squad,
Segun Odegbami in celebration of his
former captain and Nigeria’s most
celebrated footballer, Christian
Chukwu who turned 70, a few days
earlier.
Odiye recalled, “Each time we
retired to our room he (Chukwu) hardly
talked. Indeed, even during a
conversation, he spoke very little,”
adding, “initially, I thought he didn’t
like me.”
But that was the man Chukwu,
described severally by the numerous
stars of African football who
participated in the programme as a
gentleman, a worthy ambassador of
the game of football.
Austin Jay Jay Okocha, a former
captain of the Super Eagles said he
*Chukwu
*He was always diplomatic — Jay Jay Okocha
had fun memories of Christian
Chukwu whom he watched play and
captained his childhood club, Rangers
International of Enugu as a young boy.
“I learned a lot from him. Incidentally,
I grew up to play for Rangers and he
was my coach at the national team.
He was always calm even in the face of
very serious issues, he remained calm
but diplomatic in handling the issues
at stake.”
Also contributing, Ghana
internationals, Abedi Pele and Anthony
Baffoe could not hide their admiration
for Chukwu. Praising Segun
Odegbami for the initiative of
celebrating Chukwu, Baffoe said, “It’s
great to be called upon to join in the
celebration of one of Africa’s legends
in the game. That is how legends should
be celebrated. I loved Chukwu when
he was playing. I remember how he
Captained Nigeria to the 1980
AFCON triumph. He was a great
player.”
On his part, Abedi recalled how
Chukwu led Nigeria to the 1978
AFCON in Ghana. “Because I was
doing well as a youth player, I had free
tickets to watch all the AFCON
matches. I am honoured to be among
those celebrating him today and we
are still alive to witness this day.”
Ivorian legend, Yahaya Toure,
former Captain of the Zambian
national team, Kalusha Bwalya, Dudu
Orumen, Chuks Ugwuoke who
represented the Governor of Enugu
State and Mr Peter Obi, former
Governor of Anambra state were also
on the show, conveying messages of
goodwill to Chukwu.
Writing on the programme on his
Facebook wall, Dudu Orumen, who
was one of the ‘Parliamentarians’ said,
“Its a night to remember as we joined
Nigerians and the Football world to
celebrate a great footballer, one of the
very best Nigeria has produced. He
led by example, wore the Eagles Eagles
Captain’s arm band with pride and
commitment, never involved in camp
and selection politics, never engaged
establishing contacts. She sent by
fax a long directory with the phone
numbers of every well-known
retired and active African
footballer. That’s how I connected
with George Opong Weah, Tony
Yeboah, Abedi Pele, Rabah Madjar,
Farouk Gafar, Sunday Ibrahim,
Tarak Dhiab, and several others all
over Europe.
I drew up a great plan of action
and started to call up every player
including Michel Platini, Franz
Berkenbauer, and a few other
European greats to seek their
support to make it happen.
Amongst those most excited
about such a body was George
Opong Weah even though he was
in his prime at the time, and did
not have much time to work on it
with me. I even informed the
Presidents of FIFA and CAF. FIFA
promised to help, and Issa
Hayatou replied me and extended
my stay as a member of the CAF
Players Committee.
The project never took off
because I needed the time and
finances to move around a bit
more, set up a secretariat in
Europe (it would not work from any
place in Africa), and get the buy-in
of many more of my African
colleagues to succeed.
In the Players/Football
Committee I was amazed at the
depth and capacity of most of the
players in understanding the finer
intricacies of football on the field.
They were very well informed and
knowledgeable. If only
administrators had taken our
suggestions seriously African
football would have turned the
corner a long time ago and caught
up with Europe in terms of quality
of play on the fields all over the
continent.
Since then, I have retired into the
cocoon of my personal interests
until now, drawn out by my desire
to honour my friend and brother
as he leads many of us on a journey
to the beautiful evening of ‘old’ age
from 70.
I am glad it happened two nights
ago.
This is to thank Anthony Baffoe,
Abedi Pele, Yaya Toure, Jay Jay
Okocha, Godwin Odiye,
Emmanuel Merenini, Femi
Adesina, former Govenor Peter
Obi, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe
Benson Ejindu, Chuks Egwuoke,
Ikeddy Isiguzo, Emmanuel Okala,
Oliver Johnson, and all the
parliamentarians on the show for
making the celebration of
‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu
possible.
in controversies. A most amiable man
and a living legend who l first saw play
football in the East Central State
Academicals Team of 1971 which
featured School Boys Football greats
like team captain Godwin Ogbueze,
Obed Ariri, Tony Uzoka, Patrick Ekeji,
Dominic Ezeani, Kenneth Ilodigwe
and keeper Ahamefula Umelo and co,
and l saw in many other matches for
the Eagles, epic Club Football battles
for his club Enugu Rangers
International against IICC Shooting
Stars and Bendel Insurance FC.”
Remix sports management camp begins Jan. 15
THE Remix Sports Management Camp Grassroots
Football Development activities for youth players have
been scheduled to begin on January 15, 2021 in Nigeria and
Turkey. The event under the auspices of Remix Management
Sports outfit, a Nigerian / Turkey- based company amongst
other services are into grassroots development of soccer players
both in Turkey and Nigeria and has produced younger players
for the football markets in top football playing countries.
The Remix Management Sports, an initiative of Mr. Adeyemi
Oladosu, a former Nigeria international and seasoned
intermediary, is willing to assist young African players get the
required training and soccer exposure which the nation can tap
into.
Oladosu, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Remix Sports
Management, disclosed that, this year’s camp is already in
place with camps in both Nigeria and Turkey ready to start on
January 15.
According to Mr. Adeyemi Oladosu: “Already, for the Turkey
camp in Antalya, the Remix Management Antalya coaching,
trials and match sessions are set to go with top European clubs
to expose African players.”
FB Winner: Ajayi Tajudeen, winnaer of 2020
annual FirstBank of Nigeria Limited-sponsored
Lagos Amateur Open Golf Championship
receiving the trophy from Olusegun Alebiosu,
the Chief Risk Officer of of FirstBank Nig. Ltd
at the golf section of Ikoyi Club 1938 recently