The Gladiators Beyond The Arena — 1

By Lucky Okoku

𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟓: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐅𝐀/𝐍𝐅𝐅?

Nigeria’s national football association dates back to 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟓.

That is 𝟖𝟏 years of football administration.

Across those 𝟖𝟏 years, how many documented former Nigeria senior internationals have occupied the substantive position of NFA Chairman or NFF President?

𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎.

𝟎%.

Not one.

Yet whenever qualified former internationals are mentioned for football leadership, one of the first questions is:

“Because you played football, what makes you qualified to administer football?”

Fair question.

But fairness demands another:

𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝟖𝟏 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒?

Nobody is saying every former international is qualified.

Some are.

Some are not.

The same is true of lawyers, businessmen, politicians, administrators, academics and everyone else.

Judge the 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥.

Judge the person’s 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

But do not disqualify an entire constituency simply because they once played football.

The historical record leaves us with one stubborn number:

𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟓–𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔.

𝟖𝟏 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒.

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐅𝐀/𝐍𝐅𝐅 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍/𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓: 𝟎.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄: 𝟎%.

Before pointing to one club, one State FA, one committee or one former player’s tenure somewhere else—

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑.

𝟎%.