Football Official News: Nigeria President ‘Goodluck Jonathan’ Eats His Words
In a surge of sudden anger and frustration the Nigerian president decided that he wanted to ban his countries football team from participating in the sport for the span of two years. This was probably a result of them playing really bad football. But this two year ban, as a result of a lot of pressure from FIFA, was finally lifted at the last moment.
The Nigerian government just confirmed that it had decided to reverse its decision to withdraw the Super Eagles from international competitions until 2012. A spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan announced this change of mind on Friday after Nigeria's poor performance at the World Cup 2010 when they finished at the very bottom of Group B with just a single miserable point. Their reason for taking back their statement was that the absence would have seen the nation miss qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
The initial comment provoked a strong reaction from FIFA as they threatened to withdraw financial help, stop Nigerian referees from officiating in international matches and its clubs from partaking in African club competitions. This was obviously very scary for the nation, as any country would not want to lose such aid.
A letter had been sent to the Super Eagles' hierarchy with a deadline of 6pm today (July 5th) which had laid out the consequences. FIFA strongly resists any political interference in the running of national sides and uses a host of sanctions to forbid the action. This is rightly so as national interference would completely ruin the integrity of the World Cup event. Politicians getting involved, deciding which players get picked on the basis of their national images and not their skill levels would change the game completely. It is very important for the game of soccer on an international level to always be played and controlled by FIFA without any interference from nations.
A statement on the Nigeria Football Federation read: "The President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) on Monday graciously rescinded last Wednesday’s decision to withdraw Nigerian national football teams from FIFA/CAF football competitions”.
This decision was made known at the Presidential Villa on Monday evening as President Jonathan gave in to the appeals of top officials of the National Sports Commission, the Nigeria Football Federation, and other concerned organs of the government as well.
Thankfully this means that the nation has beaten the ultimatum of Monday evening, 5th July that was handed down by world football governing body FIFA. If the country had not taken back their statement in time they would have lost their place on the international football platform. This would have been quite dreadful for the country as a whole. The Minister, National Sports Commission, Hon. Ibrahim Isa Bio, Nigeria’s FIFA Member, Dr. Amos Adamu and NFF Acting President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari played great roles in getting President Goodluck Jonathan to change his mind on the matter, for the sake of millions of Nigerian youth involved in the game and tens of millions of Nigerians who work in football.
The move follows a hectic weekend for the Nigerian authorities after three members of the NFF - FA president Sani Lulu, first vice-president Amanze Uchegbulam and Taiwo Ogunjobi, Technical Committee chairman of the NFF - were impeached after financial improprieties.
Through a statement, FIFA later commented on the news by saying "The Nigerian Government has today confirmed in a letter to FIFA that it revokes its decision to withdraw Nigeria’s participation in all FIFA and CAF organised competitions of the next two years. In addition, the Nigerian Government also recognizes the currently elected executive of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF)," read the official release”.
The letter was received by FIFA before the deadline set last Friday 2 July, and follows mediation talks between FIFA Executive Committee member Dr Amos Adamu and the Nigerian Government. Therefore, the NFF remains vested with all its statutory rights. Nigerian football fans are both pleased and disappointed by the decision, those whose hearts were broken as they saw their team losing have expressed their desire for the team to be removed on the international level but others still have hope. What they don’t realize is that the team reaching the world cup in the first place is a feat to be proud of and making a irrational irreversible decision like the one the Nigerian President was about to would have ended very badly for the country in the long run. The football can be improved, but only if the team is given the change and shown some level of motivation by means of an international tournament.
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