Proposed Supporters Club unification election, matters arising

By Ifeanyi Eduzor

For sometime now, there has been speculations in some quarters that the Nigerian Football Federation ( NFF) is planning to reconcile all the Supporters Club in the country.
The plan according to sources is to bring all the factions together under one umbrella as was obtainable in the past and organise election for them which will lead to having one nationally recognized Chairman.
As the news filtered in, it was discovered that some individuals interested in becoming the helmsman of the new united Supporters Club immediately began nocturnal campaigns to woo voters even when the NFF which is supposed to be the final arbiter has not officially made the plans open to the public.

It was also reported though unofficially that a particular factional chairman has taken his campaign train to a different level by visiting almost all the state chapters; both the ones afflicted to his group and that of other groups seeking their vote incase such election sees the light of the day.

Apart from visiting all the chapters, he has also gone ahead to make overtures to his supposedly main challenger offering juicy packages to him in order to convince the later to step down for him.

While some Nigerians described the move as a necessary initiative that will bring sanity to the club as well as avoid a situation where three or more clubs with different attires, songs and music will be playing simultaneously at the stadium all in the name of cheering the various national teams to victory but which when critically analysed causes distraction to the teams; others believe that trying to cure a sickness without proper diagnosis of the symptom will be a fruitless exercise.

This school of thought, explained that for the NFF to organise a true reconciliation of the factions, they must first of all accept full responsibility for factionalising the once united and indivisible unseen twelve man on the field of play that has won several FIFA and CAF awards.

Taking a critical look at the division that engulfed the club, one will agree with this school of thought because when the problem initially began after the erstwhile acting National Chairman, Prince Vincent Okumagba lost the national chairmanship election to Rev. Samuel Ikpea. Instead of him to accept defeat in good faith, he broke away with his supporters to form the Super Eagles Supporters Club.
The body language of then NFF President, Amaju Pinnick indicates that he gave the group tactical support and even encouraged them to seek registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission as a legal entity that can sue and be sued.

Pinnick in his capacity then as NFF President went further to approve the allocation of match tickets to the splinter group whenever there is any international match involving any of the national teams both at home and outside the country which made them shun all reconciliation moves made by patrons and elders of the mainstream club.

While this was playing out, leadership of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club raised an alarm, insisting that members of the splinter group were expelled/ suspended members who were sanctioned for anti- club activities and should not be accorded such recognition but the then NFF looked the other way.

It was this tactical approval from the football house that encouraged further fractionalization of the club with Kemi Popoola later pulling out from the Okumagba group because of some irreconcilable differences to set up her own club, as if this was not enough another splinter group known as Authentic Football And Allied Sports Supporters Club broke away and on the day of the launch of this particular club, the former 1st Vice President of NFF, Seyi Akinmunmi attended the event as Special Guest of Honour giving credence to the fact that they have approval of the football house.

Although, it will be a welcome development if the same NFF that supported and gave tactical approval to these splinter groups to break away from the mother body are now the same people trying to initiate reconciliation amongst them but the question begging for answer is how sincere is the football house in their reconciliation moves if actually it’s true.

Many football stakeholders have argued that the NFF is initiating the moves because of the distractions and embarrassment some of these clubs are causing the country which at one time made the Super Eagles Captain, Ahmed Musa to complain bitterly that rather than being a motivator for the team, the players are being distracted with the different songs and music been rendered by these clubs at the same time.
He even suggested that all the clubs should bury their differences and operate as one indivisible body as is done in other climes.

The stakeholders also drew attention to what happened at the last Nations Cup in Cote d’Ivoire when a particular Supporters Club went to the Nigerian Embassy in Abidjan to complain that they were stranded in the West African country only for another group to organise a press conference the following day to announce to the whole world that their own faction does not have any financial issues in the country which was an embarrassment to Nigeria.

They also argued that it’s disheartening that the NFF will be talking about reconciliation without first of all getting to the root cause of the crisis and that what is expected of the football house is to tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians and the mainstream Supporters Club for the damage done to it and then make those splinter groups to equally apologize to the mother club for their anti-club activities which led to their suspension in the first place before true reconciliation could be achieved.

However, while it’s true that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria allows freedom of speech and association, but it’s equally expected that anybody belonging to a group must be ready to abide by the constitution, rules and regulations of that group as well as be ready to face sanctions when he/ she goes contrary to the rules and not to fractionalize the group as happened to the Supporters Club.

Nevertheless, taking a critical view of what made the Okumagba group to leave in the first place which amongst others was the allegation that the President General of the club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo has overstayed in the position and was becoming too overbearing, but the truth must be told that Ladipo as the President General does not involve himself in the day- to- day running of the club which presently is done by the National Chairman, Rev. Samuel Ikpea; a fine gentleman and astute administrator whose ingenuity has truly brought new innovations and transformations to the club.

But assuming that the NFF does not want Ladipo to be in the forefront of the reconciliation as a way of satisfying the Okumagba group, one wonders why the football house should not saddle an independent and unbiased Committee with the responsibility of reconciling the various factions and any group that fails to abide by the conditions rolled out at the end of the day will be blacklisted by the football house.

Such committee when set up should include representatives of the various factions, which must be those who understands the politics of the club and not those with the mindset of doing their masters bidding as this will lead to genuine reconciliation and one united Supporters Club which Nigerians have been yearning for.