NFF, OLISEH AND OUR FOOTBALL DEMONS

Oliseh had a bumpy ride as Eagles' boss

I see Oliseh is getting serious bashing for quitting. I wasn't exactly enamoured of his style. He had the

tendency to talk more than he should but hey, that's why he is who he is. It's what defines him.

He even had the good sense to leave at the right time unlike the Big Boss who allowed the 

(mis)administrators of Nigerian football to mess him up.

That said, I think much of the criticism of Oliseh is misdirected. Let us direct the blame to those who

are truly deserving of it. The story of our football in the last two years has been one of grandstanding, 

of motion without movement , crass propaganda and misplaced priorities.

Who will swear that in the last six years we have not been witnessing the game of musical chairs at our

football federation? It has been a classic case of Soja come, Soja go. We have done exactly the same

things and foolishly expected different outcomes. It would have been comic were it not so tragic,

events that have unfolded in Nigerian football in the last six years.

Both men have fallen out

For those making Oliseh the fall guy, let them remember what went down with Siasia and Keshi before

him. It seems to me that our football administrators are hopelessly inured to folly. They have

manifested without let, the strains of folly identified by the late American philosopher/Historian, Barbara

W. Tuchman in her timeless classic, " An inquiry into the persistence of unwisdom in government".

Yes, Oliseh will be mercilessly flagellated in the coming days or weeks; he will become the


embodiment of everything wrong with coaching but after we have exhausted ourselves in our 

misplaced adventure, the truth will stare us starkly in the face with an intensity that will call us back to 

our senses. And that truth is simply that the demons throttling Nigerian football are nestling 

dangerously in our football house!