Segun Odegbami: Demystifying and humanising FIFA!

On behalf of all Nigerians I welcome the delegation from FIFA to Nigeria. I wish them an enjoyable and fruitful stay. I pray that this will be the last time Nigerian football officials shall invite FIFA to the country for the purpose of resolving our self-inflicted domestic problems. Each time we did so (invite them) we put the organisation in a tight corner, making them to walk the thin line between Intervention and interference. According to FIFA’s fundamental principle, each of its members must be an independent private organisation. Secondly, the member’s internal affairs must not be interfered with by any Third Party, including government and FIFA itself. It is simple and straightforward. We conformed to it for decades. Suddenly, in 2004, the situation changed. Since then, Nigeria must now hold the world record for inviting FIFA to come and meddle in its domestic affairs.

Nigeria has been doing so since it discovered that ‘inviting FIFA’ is a formula that allows any form of ‘manipulation’ to be carried out without consequence. The mere presence of FIFA officials around sends Nigerians scurrying for cover, proper electoral process abandoned, inadvertently creating what has now become catalyst for the ‘worst’ football governance structure in Nigeria’s history. Successive Executive Boards deployed the same FIFA formula, the presence of an ordinary official used to achieve any narrow agenda. It was so simple. Every 4 years since 2004, FIFA became a witness to the perpetuation of a faulty system of electing the leadership of Nigerian football. Nigeria is paying the price now! The consequence for FIFA is that in the eyes of Nigerians, the organisation is a monster, an Albatross around the neck of the country. Many aggrieved persons resorted to the civil courts…