Chairman of the Interim Committee of the Nigeria Football Association, Jarret Tenebe, told Olajide Fashikun in this interview that the peace deal brokered for the football family by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of Sports, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullai, was only an invitation to war. Excerpts:
Congratulations on the new peace in Nigerian football. Can the nation start planning for the future from now?
I sincerely don’t seem to know how to address your first question. You are calling me for a straight fight. No. I will take my time. Let me start this way. When Mr. Yusuf Suleiman, the immediate past minister of sports called I and members of the Interim Committee of the NFA to his office and pleaded with us to find a mediatory role, we believed in him. He spoke to the NFF. Then, we had a joint NFA and NFF meeting where he appealed to us all to work for the sake of the game. We all agreed to his formular. We had a memorandum, which I read out to the nation on behalf of the entire feuding parties. If you recall, both the NFF and the Interim Committee agreed to abide wholly by the decisions of the penal to be set up. That was what led to the setting up of the General Dominic Oneya committee. We were represented by Harrison Jalla and the NFF was represented by Christopher Green. The committee worked for four months and submitted its report to the minister who promised that government will implement the report to the last letter by its promise. As soon as Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi came in and called his town hall meeting in Lagos, I started, personally, to suspect him. I never seem to have confidence in him. Eventually, he did not disappoint me. He has shown that government is not a continuum. He found an abridged peace for the NFF. To us, that is their peace. To us, if the Dominic Oneya report is not going to be implemented, then, we are not set for peace. Very soon, the way things are going, government have to do the unusual to safeguard the Aminu Maigari board.
In other words, there is no peace yet for Nigerian football or what are you saying?
The minister, I believe, railroaded the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, wrongly and without being fully briefed as to the purport of his action into a cul-de-sac. That done, the implications include that the executive arm of government does not have a dime of respect for the judiciary. They violated the judiciary by their actions. That so-called peace is a comedy of errors. The minister has challenged our wits and called us for war. We shall war. Nigerians should wait for our meeting in Abuja in the first week of April. They should gear up for real battle. This time around we shall employ all that is fair to win a war to prosecute this round of the game.
Would you wish to destroy Nigerian football for personal interest of your group?
You journalists will never stop to trip me. I love journalists and the quality of the high level of intellectitude with you people operate your job. Your courage is exemplary. I appreciate that question in direction, magnitude and depth. I will answer it with all integrity, sincerity and purpose. What is left of the carcass of Nigerian football now? It is destroyed. Since 1945 Nigeria is absent in the international scene for the first time. What other destruction are you talking about? Everywhere Nigeria plays now, all serious nations complain that we bring what the Igbos call ‘agadi nwanyi’ to play kids. We are cheats. South Africa complained, Kenya, Zambia. Can they all be wrong? This is because we don’t have any plan or nursery. Let me tell you this today: When people fail to plan, they would have succeeded in planning to fail. Our failure is home to roost. God will help us but we must help ourselves for God to help us. That is where we are. We must do the needful. What is right and what is fair. Where there is no justice, injustice will prevail. Some of us have been civil to go to court. Judgments have been gotten. The Goodluck Jonathan administration tell us at every opportunity that the mantra of this government is rule of law. The President gave instructions. The minister over-ruled the President. A court gave a judgment, the minister is rubbishing the court. The Attorney General gave a directive but the minister is saying, we will sideline him. Some persons, because they sit in the House of Representatives, decided to work against the interest of Nigeria, Nigerians and those of who insist the right things must be allowed to be done. We wish them all luck. I predict that the Federal Government must quickly rework its strategies. Football must not be allowed to begin the security breach. The passion here is too high.
What is the way forward?
After our meeting of 3rd April in Abuja we shall tell the nation what is our vision to institute justice, fairplay and brotherliness. For me as a person, the Dominic Oneya committee report remains the hallmark for genuine peace in Nigerian football. That is the true point of progress. Have you read that report? If anyone manufactures a short route, and we all conspire to even keep our hands behind us and watch proceedings, I can guarantee that the cards will soon fall. So long as we all own Nigeria together and we are citizens, we shall remain resolute. For us, those who refuse to allow for genuine and peaceful resolution of Nigerian football should prepare for a violent and inevitable outcome.