A sports promoter and former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has expressed happiness at the resolution of the crisis facing Nigerian football.
Kalu, in a statement on Monday, signed by Emeka Obasi, said he was happy with the peace deal brokered by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, which he said would to restore sanity to Nigerian football.
He poured encomium on Anyim for taking such a bold step, adding: “Chief Anyim has shown that he understands our country.
“We breath football, eat soccer and dream the round leather game.
“When there is trouble with our football, our unity as a nation is also under threat.”
Kalu went drove down memory lane to validate his point, likening Anyim’s role to what transpired in 1977 when the then Chief-of-Staff, Supreme Headquarters, late Maj. Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, worked out a deal between Enugu Rangers and Shooting Stars of Ibadan.
He said: “It was in the semi-finals of the African Winners Cup between defending champions, Shooting and Rangers.
“The First leg in Lagos had ended goalless.
“Rangers’ teeming supporters saw Lagos as home away from home to the Oluyole Warriors.
“So they did not like the idea of playing two legs there.
“Tension was high. In stepped Gen. Yar’adua who threw up Kaduna as an alternative.
“CAF agreed as the same referee, Ethiopia’s Gebreyesus Tesfaye, handled both matches.
“Ironically, the Ethiopian also ended his career in Nigeria handling the Winners’ Cup grande-finale between Bendel United and El-Merriekh Sudan in 1989.”
The former governor also applauded the Minister of Sports, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, for giving peace a chance in spite of his job as the Minister of Youth.
He said: “The minister has impressed me so far.
“Hon. Abdullahi has shown that age has nothing to do with wisdom.
“I love his can-do spirit.
“At this time, we need to give peace a chance.
“May be, we should call him the Peace Minister and tag Chief Anyim Secretary to the People of the Federation.”