Don’t kill football with court cases – Ladipo

Posted by admin Soccer, Sports Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

The recent Justice Donatus Okorowo’s verdict, declaring the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) boards illegal has been described as another clog in the Nigerian football’s wheel of progress.

The President of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, while reacting to the Abuja High Court judgement, said that it was out of place for anyone who had the interest of football at heart to take its issues to a judicial court.

“My take on this is that the judge who handled the case has a good reason for the judgement he delivered but the truth is that those who drag our football to court of law all the time don’t have the interest of the country at heart. Football matters should be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS, where it would be properly treated.”

He noted that the continued presence of Nigerian football issues in the court of law is responsible for the present state of football in the country. “We can’t allow our football to be dragged backwards with cases in court. All we achieve right now is that the future of our youths are being mortgaged for the personal interests of some people.”
He stressed that the distraction of the several court cases last year contributed immensely to Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2012 Africa Nations Cup currently holding in Equiatorial Guinea/ Gabon.

“Take a look at the on-going Africa Nations Cup and you’ll notice that Nigeria’s absence has taken away the charisma. As I speak with you, there are some Nigerians who are happy we’re not at the Nations Cup, all because they feel aggrieved that they are not on the board of the NFF. The board is only made of 15-seats and there’s no way 160 million Nigerian can be there at the same time. We should look at the future of our football, youth unemployment and most importantly the security of the nation called Nigeria. If the youths are occupied with playing football, we would have taken them off the streets and vices that come with being on the streets. It’s a big shame on us that countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso and Botswana are in the Nations Cup and we’re not there.

It’s time we give a thought to the future of Nigerian football.

-Sunwp_posts