A Nation of Cheats?
Is Nigeria a nation irreemably given to deceit? Former soccer star, Adokiye Amiesimeka, has revealed that the captain of the present crop of the national Under-17 football team is a liar and older than his age. No sooner did Adokiye make the revelation than many Nigerians pounced on hiim for being unpatriotic. Do lying and patriotism go together, or has Nigeria's definition of moral issues become slanted? Look at the picture here and decide if he the subject is not older than 17 years.
Adokiye Amiesimaka claimed that he has documentary evidence to back up his allegation that Nigeria Under-17 captain Fortune Chukwudi is ineligible for the World Under-17 tournament.
"In all humility, as a legal practitioner with over 30 years post-call experience and a man priviledged to have been the Hon Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of a state, I will not speak about such a matter in the public domain without being sure of my facts.
"And there is documentary evidence kept in a secure place attesting what I have said about him."
Adokiye went on to accuse the Nigerian football federation of complicity in the age fraud. The attack waged against Adokiye reveal what Nigeria has become - a nation with very low moral standard.
"If our sports authorities had any sense of responsibility or appreciated the seriousness of the matter and were not party to this fraud, instead of running from one media house to another disrespectfully calling me names, what they should have done was to immediately cause an independent body to investigate it.
"From available evidence, it would not have taken more than a few minutes to determine the truth."
He added that Chukwudi was not the only ineligible player in the team.
"Again, he is not the only ineligible player in the team. And that is why I can boldly say that the MRI scan ... is a scam, at least to the extent of the thorough screening of the host team.
"Of course, other teams should be tested too, but what concerns me is the integrity of our team."
In one of the outbursts against Adokiye (written in poor English) a blogger wrote:"I wonder when evil men like Adokiye Amiesimaka will leave this country alone, this is how the NFF were jubilating when our own under 21 lost their match.Fuck u Adokiye Amiesimaka, fuck all the evil men in that country."
Another wrote: "Adokiye can go to hell and show his evidence and jealousy."
Yet another blogger accused him of being unpatriotic: "I cant understand what is wrong with this adokiye of a man,how can he bring up this topic when the tournament have already started,i think that he is not a patriotic nigerian,he should have kept his dirty mouth shut till after the tournament."
And for those questioning his timing, Amiesimaka had this to say:
"I could not have talked seriously about this player or any of the others earlier because the sports authorities did not give us the opportunity to see them play any major friendly matches before the tournament began.
"And you do not make a serious allegation without seeing the players whose names you have only read in the newspaper. Who does not know that as some of the players falsify their ages, so too do they adopt names other than their own?"
And as if daring the NFF to take him to court, Amiesimaka turned the knife in further by saying age fraud was an officially-sanctioned policy.
"Not that any earlier warning would have would have meant anything to the sports authorities anyway in view of their publicly acknowledged resolve to cheat in order to realise their win at all costs objective.
"Remember the controversial interviews the officials gave earlier this year confirming that it was official policy to use over-aged players?"
Amiesimaka also pointed out that he had previously advised the NFF, both in private and in public, about putting their house in order and chronicled his previous articles on the issue dating back to 2007 after Nigeria won the Under-17 World Cup in Korea, 15 articles after that on age cheating, and one last March detailing how the authorities could "raise and nurture a credible Under-17 team for this tournament."
Additionally, he pointed to a four-part serial he wrote advising the sports minister on "what he could do to ensure that we did not present a team that would embarrass us".
He added that despite the hostile posture of the sports authorities, he has never hesitated to reach out to them, recalling NFF board member Taiwo Ogunjobi's "published reaction surprising reaction to my articles thanking me for the qualifty of my observations and suggestions."
"I have always been motivated by the best interests of my country. And yet they say I want them to fail. How can that be when they have stubbornly strayed into a quagmire and failed already?"
He made it clear that he was not interested in any position, citing instances where he turned down a federal appontment, and when he resigned in 1999 as LOC member and Chairman of the Port Harcourt sub-seat of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup Nigeria 99 based on principle and goes on to take a dig at the NFF:
"I am filled with an overwhelming sense of outrage that those who have never rendered true service to their country, but have only used public office to blindly pursue selfish interests have the effrontery to question my patriotism.
"I was privildeged to attend CMS Grammar School, Bariga, Lagos. I knew the true meaning of selfless service when I became senior prefect in 1974/1975.
"From that time through university and Law School, it was my honour and priviledge to play for my country juggling the rigours of academics and elite sports without complaint, but with pride and equanimity." {mosimage}{mosimage}{mosimage}{mosimage}{mosimage}
