 |
Members
of the Taraba State Football Club yesterday staged a protest in front of the
state government house over their 21 months unpaid salaries and allowances. The
footballers staged the same protest in front of the government house last year
over their unpaid salaries and allowances.
|
Investigations by ’Tana Aiyejina have exposed how corruption has eaten deep into various levels of
Nigerian football, leaving the footballers to suffer.
 |
| Super Falcons, Nigeria's female national team, just got paid match winning bonuses dating back several months after staging a protest in Abuja. |
Sports
minister Solomon Dalung’s first experience of the massive corruption in the
Nigerian sports sector dates back 14 years ago.
Then,
as a member of the country’s government delegation to the 2002 Africa Cup of
Nations in Mali, Dalung, who some also questioned his inclusion on the list,
having virtually nothing to do with sports at the time, was shortchanged by
fraudulent ministry officials, who didn’t give him the complete money he was
entitled to.
“I
was once a victim of corruption in the sports industry. I was one of those on
the Federal Government delegation to the 2002 AFCON and I was entitled to US$7000
but I ended up collecting only US$400,” he stated.
On
assumption of office, Dalung was alarmed at how much money there was in
football. “There’s more money there than in the oil industry,” he said, adding
that it was the cause of the leadership crisis that had bedevilled the Nigeria
Football Federation in the past two years.
“There’s
more cash in football than in the oil sector and there is so much selfish
interests and as a result we have this crisis,” Dalung added.
But
it will shock the Plateau-born sports administrator to know how much more
corruption has eaten deep into the country’s football, not just at the top but
at club level.
In
a letter titled “Looted football funds- over ₦50bn diverted into private
pockets of officials of state government owned football clubs” and dated April
4, 2016, the National Association of Nigerian Footballers invited anti-graft
agencies to “thoroughly” investigate the fraudulent practices of corrupt
football officials.
“There
are strong indications that funds accruing to football at all levels from the
Nigeria Football Federation to the Nigeria Professional Football League and the
clubs are being diverted into private pockets,” the statement signed by acting
NANF president, Larry Kubeinje, stated.
Majority
of clubs in the Nigerian domestic league are owned by state governments, who
often use these clubs more as tools to score cheap political points, rather
than as professional and money-making ventures. Thus fraudulent club officials
have cashed in to rip government off revenue that should have accrued to the
clubs, while the players groan over months and sometimes even years of unpaid
salaries, sign-on fees, allowances and match bonuses.
According
to NANF, funds appropriated to the following government-owned clubs: Lobi
Stars, 3SC, Warri Wolves, Enugu Rangers, Wikki Tourists, Sharks (defunct),
Dolphins (defunct), Bayelsa United, Kano Pillars, Plateau United, Heartland,
Enyimba, Akwa United, Sunshine Stars, El Kanemi Warriors, Taraba United, Jigawa
Stars, Nasarawa United and Kwara United, particularly those in the elite
division of the NPFL, is about N500m annually, but it could be more if the
clubs qualify to play in the CAF club competitions, the players body stated.
The
statement further read, “These clubs are also entitled to title sponsorship and
broadcast rights fees from the League Management Company.
“But
from 2006 till date, none of the above-mentioned clubs spend up to ₦250m from
the state governments appropriated funds to run these clubs. The bulk of these
funds are diverted into private pockets of top officials of these clubs. Since
2006, unpaid contract fees, sign-on fees, salaries and allowances of Nigerian
players dead or alive is over ₦2bn from each of these clubs.
“It
is in the light of the above that NANF invites the EFCC to thoroughly
investigate this matter and recover over ₦25bn looted by these clubs officials
from 2006 till date and prosecute those found culpable.”
Wolves ₦70m crisis
Relegated
Warri Wolves have been in dire financial crisis over the years, despite being
one of the best funded in the country. Two seasons ago, the club received money
from the LMC for their second-place finish, as well as ₦300m from the
government but still couldn’t pay the players. The situation heightened when
the players threatened a strike before they were paid only two months of their
salaries in September, but not without some drama and controversies.
In
August, a former official of Wolves Timi Ebikagboro on his Facebook page
revealed that the club received ₦70m from the state government and the Delta
State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, but was surprised that the
players were still owed.
He
added that the government money (₦50m) was shared by officials, while the ₦20m
from DESOPADEC was paid into a private account, rather than the club’s account.
Oftentimes
in the Nigerian league, officials pay the clubs’ money into private accounts
for it to yield interests, before paying the players, who are left to groan in
poverty over unpaid wages during the period.
Wolves’
chairman, Moses Etu, however denied that the money was paid into a private
account.
“I
will not want to speak of the government publicly; DESOPADEC money was not paid
into a private account. With what we had, we were able to play a two-legged CAF
Champions League match here and in Sudan, pay three months’ salaries, pay last
season’s bonuses to present and players who have left (the club), play 30
matches home and away, pay not less than 12 match bonuses this season and
logistics, then we deserve kudos,” he stated.
But
Super Eagles forward and ex-Wolves player Ikechukwu Ibenegbu refuted Etu’s
claims, saying he and other former players were still owed a sizeable sum of
money by the Warri club.
Ibenegbu
said, “Etu only paid us (ex-Wolves players) six match bonuses of the past
(2014/15) season; we are still waiting for our 100 per cent accumulated wages
to be paid.
“The
players held a meeting with Tony Okowa (Delta State Sports Commission boss).
Tony told the players that he would only pay them 25 per cent out of the 100
per cent of the accumulated wages, that we should forfeit the rest. But up till
now, we have not received a dime out of our accumulated wages.”
In
the midst of the drama, another spectacle played out on September 9, when
Wolves officials GordonsOgbe, AzukaOgosi and Azuka Ralph were allegedly robbed
while on their way from the bank. The trio were said to have withdrawn N6m to
pay the players and officials’ part of the money owed them.
Also,
Wolves got virtually nothing from the sale of their high-profile players
AzubuikeEgwueke, OghenekaroEtebo and others.
“There
are so many shady deals in the club. When I got to Wolves as GM, I was angry
that players’ contracts were not properly certified. In normal climes, you see
clubs renewing contracts of players before a season ends. Etebo and Egwueke’s
contracts ended on January 10, 2016; Wolves tried to contest it but it was
clear and the club got nothing from their transfers,” former Wolves general
manager Edema Fuludu said.
The
1994 AFCON winner added, “This is what you get when dishonest people are given
positions but they don’t care because it’s government funds.”
Fraudulent transfer deals
In
November, Nasir Jubril, Manager, Transfer Matching System of the NFF, said the
country’s football clubs raked in a whopping ₦5bn in the first 10 months of
2016, from the sales of players locally and internationally.
“Between
January and October this year, a cash inflow of about ₦5bn has accrued to the
clubs in Nigeria from the transfer of players. For instance, if a player is
bought for say two or three million pounds, when you multiply that with the
exchange rate you can imagine what we are talking about.”
Jubril
however, didn’t provide details on what each club earned from the players sales
but it raised a pertinent question on what the clubs did with the money, since
they still went cap-in-hand to government for sponsorship.
Secretary
of the Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria, Austin Popo, said
the money realized from these transfers, were mostly diverted for private use
by the officials.
“A
lot of players are transferred abroad but where is their transfer money since
majority of the clubs still rely solely on government funding? We must monitor
these transfers; majority of them enter private pockets. Corruption thrives in
Nigerian football. All the focus is on the NFF but nobody talks about
happenings inside the clubs. This has to stop and we are ready to fight until
they adhere to global standards and protect the players,” Popo said.
Former
Eagles midfielder Garba Lawal was alarmed to discover that Kaduna United
players had no personal bank accounts and were owed salaries for as much as
seven months, when he was appointed chairman of the club in 2014. United also
didn’t have a club house, team office and good buses, according to the 1996
Olympic gold medallist, who said the club received about ₦51m as yearly
subvention from government during this time.
A
major problem that however stared Lawal in the face was the controversial
transfer of the club’s defender Efe Ambrose to Israeli side MS Ashdod in 2010.
Ashdod
had refused to pay United the US$70,000 agreed for the move, which led to
FIFA’s dispute resolution committee imposing a 15,000 Swiss franc fine on the
club, in violation of article 64 of its disciplinary code.
However,
Lawal discovered that United’s erstwhile officials had given the Israelis a
personal account, rather than that of the club, which prompted the Europeans to
renege on paying the amount.
“Ashdod
paid the money when I was chairman of the club but it was when I came in that I
started making the contact. The Israelis wanted a club account, not a private
account, and they didn’t agree to pay because they wanted proof that the
account they were going to pay into belonged to the club.
“So,
I opened an account in Kaduna United’s name and Ashdod paid the money in
batches within a short period of time.
“United
didn’t have an account before I joined them. They did table payment; the sports
ministry gave the club raw cash and they spent days paying players and
officials inside a hotel. I couldn’t waste my time doing that, so I opened
accounts for all the players in Sterling Bank,” Lawal said.
In
an interview with sports website sl10.ng in
2014, ex-Kaduna United chairman Sabo Babayaro admitted that they presented a
private account to the Israeli club.
“We
had an initial agreement for the fee to be paid to our board financial
secretary’s account, Musa Mohammed Maliki, they (Ashdod) refused and insisted
on paying into our club account in care of the agent who brokered the deal,”
Babayaro was quoted by sl10.ng as
saying.
But
the Kaduna United issue doesn’t come as a surprise to Kubeinje. “It is the same
situation in all the clubs year-in-year-out in areas of internally-generated
revenue through the sales of players to foreign clubs. The clubs’ domiciliary
accounts in this respect have become personal property of the club chairmen and
top officials, where huge foreign exchange is diverted into private pockets,”
he stated.
But
that was not the only fraud Lawal discovered. One season, Kaduna United had no
player, after they sold all their players and then loaned them back from the
clubs they were sold to. Yet, these players were allegedly paid despite not
being on the club’s rooster any longer, Lawal said.
“I
came in to discover that players were sold to other clubs but these same
players were loaned back to United. I played at two World Cups, two Olympics,
four AFCONs and in Europe, I never saw a thing like that,” he said.
Sports
commissioners/agents/academies
Another
major problem plaguing Nigerian football is the involvement of people in the
hierarchy of the game in the sales of footballers. Also, academy owners are
very influential in player sales. These academies usually serve as laundry
channels for government funds, and only exist in names with no offices or
grounds.
Popo
said the state sports commissioners play a major role in defrauding the clubs.
“Two
years ago, there was a transfer of a player to Europe for €100,000 and the
money was paid into the personal account of the club’s general manager. Funny
enough, these club officials don’t do it alone; they connive with the sports
commissioners,” Popo stated.
A
former Super Eagles star, who was once General Manager of 3SC, told our
correspondent how the Oyo State Sports Commissioner during his time at the
club, virtually forced him to pay him ₦500,000 monthly from the club’s
allocation from government.
The
ex-3SC boss, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The man insisted that I must pay him
₦1m monthly but I refused. The money was barely enough to take care of the
team. But some top people intervened and there was nothing I could do, so we
arrived at him collecting ₦500,000 monthly.”
An
academy official, who also pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent how the
sports commissioners and top clubs officials defraud government owned clubs
through their academies.
“These
people use club funds from government to buy players for their private
academies and make the world believe that the players are owned by the clubs.
But in the players’ contracts, they belong to their academies. They then loan
these players back to the clubs. When such a player seals a move abroad, the
money from his transfer goes to the academy and nothing is remitted to the club
account and government loses,” our source said.
Last
year, former Dolphins striker Emem Eduok was engulfed in a transfer imbroglio
after Norwegian side Sarpsborg insisted that they had acquired the Nigerian
international from A & B Academy on a four-year deal reportedly worth US$150,000.
Former
league top scorer Eduok joined Dolphins, now defunct, on loan from Akwa United
in the 2010/11 season before the club acquired him on a permanent basis.
But
Dolphins ignored Sarpsborg and instead sold Eduok to Tunisia’s Esperance.
However, Sarpsborg Sporting Director, Thomas Bernstein, insisted that the
player was presented as an A & B player by Bright Ogude, CEO A & B
Academy.
“Eduok
confirmed to us in oral and wrote to us that he belongs to A & B Academy,
we did our investigations and we found out it’s true,” Bern stein said.
Sarpsborg’s
loss was Dolphins and Esperance gain, as the forward was eventually sold to the
North African club.
Dolphins
had an option to take legal action against Ogude and A & B Academy but our
findings showed that A & B Academy and Sports Club is a part of A & B
Group of Companies, named after two influential former sports commissioners in
Rivers State.
“On
Eduok, the agent, Bright, wanted to play a fast one on Dolphins but the striker
reported the issue to the club. But A & B Academy doesn’t belong to
the commissioners. To show his loyalty to both men, Bright used the first
letters of their first names as appellation of the academy. He even named his
first son after one of them,” a former Dolphins official said.
Rangers
For
Enugu Rangers fans, the euphoria of winning the league after 32 years in the
doldrums is still in the air. But there seems to be a time bomb waiting to
explode when the celebration drums cease to beat.
In
April, our correspondent came across a petition written by the supporters club
of the Flying Antelopes to the EFCC calling on the anti-graft agency to
investigate the fraudulent activities of the club management in the sale of
their players to clubs abroad.
Chairman
of the supporters club Ibuchukwu Nwodo, who is among those that signed the
petition, said one of such transfers involved winger Ejike Uzoenyi, who joined
South African side Mamelodi Sundowns on a four-year deal in 2014.
Uzoenyi
joined Rangers from Enyimba in the 2009/10 season in an exchange deal that had
Bishop Onyeudo joining the People’s Elephants.
Nwodo
stated, “Our biggest star Uzoenyi was sold but Rangers didn’t receive even five
per cent of the transfer money. They said the player was on loan (from
Enyimba). It’s a lie. We had an exchange deal with Enyimba; they were given
Onyeudo.
“Nobody
can tell us Uzoenyi wasn’t a Rangers player but his transfer to Sundowns became
a different ball game entirely. They shared the money amongst themselves,
including Uzoenyi. It was a terrible thing.”
Players suffer
The
case of Taraba United was widely celebrated in December last year, after the
players staged a protest in front of Taraba Government House, Jalingo, over 11
months unpaid salaries. The melee that ensued saw the players beaten up by
soldiers and teargassed by policemen but they were undeterred as they camped in
front of the government house for nine days.
Defender
Linus Adams lost his new-born daughter during the commotion that ensued but
couldn’t raise funds to travel from Jalingo to Kaduna to see the body of his
dead child and comfort his wife.
A
year later, things have gone from bad to worse, with the players now owed 21
months salaries alongside sister club Taraba Queens.
On
Monday, players of both clubs blocked the main entrance into the Taraba
Government House in protest over the non-payment of their salaries.
“We
are sad over what the Taraba government is doing to us. We have not been paid
for 21 months now, they owed us 10 months in 2015 and in 2016, 11 months have
gone without any payment,” Michael Uzih, Taraba United captain, said.
Most
clubs in Nigeria travel to match venues by road in order to save costs, leaving
the players at the mercy of the country’s bad roads and dare-devil men of the
underworld, while the top officials travel by air for the same games.
Sometimes,
some of the players are killed or left with career-ending injuries either from
auto crashes or from gunshots.
On
January 18, two-time African champions Enyimba had one of their buses ambushed
by heavily armed men in Okene, Kogi State, on their way to Kaduna to
participate in the Super-4 tournament. The players were made to pass through
harrowing experiences.
“Honestly,
we thought we were going to be shot because they were shooting in the air. They
hit our heads with guns. We thought they were going to kill us. But they only
collected our money, phones, iPads and other valuables,” Daniel Etor, Enyimba’s
22-year-old midfielder, said.
In
March last year, the bus carrying an 18-man squad of Kano Pillars to their
opening fixture of the 2014/15 NPFL against Heartland in Owerri was attacked by
armed men in Kogi, shooting five players — Gambo Muhammed, Eneji Otekpa, Reuben
Ogbonnaya, Ubong Ekpai and Adamu Murtala.
Gambo
returned to football two months later after a successful surgery while a bullet
was removed from the head of Ogbonnaya a month after the attack. The defender
had left the bullet in his head for that period in order to assist Pillars in
their quest to qualify for the second round of the 2015 CAF Champions League.
Referees indicted
In
2010 veteran league reporter Emma Jemegha reported how board members of a South
West club allocated loans to themselves from the club’s money and also inflated
the money for the maintenance of their pitch.
Jemegha
says club officials would prefer to “settle” referees, rather than taking care
of the welfare of players and coaches.
He
stated, “No club in the NPFL gets less than ₦300m annually but most of the top
officials prefer to take care of frivolities and settling referees, instead of paying
the players.
“Between
2003 and 2004, a prominent team in the South East won the league but their
coach got sacked. When people raised eyebrows, some board members of the club
said, ‘we knew how we won the league.”
Former
Secretary-General of the NFF, Bolaji Ojo-Oba, corroborated Jemegha’s claims,
describing Nigerian football as “cash and carry.”
Ojo-Oba
said in Lagos at a seminar on December 6, “Teams want to win, the managers know
that if they don’t win, they are gone; the coach knows that if he doesn’t do
well he is gone too.
“That
is why most clubs can’t pay the wages of their players but they have money to
service the referees. It’s happening in all the clubs. I’m from Ibadan but I
don’t watch games there because they say I don’t allow them carry out their
plans.
“So,
what is happening now (in Nigerian football) is cash and carry. And it is due
to the level of poverty among referees, because most of them don’t have any
other means of livelihood.”
NFF also involved
Incidentally,
Ojo-Oba alongside former NFF president Sani Lulu, Amanze Uchegbulam, a former
NFF first vice president; Taiwo Ogunjobi, ex-NFF secretary-general; is
being prosecuted by the EFCC for offences bordering on conspiracy and breach of
due process.
The
four accused persons are alleged to have misappropriated over ₦1.5bn released
by the FG to the NFF during the South Africa 2010 World Cup. They are accused
of siphoning about US$125,000 through shoddy hotel bookings in South Africa
during the World Cup, US$250,000 lost as a result of booking the wrong airline
for the trip, $400,000 allegedly expended on the Nigeria/Colombia friendly
match and US$236,000, which vanished from the coffers of the Glass House
(office of the NFF) in 2009.
They
are also accused of flouting due process in the purchase of two Marcopolo buses
for the national team, and sharing ₦185m amongst state FA chairmen in their bid
to frustrate their ouster from the federation.
The
EFCC, in a statement signed by its Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren
said, “Since their trial began in September 2010, they have deployed various
legal tactics to frustrate their trial.”
In
October, former NFF marketing director, Idris Adama, said claims by Pinnick
Amaju, NFF boss, that the football body didn’t have funds to prosecute the 2018
World Cup qualifier against Zambia in Ndola, were untrue.
Amaju
had told the Senate that the national team might miss the game if the FG didn’t
assist the team with finance, but Adama raised questions over the whereabouts
of the federation’s funds.
“I
generated for them (NFF) ₦1.4bn, in addition to €780,000.00 and US$1m annually.
But my reward was to be sent out unceremoniously. But ask them, Enzor
Pharmaceutical has paid ₦35m, Supersport has paid US$1m and Globacom is owing —
which was due on July 7, 2016 — ₦382,500,000.00. Where is the money? They are
just being wicked to the society that engaged them to deliver positive results
to the growth of our football. They will never like me because I am blunt.”
Global image smeared
The
corrupt practices of Nigerian officials have also caught the attention of the
international football community.
On
Sunday, sports minister Dalung disclosed at the 2016 Annual General Assembly of
the NFF in Lagos that world football body FIFA had withdrawn its developmental
funds from the NFF, after its officials failed to properly account for how it
made use of the money.
“I
received a report from the NFF intimating me of FIFA’s Audit Report, which
raised questions on the management of FIFA’s US$1.1m developmental grant to the
NFF. According to the report, FIFA has withheld all developmental funds to
the NFF for lack of proper documentation of US$802,000 out of the funds
released to NFF,” Dalung stated.
In
2010, a video on the Sunday Times website showed Nigeria’s Amos
Adamu, then a FIFA executive committee member, allegedly telling an undercover
reporter posing as a lobbyist working on behalf of the US World Cup bid that he
wanted to build four football fields for US$200,000 each (in Nigeria) and that
the money could be paid to him “directly.”
When
the reporter asked whether the payment would help Adamu make his decision in
favour of the US, he responded, “Obviously it will have an effect. Of course it
will have an effect because certainly if you are to invest in that, that means
you also want the vote.”
Adamu
denied any wrongdoing but he was banned for three years and fined 10,000 Swiss
franc after an investigation by the FIFA Ethics Committee found him guilty of
breaching bribery rules.
Dalung
lamented the alarming rate of corruption in football, saying it could cause the
nation another international embarrassment. He then ordered officials of the
football body to give proper account of how the FIFA money was spent.
He
stated, “This is a very serious issue that must be given urgent attention to avoid
another international embarrassment, more so that the present administration
under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has zero tolerance for any
act of misappropriation, misapplication, embezzlement or fraud in any guise.
“The NFF is directed to immediately provide my office with detailed information of receipt, disbursement and application of the FIFA developmental grant accordingly. In addition, a reputable audit firm should be appointed urgently to check the account books of the federation to ensure that funds are judiciously expended. The audit report must be made public so as to promote transparency, build credibility and enhance your market value.”
No comments:
Post a Comment