NFF poll: The tides for and against Gusau

As things stand today, the image of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has plummeted in unprecedented terms. Its President, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, is also one whom many football-loving Nigerians would not wish to encounter any time soon.

The reason for this is obvious: the Super Eagles have sunk of late, no thanks to Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the FIFA 2026 World Cup, despite being granted an African playoff window. The national male U-17 and U-20 teams have also fared dreadfully, failing to give any hope of resurgence in the age cadres. As if that is not enough, the Super Falcons, defending champions of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, also fell abysmally at the latest tournament in Morocco. The team not only played for the most part without focus or purpose, but it also showed tactical deficiency in an embarrassing manner.

Gusau must be made of steel, considering how he seemed to weather the torrents of criticism from disappointed Nigerians at home and abroad, a good number of whom have called for his ouster from the Football House. The fact that he recently launched a bid for a second term as president in an election scheduled for September has appeared to anger many Nigerians who aver that he has offered no progressive leadership for the country’s football and as such deserves no second chance.

Either Gusau is undeterred by the “go now” crowd, or he is leaning on what he believes would bode him well at the September poll. But he is showing determination to convince the world that he is still equal to the task, even as there are still a few who argue that only the continuity of Gusau in office can help to salvage the steadily sliding fortune of Nigeria football. According to them, it is wrong for the success of Nigeria football to be measured only by results on the playing field. They further posit that true football development has everything to do with proper structures and facilities, capacity building, concrete reforms and off-the-field opportunities.

The pro-Gusau elements also argue that his era has given priority to coaching development, which enabled the local coaches to participate in all the categories of CAF coaching courses; refereeing development; women football development which is supported by FIFA to strengthen the women football structure in Nigeria; accommodation facilities for players and officials towards improved welfare; FIFA-standard Goal Project pitches to accommodate grassroots and elite football development; hosting of important regional and international football, including WAFU B competitions and women’s football management programmes; hosting of CAF Congress and awards; overseeing the success of the women’s U-17, U-20 and the senior team, Falcons; improvement of domestic football; and, above all, stability within the football family, especially in promoting dialogue among stakeholders in the sector.

The foregoing represents what the pro-Gusau elements hold dear and on which they hinge their efforts at getting him to contest for re-election. Based on the NFF Congress’ structure, however, Gusau is as good as winning again, except for any unusual changes. He can preach “continuity” as he likes or curry favour of those who would vote him in. But he would only be remembered as NFF President based on major competitions attended – with regard to revenue that would automatically accrue to the federation – and the trophies won while his reign lasted. After all, majority of Nigerians who want him out do so because the Eagles failed to win a ticket to the recent FIFA World Cup, the Falcons virtually dissolved at the WAFCON in Morocco and the male U-17 and U-20 teams are now hardly in existence, no thanks to their failure to scale even regional hurdles towards launching themselves on the world stage as they were used to in decades back.

It appears, however, that the heat of the September poll is already telling on the NFF administration under Gusau’s leadership. Only on August 14, the NFF literally unleashed what looked like a populist action on the world, announcing that it was constituting a five-man fact-finding committee to determine why football in Nigeria is dipping seemingly endlessly. With due respect to the committee’s membership that comprises some of the leading lights of Nigerian football, its constitution, especially with the NFF election barely six weeks away, is more than populist. In fact, it is panicky. Perhaps, it would have been a little different if it had been independent rather than the members being handpicked by the very football federation that should be investigated in the course of their “find-finding” mission. This is to say nothing of the fact that whatever the committee would discover in its search for what has plummeted Nigeria’s football fortune in recent years is already public knowledge, and the NFF would be the foremost culprit as the body on which the rise and fall of the country’s football rests. Except, of course, the committee has been constituted to only exonerate the NFF administration, blame all other stakeholders and then see its report tainted by credibility issues.

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