Sports
Falana Storms NFF Over Mba’s Ownership
A lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, has accompanied the management of Rangers International Football Club of Enugu to the secretariat of Nigeria Football Association (NFA) over the ownership of Super Eagles player Sunday Mba.
Warri Wolves FC and Rangers are claiming ownership of Mba, who displayed an outstanding performance in the 29th Africa Cup of Nations competition in South Africa from January to February.
Both clubs and Mba appeared before a-four-man NFA Judicial Panel of inquiry to state their cases.
The sitting was, however, adjourned to Thursday, March 7, for the committee’s final verdict.
Falana told newsmen after the sitting that he was at the Glasshouse to contribute his quota to the development of football in the country.
“I have come here to do my duty, not just as a lawyer, but as someone who is interested in the development of football in this country.
“If there is any inhibition, we have a duty to remove it and allow this player, who is a rising star to achieve and exploit his maximum talent and capability.
“That is why we need to speed up with this matter.
|I don’t go to court if am not sure of my case. It is not about money but as I did make clear to all the parties, we need to determine the fate of this player; we should not allow this case to hang on his head like a sword of Damocles.
“He should be able to move on and exploit his talent maximally in his own interest and in the interest of the country,” Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said.
He said he might seek legal action if it was the wish of his client, if the matter did not go in their favour.
The Chairman of Delta State Sports Commission, Amaju Pinnick, said that the commission was waiting for the committee’s verdict before taking the next step.
“The truth is that they do not know the enormity of damage they are doing to the player’s career because we have written that the full weight of the law should be applied here.
“Player, team and everybody that is culpable must be sanctioned and that is the truth.
“To me, there are no issues, we have submitted all the relevant letters to the panel.
“We tendered the letter Rangers wrote requesting for Mba. We also submitted Mba’s contract paper with us for two years; everything the committee requested from us was tendered.
“I believe the only document Rangers tendered was a document showing that Mba signed a six-year contract with them that ended in 2012.
“The issue is not about Sunday Mba, Rangers or Warri Wolves. It is all about redefining a focus for Nigerian football. It is about giving us a tomorrow.
“A situation where you see Rangers bringing a Senior Advocate of Nigeria leading four other lawyers does not speak well for football,” Pinnick said.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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