Lagos — At present, two things stand out, like sore thumbs since December 29, 2005 when the crisis in Nigerian Football began: there is a clear leadership vacuum and the game has, sadly, taken a nose-dive both in administration and playing quality.

Recalling here all the oddities that have happened to football administration in the country amount to sounding like a broken chord.

Some are so bizarre that anyone familiar with the heights Nigeria has attained in global soccer will begin to wonder if this road to self-destruct is not causing headaches to occupants of the Aso Rock Villa. But this is Nigeria, where anything can happen and heavens will not fall.

We have witnessed muscle flexing between Sports Ministers and NFA Chairmen in the past but nothing compares to this impasse that is threatening our participation in both the 2008 Nations Cup and the 2010 World Cup. And there appears to be no solution in sight. Not even the appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) can put an end to the logjam that is threatening the only unifying factor in the country today.

I share the opinions of top sports personalities like Paul Bassey, Larry Izamoje, Taye Ige, Mumini Alao and Rotimi Pedro, who under the aegis of "Friends of Football" a fortnight ago called for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

What these eminent sportswriters are calling for is a situation where no one will loose face in resolving the matter. I beg to defer here.

Without doubt Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima contested a free and fair election and won. Those who attended the December 29, 2005 Congress in Kano insist that no election into any of our sporting bodies has had such transparency in the past. I have said it severally that contesting the conduct of the Kano elections was a bad case for the "Stakeholders" who are opposed to the re-election of the former Nigeria Olympic Committee Vice-President to the Glass House in Abuja.

I had argued that the Sports Minister, Dr. Saidu Sambawa should blame his then Director of Sports, Umar Bindir under whose control the NFA falls, for allowing Galadima to contest that election after he failed to quality Eagles for the World Cup.

It may not be out of place to compare what is happening at present in Nigerian Football to the June 12, 1993 elections, late MKO Abiola won but was annulled.

Galadima is even lucky this time around that he has a body like FIFA, the world soccer ruling body backing him in the battle to validate his mandate.

Unlike the June 12 election where a sovereign Nigeria could not be compelled to recognise MKO Abiola, FIFA holds the key to Nigeria's future in the 'beautiful game'.

Insistence on not recognising Galadima even if CAS rules in favour of the Kano man could earn us a ban, during which preliminaries for the 2008 Nations Cup in Ghana and may be the 2010 World Cup in South Africa would have been over.

The above scenario is the real fear of ball fans, majority of whom are yet to get over inability of the Super Eagles to qualify for next month's Mundial in Germany.

The question then is: whose interest is Galadima fighting? It is true he wants to exercise the mandate handed to him for a second term after a disastrous tenure, will he be happy if the crisis degenerates into a ban and inactivity for Nigerian football?

This is where reason should prevail over sentiment for the NFA boss to have a rethink. In the Third World of which Nigeria is a part, government cannot be divorced from football sponsorship for now. "Friends of Football" were right in their thesis that football cannot be executed without the financial support and diplomatic backing of government.

"With due respect to the private individuals and corporate organisations who have attempted to sponsor football here, their contributions, based on systemic economic fluctuations have been considerably limited, making government the primary sponsor and financier of our football, especially the National team."

The autonomy FIFA craves for national associations only works in ideal settings. Apart from South Africa there is hardly any other federation amongst the 53 in the African continent that can survive independent of government financial backing.

Galadima should stop listening to those festering this crisis that NFA can survive outside government. Virtually every blue chip company here do business with government and would be the least to want to associate with an organ classified "ENEMY" by those in Aso Rock.

Those familiar with workings of government will tell you that if the Dr. Saidu Samaila Sambawa-led Sports Ministry had no backing of the Villa, all the negative reports in the media about the handling of the issue would have long cost the minister his job.

Remember Jim Nwobodo and the National Stadium, Lagos "generator scandal" and Alex Akinyele over the sacking of the Yusuf Alli-led board and the subsequent ban?

In the six months the crisis has lasted, nothing appears to be working. Virtually all aspects of footballing here have fallen into comatose.

Just last week, the nation's Under-19 female team were held one-all draw by Liberia, a thing unimaginable in the past. The Falconets game with Kenya early last month was enmeshed in controversy over who was in charge.

While former NFA board member Alhaja Ayo Omidiran had the mandate of the Minister to camp in Ijebu-Ode, Fanny Amun, the acting scribe of the NFA set up a parallel camp in Abuja.

Right now, communication with the NFA is almost none existent. While Amun is flexing his muscles in Abuja, Galadima runs his own affairs from his briefcase in Kano. Appointment of coaches for the national teams and the payment of their salaries and allowances remain major topics on the pages of newspapers and on the airwaves.

Yet, nothing seems to be moving forward for Nigeria football. Hundred of Nigerian players are leaving the country in search of greener pastures in funny places like Iran, Sudan, Malta and other backwaters of Europe.

Many of these players represent some of the best legs to come out our local league, yet, nobody is making any policy statement to stop this drift into slavery.

It is against this backdrop that one finds it logical to ask Galadima to throw in the towel and move to over aspects of life. He has fought a good battle but the overall interest of Nigeria supersedes his selfish interest of forcing himself on the country even as his first coming was a monumental disaster for our football.

I strongly believe that the road map to peace in Nigerian Football is the resignation of Galadima. Nothing can be more honourable than bowing out now that there is still something to salvage from the ruin.

The NFA job is also not Galadima's birthright. His departure would definitely usher in a new era of peace at the Glass House in Abuja. Enough is enough!