I read about it in a daily newspaper before I read 'Chief Justice' Adokie's reaction to the story last Sunday in his Punch column. The story is that Etim Esin was invited by Jay Jay Okocha to his house for a New Year party. During the party Okocha's expensive mobile telephone hand set developed wings. Shockingly, Etim was suspected of being the culprit, was immediately accosted, verbally challenged, and publicly searched. Nothing was found on him. Etim was infuriated with the whole episode and, particularly, Okocha's failure to apologise to him for the humiliating treatment after it was confirmed he had nothing to do with the theft. Etim took his story to the press and reactions have since been pouring in.

I really do not know the truth of the matter. It would be very necessary to get to the root of the matter as quickly as possible and resolve it in the best interest of the two persons concerned. The more I think of it the more worried I am. What could possibly have happened? If a phone set was indeed missing, why would anyone, least of all the chief Host himself, Jay Jay, have suspected and accused Etim Esin? Is Etim's past, which was about drugs and women, but never anything about theft, being used to judge him even now? Did anyone see him take it the phone? Or was it deliberately done to discredit him and halt the recent debate in some quarters about who's the better player between Etim and Okocha? Or what? Even if Etim was suspected, why would Jay Jay not have taken steps to protect him first rather than openly accuse him even if he was absolutely sure he took it? Considering the caliber of persons that must have been at the party and that witnessed this show of shame why was Okocha not more circumvent about it all? Why did Jay Jay not apologise afterwards? More questions. When Etim was searched and nothing was found on him what then did Okocha do? Why did Okocha invite Etim to his house to start with if he did not think highly enough about his senior colleague to have protected him even if he did what he was accused of doing? What is an expensive hand set to a Jay Jay Okocha compared to the potential damage that could be done to the image of one of his own whether he took the phone set or not? Jay Jay has not responded to Etim's angry accusation that Jay Jay deliberately framed him for humiliation out of jealousy that some people think he was a better player. Jay Jay who has not said anything to clear the air about the incident since it went public. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Since no one seems to know exactly what happened it would be wrong to draw conclusions from Etim's story alone. This silly incident should not be allowed to taint the joy and nostalgia of the great performances by these two artists who lit up the football scene of Nigeria everywhere he played. This surely is an unwanted distraction from more important things. I appeal to Jay Jay to speak up!

The Flying Eagles of Bosso!

Ladan Bosso, chief coach of Nigeria's Flying Eagles, has been sounding upbeat and loud since the victory his team achieved beating Egypt in the first match of the African Youth Championship in Rwanda . I need not warn him to keep quiet and let the rest of the matches speak for him.

By the time you are reading this the Flying Eagles would have played their second match. It would not really matter what the result of the match against South Africa is. After the first match which I followed only through reports in the newspapers, my immediate observation is that the team is made up predominantly of the players from late Yemi Tella's team of 2007! That's how it should be. That Korea-winning team has a big psychological advantage over every other team in the ongoing championship. They have confidence and self-belief, the impact of which cannot be underestimated at this level of competition. Having played at under-17 level and won the World Championship provides the members of that team an incentive for life - an anchor to which all their future challenges would be tied. It provides the 'extra-mile' that separates winners from the rest! By selecting most of the players from that team Ladan Bosso has provided himself with a solid foundation upon which to build a winning team.

That principle must sustain in Nigeria 's quest for greatness. The core of teams must be maintained as they rise through the group stages particularly when they win. It happened with the team led by Kanu in 1993 in Japan . The core of that team went on to win the Olympic Gold three years later. The core of Samson Siasia's successful under-20 team of 2005 moved up to the under-23 level and got to the finals of the Olympics three years later. Those are only two examples that illuminate the path Nigeria has to walk in going for the World Cup in 2010 and tell the same story. The essential ingredient required to succeed in group sport derives from comfortability, confidence and self-belief by the athletes. And those come in large doses when a team has done it before (or has come close). That's why no matter what the situation of the Super Eagles may be going into the season of World Cup African qualifiers, for as long as the core of the team is drawn from Samson Siasia's teams of 2005 and 2008, I have little doubt that Nigeria will do very well along the way and even in the finals of South Africa 2010.

But for now, I say well done to Bosso!

NNPC/Shell Cup and Henry Nwosu again!

The All-Nigeria secondary schools football championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup resumes in the new week. I use this opportunity to invite Henry Nwosu to the matches involving hundreds of secondary school students all over the country. For the three weeks period between now and February 15, 2009, when the finals of the championship will be played at the main bowl of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, I urge Henry, head of the coaching crew of Nigeria's under-17 national team, and his technical crew members to take a look at the student players that would be on parade. Although the NNPC/Shell Cup is not an age-group competition (any bona fide student is qualified to play) I believe that it provides a great opportunity to put hundreds of gifted players that are not in league clubs, and may be closer to under-17 than league players, through his screening net. Not doing so will be a great dis-service to the constituency from which Henry himself rose many decades ago, that of student-players that should rightly constitute the core of the national team at under-17 level.