Funke Aboyade
9 November 2009
opinion
Lagos — The ensuing controversy surrounding newspaper columnist and former Green Eagles winger, Adokiye Amiesimaka's revelation about the real age of Golden Eaglets Skipper, Fortune Chukwudi, raises several food for thought issues.
First, the facts. Amiesimaka, in his column in The Punch newspaper, recently accused the Nigerian Football Federation of being irresponsible for fielding Chukwudi whom he alleged was an over-aged player in the Under-17 World cup currently being played and hosted in Nigeria. Chukwudi, he said, was at least 17 years old in the 2002/2003 football season when he played for Sharks FC Port Harcourt where Amiesimaka was then chairman and coach. By his reckoning therefore, Skipper Chukwudi is nothing less than 25 years old presently. NFF's response was mostly to shower vituperations on Amiesimaka, accusing him of making unpatriotic and silly comments and harbouring a personal vendetta and hatred for his country. NFF also accused him of a 'pull them down at all costs' syndrome so that he could take over at NFF. Some commentators have also questioned the timing of the statement.
The background to this, let's not forget, is that Nigeria has been caught pants down several times in the past fielding obviously over-aged players in FIFA-organised tournaments. More, the Golden Eaglets team for this year's tournament was decimated by the MRI tests introduced by FIFA to catch age cheats. It is unclear if all the players were tested but even so Amiesimaka's allegation appears to be factual and has neither been refuted nor superior evidence put forward by NFF or even the boy (or man, as the case may be) in the centre of the controversy.
Now, the issues in no particular order.
How do you justify cheating as a patriotic act? And whistle blowing as an unpatriotic act? Are there circumstances under which wrongdoing should be overlooked or excused? Should citizens who, rightly, feel a sense of outrage and shame that a player representing them in an age group international tournament is light years older than his declared age be put on the defensive? Can any society which wants to progress afford not to denounce wrongdoing and follow up on it? Is collective amnesia the way to go in the name of patriotism and nation building? The press is obligated, by S.22 of the 1999 Constitution, to uphold the responsibility and accountability of Government to the people. Our national ethics, by S.23 of the Constitution, include integrity. And the duty of every citizen, by S.24, is to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals. What message are we sending out when a government agency such as the NFF rides roughshod on the Constitution and derides efforts by the citizenry to uphold the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution? And we, the citizens, are we not guilty of complicity through our silence or acquiescence in the name of a misapplied definition of patriotism?
I may not necessarily answer all those posers but I'm throwing them up all the same.
My views, again in no particular order.
We often glibly bemoan where we are as a nation, wondering how we got to this 'sorry pass'. Well, getting to our 'sorry pass' is not an abstract or theoretical fancy catch phrase which then feeds on being pontificated upon. The road to our 'sorry pass' is strewn with incidents such as what is playing out now in the Nigerian camp of the Under-17 FIFA tourney.
Let me explain. It is by no means an accident or happenstance that societies which have not gone the way of this 'sorry pass' handled developments like this rather differently. A study, even a cursory one, of how those societies evolved will reveal that they were peopled by those who insisted on doing the right thing all the time, making the necessary sacrifice despite short term inconvenience for long term gain or benefits. That attitude which we so often find here of letting things be and not rocking the boat is absent or minimal in those countries.
Amiesimaka for instance, has been denounced as an unpatriotic cad who should have kept quiet, especially given the timing of his allegation. Through this, and remarkably I think, no one as yet has come forward with proof that those allegations are factually untrue. Worse, some have even pointed to other countries (notably, some of the poorer South American countries) as examples of those who field over-aged players. Why, they argue, should Nigeria's case be different? It's perfectly OK, they argue, to have a few over-aged players on the team; what's the big deal, they say. The same logic I guess that underlies excusing a corrupt public official who has after all helped himself to 'only' 5% and not 50% of public funds. As if corruption has now become a matter of degree.
And then, there's the strident campaign by officialdom to cow down people who are genuinely outraged and scandalised by the issue in question. Soon after, this outrage is drowned by the noise of the offenders. Their weapon of choice? Typically, avoid the substance of the matter and question the motive of the protester or accuser. Honest people begin to wonder if there is in fact, as they are being told, something wrong with them. Are they being unpatriotic or too fussy or 'over sabi' by their denouncement of what they know is ordinarily not right? Could they, as they are badgered about over the head, possibly be overreacting to the situation at hand? Should they let it go and look the other way in the face of this psychological warfare waged on them by a more 'patriotic' officialdom? Should they succumb to mob action?
The quickness with which we embrace collective amnesia and move on willy-nilly in the name of nation building; our willingness to cut corners and sacrifice long term gain for short term glory; our inability to look beyond our noses; our hastiness in forgiving or being too understanding of wrongdoers; our inexplicable accommodation, indeed, acceptance, of mediocrity and low standards in officialdom; the empty bluster of officialdom when caught pants down, all undermine us as a nation.
It is scary that those 'Barbarians' who surely must be in the minority of the populace now seem to be calling the shots. And that the intelligentsia and indeed ordinary people who know instinctively what is wrong and inexcusable or right and acceptable find themselves increasingly voiceless and helpless. And, shoved aside. It's not just scary, it's mortifying. And intolerable.
Experience has shown that the very people who take advantage of our acquiescence when we, for fear of being denounced as eternal government critics or unpatriotic or of being browbeaten into submission or even for short term personal or collective gain, knowingly look the other way in the face of wrongdoing are the ones who break the law with such galling impunity. Our failure, refusal and/or neglect at the critical moment to take them to task about addressing the substance of allegations against them, refusing them any wiggle room; our failure to hold them to high or indeed, any, standards at all; our neglect to insist on the right course of action, come what may and at all times, embolden them to commit greater atrocities.
In a sense, the many incidents of collapsed buildings in our country serve as an apt metaphor for this condition of ours. Buildings are erected on weak foundations with no regard for basic construction principles. When they collapse with the attendant loss of life and limb, there is an outpouring of angst and officious statements to get to the root of the matter and punish all those guilty of neglect. But of course we quickly move on. Look around you, examples are legion.
Those are the small and seemingly insignificant steps we take and which make us complicit in finding ourselves at the clichéd sorry pass destination.
If we want to hold our heads high in the comity of civilised nations we must hold ourselves to the same standards as they, rather than make unintelligent excuses or seek ultimately damaging compromises.
We need more whistle blowers in our midst. And they must not only expose and denounce acts of wrongdoing, we, the rest of the citizenry, must follow through in ensuring those acts are righted and the perpetrators sanctioned; we must not allow such egregious conduct or occurrences to die a natural death after the initial hullaballoo, soon forgotten when the next scandal comes along. Government for the people and not the people for government.
The Barbarians are at the gate. Are we going to let them in?
Eternal vigilance still the price of liberty
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