Nigeria’s sports development suffered a major derailment between 2004 and 2006. That situation sustains till now, unfortunately. Until, the ‘train’ is put back on the track, no proper development may be able to take place. This sad state of affairs was created inadvertently by government in the process of trying to stop a ‘rebel’ group in Nigerian football that wanted to perpetuate itself in office, and halt government’s seeming control of football leadership in the country.
That confrontation cost Nigeria a World Cup ticket, and tied down Nigerian football from any major development for the next two years. No one fights government and wins. Galadima was not going to be an exception. In order to regain some control, the sports ministry, under the guidance of the most powerful administrator in Nigeria’s sports history at the time, Dr. Amos Adamu, planned and executed a coup d’état.
That’s the product of applying a purely political pill to cure a technical problem in Nigerian sports. Since then, from election to election in several sports associations now, the civil courts are being brought into the picture to untie the resultant political knots without much success. So, returning to the proper order of sports administration since then has become impossible. T h e s t r a t e g i c ‘ i l l e g a l i t y ’ introduced to oust Galadima has become the norm.