Re: Walking in Siasia’s shoes

AS an ardent football fan and a supporter of Liverpool Football Club of England, if the truth must be told, the Bayelsa-born tactician and coach, Samson Siasia and the entire Dream Team deserve to be celebrated and congratulated for their performance in the recently concluded Olympic games that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I have followed Siasia’s football career right from his days with Julius Berger of Lagos and as the Super Eagles attacker in both Tunisia and USA ‘‘94.” Going by his antecedents, the team would have performed better but for the lack of motivation by those at the helms of affairs at the NFF. Our problem as a nation is that we always use the wrong people for essential tasks and a case in point is football administration in the country. An adage says, ‘’instead of asking the tree why it is shedding its leaves, we should rather ask the roots.’’ Instead of blaming our athletes for their poor performance at the Olympics, we should rather ask our sporting directors to explain what went wrong.
—Taiwo Sangotikun Iseyin, Oyo State 08056309372 
Nigerians and its leaders are being told that corruption can only be effectively fought by institutions that promote justice in public life. The concept of justice credited to Chief Eleyinmi in the now rested soap opera “Village Headmaster” (which is what I call justice), will only lead to chaos,  violence and retrogression. That article is a masterpiece. Please keep it up.
—Lekan Olawumi Orita Ibadan 08033237021 
The evergreen admonition of Abraham Lincoln to his compatriots, that they should consider as priority what they could do for America rather than ask what America could do for them, is heeded by Nigerian leaders in the reverse. This is the context in which to understand the predicament the nation is facing. TSA means it is no longer business as usual. The failure of the Olympics adventure was caused by Nigerian officials who now want to heap the blame on the late release of, or inadequate funds. Siasia, who is more patriotic, knew this and focused on the glory ahead, and actually received it. He is paying for his patriotism through his present predicament. The Japanese windfall is a reward for patriotism and the NFF is scrambling to reap where it did not sow.  No Nigerian politician or businessman can do what the Japanese did because his or her primary aim in any position is to milk the nation dry, if possible. Siasia should count himself lucky for making the nation proud in spite of the clog constituted by Nigeria bureaucracy. God and posterity have vindicated him and the handsome reward from the Japanese was divine.
—Adewuyi Adegbite 08066328387 
I am also walking in Siasia’s shoes. Unfortunately, I have seen that the taste of the pudding is no longer in the eating! What is responsible for this? Our national leaders are insensitive to the wishes of the people. Rather than being true agents of change, they are rather obstacles to the concept of change.
—Sesan Oyende, Abuja. 08073887783 
The problem associated with the payment of salaries of indigenous coaches, at all levels by the NFF, has been a recurring decimal. The painful aspect of it is the nonchalant attitude of the previous governments in arresting the embarrassing situation. The world is now a global village and by virtue of this, the Japanese donor of the $390, 000 gift, Dr. Katsuya Takasu, is quite aware of what could happen to the donation hence the cheque was sent directly to the team. This is a shameful scenario and the NFF should stop attributing their failure to the introduction of the TSA (Treasury Single Account) as they had four good years to prepare. One should commend the courage displayed by Siasia in handling the issue as intended by the donor.
—Ibrahim A. Taye, Ibadan. 08166190119 
In a situation where a late traditional head of a large family is being praised louder than the present leader, the current one should be ashamed because if his performance had been better than that of the previous one, nobody would have remembered the late leader. Today, many people speak positively of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s administration, Dr Tai Solarin’s educational success, and the effective sports administration of both late Chief Lekan Salami and Chief Jim Nwobodo. One day, those people who are only interested in enriching themselves will definitely be remembered – for their greed. Nigeria is beset with many ailments and only God can heal it.
—Revd M G Afolabi, Oyo 08067365604 
Despite our poor outins in the  just ended Olympics in Brazil, Coach Samson Siasia deserves commendation for putting smiles on the faces of Nigerians by winning bronze for Nigeria despite the poor treatment meted to him and the players in Atlanta by the NFF.
Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State 07084644222 
“Give unto Caesar what is due him.” For the simple fact of being the only team that won a medal for the country, the man Samson Siasia should be generously compensated rather than being vilified.
—Lekan Oladeji, Ilora 08053049443