Jonathan slams two-year ban on foreign outings

Apparently angered by the Super Eagles’ dismal performance, which led to their early exit from the 2010 Football FIFA World Cup in South Africa, President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered Nigeria’s withdrawal from all international football competitions for the next two years.

Wielding the big stick, which also affects the Under 17 and Under 23 soccer competitions, the President said it was to enable the country to re-organise its football administration. Nigeria will officially inform the world football governing body of its decision to stay away for the next two years.
President Jonathan has also ordered a probe of the money spent on the world soccer fiesta by Nigeria.

Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting between President Jonathan and members of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the 2010 World Cup, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ima Niboro, said Jonathan also approved the auditing of all the money spent during the ongoing World Cup. “President Goodluck Jonathan has directed that Nigeria withdraws from international competition for two years to enable the country put its house in order.”
Niboro stated that the President also approved that an audit of the World Cup finances be looked into and bring whoever was culpable to book.

Also speaking, the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who is the chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF), said: “Our recommendation is based on what is on the ground. We went to the World Cup and found all sorts of problems and we felt we should sit back and look inward.” The governor who was joined by other members of the PTF, said: “We will formally write FIFA to say that Nigeria won’t engage in international football competitions.”
Amaechi explained that the government’s decision had nothing to do with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
He, however, lamented that Nigeria had not done well in continental and intercontinental football competitions, stressing that “you cannot have tumour and continue to massage it with all the blood.”

Amaechi said Nigeria’s outing in South Africa was characterised by all sorts of maladministration and that the country had been punished enough as far as football was concerned. After playing three matches in the preliminary rounds of the ongoing soccer tournament, Super Eagles crashed out last week.

The national team’s performance in all their Group B matches was disappointing, as the Super Eagles finished at the bottom, with only one point. The result was not wholly unexpected. The Super Eagles’ best game was the match against South Korea, which they drew 2-2. They lost the other two games 0-1 to Argentina, and 1-2 to Greece.

President Jonathan was reported to have reacted to the Eagles’ early exit by telling a delegation of officials led by Sports Minister, Ibrahim Bio, that despite his personal support for them, the players lacked the commitment to fly Nigeria’s flag high in South Africa.

Despite the Super Eagles winning a bronze medal at the last African Nations Cup in Mali, the team’s performance was called into question even before the World Cup.

In the tournament, the Eagles were quite unimpressive. The team managed to beat Algeria by a goal, struggled for a draw with Mali and escaped with a goal victory over Liberia in the preliminary round. A slim quarter-final win of one nil over Ghana and a one to two loss to Lions of Senegal in the semi-final saw the team out of the final of the Nations Cup. The team subsequently defeated Mali, the host country, with a goal in the third place match.