By Jack Moses-Ekwekwe
The palpable fear enveloping Nigerian fans prior to the Eagles encounter with Niger this Sunday is justified judging from the poor organization by government functionaries in charge of sports in Kano State, this has been confirmed by no other person than former Nigerian national team coach, Christian Chukwu who was disappointed by same people during the qualifying match for the FIFA 2006 World Cup against Angola on June 18, 2005.
Chukwu, who is furious with the way things are going on now wants the Special Assistant on sports to the Kano State Governor, Ahmed Kawu Muazu to shut up else he will open the can of worm on what led to Nigeria’s ouster from the FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The one time Green Eagles captain in an exclusive interview with Africansportsdigest.com Wednesday that the Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekaru meant well for sports development in the country, but his aides are the major problem stressing that for Muazu to say that he was not competent, the truth must be told to guide against such occurrences in the near future.
“Before we played Angola, the match was moved to Kano, and we were not bothered because of our sound preparation for the match in question. I advised that the match be played at night because we were parading foreign based players, who would not be comfortable with the heat, due to the hot climate in Kano. The Power Holding Company needed just a back up generating set so that the match could be played at night, but the same Muazu messed up things. The game was fixed for afternoon to avoid any disappointment and we played 1-1. The players were bitter because they could not stand the hot weather,” Chukwu explained.
“I wonder why he is talking of incompetency today, when he knew what they did behind the scene which was our bane. I don’t really want to join issues with him, but I want Nigerians to watch out for these people, who hide under the cloak of government officials to disrupt smooth plans of technical men in this respect.”
Muazu in defense of the choice of Kano for the African Championship Cup for Home-based players recently told the media that the Chukwu led technical crew of 2006 was incompetent and lacked commitment hence the Eagles failed against Angola in the World Cup qualifier. Fans have expressed fear that Nigeria have never played well in important competition if such games are hosted in Kano.
The fans are worried because Nigeria lost the first leg 2-0 to Niger in Niamey, and may not qualify for the second edition of the championship billed for Kano on Sunday, March 28, 2010. Nigeria were eliminated from on the first edition last year at the qualifying stage by Ghana.