Dropping Mikel Keshi’s best decision ever — Disu

E x-international, Tajudden Disu talks about the merry-go-round that
surrounded the death of former Eagles goalkeeper, Wilfred Agbonavbare, the
exclusion of John Mikel Obi from the game against Chad as well as lists what
could make Stephen Keshi succeed in his second coming as Super Eagles
coach. JOHN EGBOKHAN caught up with Disu before the final match off the
Channels Television Kids Cup. Excerpts:
Ques: How crucial is it for talents to be discovered at competitions like Inter-
House Sports and Channels Kids Cup.
It is very crucial because
people like myself, Keshi
and Henry Nwosu were first
discovered at such events.
This is the type of
programme that I enjoy
most because we were
once like these kids. At that
time, this type of
programme was the
foundation.
I think its good, inter-house
sports, school sports, academy sports are all good because it is where you
catch them young. And from what I’ve seen today, most of these kids will go
far in sports. From what I see, some of these kids will be representing Nigeria in
the future.
What is your message to sports officers in the local government areas in the
identification of talents from such competitions.
I am tasking them to do more by discovering budding talents because it is
catch-them-young programme that will bring out these kids to the limelight.
They have to do more in encouraging these kids and make sure that they
organise programmes that will bring out the best from these kids. It is from this
platform that they will grow to become Nigerian stars.
As an ambassador of Greater Tomorrow, we will continue to encourage these
kids, tell them that for them to excel they have to be disciplined, hard working
and go to school. They have to bag University degrees that they can fall back
to when sports is over. The combination of education and sports is wonderful.
It’s not easy to combine both but it is wonderful and very rewarding if you pull
through. If we could succeed, there is no reason why these kids cannot.
This reminds me of the case of the late Wilfred Agbonavbore, who died in Spain
It does. I was then in the U.S.A and I knew how many times I called the NFF
and my colleagues to come to the aid of Agbonavbere. But they kept promising,
promising until the guy died. They failed him when he needed their help. Myself,
Paul Okoku, Femi Olukanno and Humphrey Edobor went to the hospital in
Florida and l saw the terrible state that Agbonavbare was in and relayed the
message to Nigeria. We contacted the NFF, who promised heaven on earth until
he died. They didn’t do anything.
In fact, after his death, we even sent messages to the NFF to come to the aid
of his children and arrange for his burial but they didn’t do anything. That was
how NFF treated Agbonavbere and that is the reason why we should encourage
our youths to go to school because our system in Nigeria is a failed system.
Any ex-international who relies on these sports administrators is laying the
ground for his death. I weep when I see the suffering of my former colleagues.
But ex-internationals were duly remunerated when they were active. So how
come they still expect government to take care of them long after retirement?
The blame goes both ways. It’s not all of us that went to school. It was easy
not to go to school in those days because of the attraction of football. But the
truth is that after representing your country at various competitions and winning
laurels in tow, it is not good to be abandoned by your country.
There are other countries with all these stars who did not go to school but
because they have retirement programmes on ground, their former stars don’t
live in penury. Such countries have good programmes which they use to engage
these former players. But nothing of such exists here. There is no plan or
programme for people who represented and toiled for this country. We don’t
have pension scheme for these stars.
So you think ex-internationals deserve pension scheme.
They deserve it. Absolutely.
But they got allowances, bonuses and a lot of largesse when they played.
Those allowances and bonuses were for the matches they played. It’s just like
when abroad, you get bonuses and after retirement, you still get your retirement
money.
Is it even professional for players to be demanding for certain allowances and
bonuses when on national duty.
Yes. Countries like USA, UK, France have pension schemes for former players.
Even some African countries like South Africa plan for the athletes. If planned
well, pension scheme will make life after retirement better for athletes, who
served the country. Bonuses are for what you did while pension scheme is
reward after service to the country. What about other workers who get pensions
after serving the country?
A lot of people see this as a waste of money but those who know about sports
know that it is the best way to enhance sports excellence. When at the end of
the day they get their pension scheme, it will encourage the young ones to go
into sports and serve their fatherland with all their might. And maybe that is the
reason why the standard of sports is going down in the country.
Still on the issue of allowances, what is your reaction to a threat to reduce by
half the allowances of coaches and players of Abia Warriors if they don’t win
their next three matches when the league resumes on June 14.
That is what happens in a country like Nigeria, where people who have money
and with no knowledge of sports dabble into sports and form their teams and
act as if they are the alpha and omega of those under their payroll. I tell you
and I will continue to say it that you can’t excel in sports if you don’t do the
right things that coaches require to make their job a success.
A coach will tell you that he needs certain things but the owners will not
provide them and at the end will sack these coaches if the results don’t come
in. That is why I will never be a coach because you see people without any
sports background pushing you around. Our coaches suffer a lot.
Turning to the Super Eagles, what is your advice to Stephen Keshi as he
prepares for the 2017 Afcon qualifier against Chad on June 13.
I wish him the best but I must say that it was the NFF that made Keshi to fail
last time around. They frustrated him.
You are saying all these because he is your friend?
Yes, he is my friend but I’ve not seen him for a very long time. I didn’t play for
long with Keshi in the Eagles. We played together for about a year or so before
parting ways.
But Keshi admitted that he caused our failure?
He didn’t but was told to apologise and accept the blame by the NFF. He’s the
coach and must definitely takes some blame for what went wrong.
In going forward, what is the time-line for the game against Chad. What should
Keshi do differently.
He should tell his players not to underrate Chad. It will be suicidal for Keshi to
think that Chad are weak. Keshi must realise that a lot of things are at stake in
this his second coming. He must motivate his players and let the boys know
that everything is at stake for them against Chad.
And your reaction to his exclusion of Mikel Obi from the Chad game.
It is the best thing that Keshi has done since he started coaching Eagles. Keshi
knows why he didn’t invite Mikel. Mikel could never have played for Nigeria
when we played. When you talk about midfield, I wonder which position in the
midfield Mikel plays in.
In our days, Mikel would not even be invited. Mikel does not have the quality to
play in my midfield. Mikel can’t distribute, entertain or change the direction of
the game. I don’t see any reason why he should be playing in our midfield.
What are our chances of qualifying for the next AFCON 2017 in Gabon
We can qualify if Keshi is supported. They should not interfere in his job. They
should work with one mind because if the NFF has a different agenda from
Keshi’s then we can never qualify. Different agenda will kill Eagles. That has
been the problem of our Eagles. There should not be imposition of players. Let
Keshi pick his players and they should support him.
They brought him back because of the pressure they were facing. Half of the
people in NFF didn’t like Keshi and are waiting for him to fail. Our
administrators should be scrutinised. They don’t care about players welfare. At
times, they even want players to lose so that they will share the money. A task
force should be set up to probe our administrators. They are the real cause of
our football woes.

I like that decision too, of dropping mikel