KALU RAPS LULU, URGES HIM TO RESIGN
Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu
Pillar of Sports in Nigeria and Abia State's former governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has advised the Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi-led Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to resign with immediate effect to save Nigerian football.
Dr. Kalu, who was reacting to President Goodluck Jonathan's directive withdrawing Nigeria from all international football competitions, said that he believes that Mr. President would have a change of mind if the board of the NFF resigns immediately.
'I heard the news on Wednesday and I feel that what President Jonathan did was quite in order and I must salute his courage to do what other leaders have failed to do in the past.
This idea to call FIFA's bluff by sacking the NFF has been on the table long ago but nobody had really been able to act to save our football before now. 'I am also appealing to the NFF board led by my very close friend, Sani Lulu, to quietly resign from the NFF and save the future of Nigerian football. If Sani Lulu loves this country with members of the board, they should resign today and give room for the youths of this country to grow in soccer.
'I must commend the Presidential Task Force set up by the Federal Government to ensure we qualified for the World Cup for doing a good job with the Super Eagles qualification and participating as well as for making good recommendation to the President on the way forward' he stated.
He said that he would be speaking with both the FIFA and CAF presidents, Issa Hayatou and Sepp Blatter respectively to see reason why Nigeria had to take the action she took, adding that he would appeal to them to be lenient with Nigeria because the decision was in the interest of the country.
The man, who steered Enyimba International FC as the Abia State chief executive to two consecutive CAF Champions League trophies, urged President Jonathan to start correcting the wrongs of the past by taking a roll call of the Enyimba's squads of 2003 and 2004 for winning the trophies that had eluded the country for more than 30 years, back to back by giving national honours to the players who brought glory to the country
He said that he was ready to offer advice to Mr. President on how to restructure the administration of the game in the country 'but our appeal is for the NFF executive to resign and perhaps the President may reconsider the withdrawal from international competitions'.
Dr Orji Kalu said that he had the belief that if the board resigns today, Mr President could have a rethink by allowing our the Falconets to go to the Under-20 World Cup in Germany, pointing out that he would personally appeal to Lulu to take the path of honour and resign today to start with.
'I believe that we have men and women who have passion for the game and who are ready to serve the country and take it to the next level. President Goodluck Jonathan should look out for such people and let them handle our sports'.