NFF consults spiritualists to cleanse Nigerian football

The leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have resolved to ask God to intervene in the downward slide of affairs of the game employing the services of some clergymen who have a contract to start praying for the restoration of the game in the country.

Reports asserted that the Aminu Maigari-led Executive Committee has in the last few days met with several men of God at the NFF secretariat in Abuja, with the sole aim of finding a lasting spiritual way out of the quagmire of crises and strings of losses recorded by Nigerian teams in international football.

According to our source, “these men of God have been brought to come and pray and sanctify the Glass House. All enemies of the board were binded with prayers. They have brought both local and international clergymen. One of them is Rev. Edward Ediakorsa, who attended the NFF emergency meeting where the decision to sack Siasia was taken. He came from the United States of America. Two others who are based in Nigeria had also visited. The pastors have been holding series of meeting with the Acting General Secretary of the NFF, Musa Amadu in his office.

One of the home-based cleric, who is always a part of the Super Eagles team to major international tournaments attributed the failure of the immediate past coach of the Super Eagles, Samson Siasia, to his negative disposition to spiritual instructions. Ediakorsa was quoted to have stated that before the 8^th October, 2011 match against Guinea, which cost the Super Eagles a qualifying ticket to the Nations Cup, he had sent a text message to Siasia on what to do, but the coach snubbed the advice.”

The NFF, it was gathered, was not ruling out the influence of evil forces in the litany of woes that has bedeviled Nigerian football.

When contacted on the latest initiative taken by the NFF Secretary General of the Federation, Musa Amadu, was surprised that “consulting God was being made an issue. In anything you do you must pray for God’s guidance” he was quoted to have volunteered.

Nigeria is a nation where spirituality is employed in the management of the game. Recently, when the nation lost qualifying for the 2012 African Nations Cup by playing2-2 home draw in Abuja to Guinea, Lagos-based prophet T. B. Joshua was blamed for prophesying the result of the game earlier. There were news reports that the same NFF then, brought to camp another spiritualist to counter the prediction of T. b. Joshua. The situation is not too different in the clubsides where a whole lot of money is weekly set aside for spiritual consultation called ‘tactical’.

nation’s soccer ruling body has been under intense pressure following failure of the different categories of the national team to qualify for major competitions, the height of which was the inability of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations and Super Falcons’ exit from the women’s soccer event of next year’s Olympic Games.