PAGE 42
PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013
Isima’s death shocks coaches
E
x-Nigerian footballers, Christian Chukwu and Henry Nwosu, have expressed shock over the death of their 1980 Africa Cup of Nations teammate, Okey Isima. Chukwu also known as Chairman and Nwosu were members of Nigeria’s squad that won the Afcon in 1980 alongside Isima. “I’m still shocked by the news because Okey was such a gentleman who was intelligent. Suddenly the memories of 1980 and how we won the Nations Cup is beginning to play back. The memories of playing with him in the final of the 1980 final against Algeria is beginning to look like yesterday though it was more than 30 years now,” said Chukwu. “Our paths also crossed beyond the national
team then because we were teammates at (Enugu) Rangers. He was a very professional footballer and always put in everything in matches and even training back then.” Nwosu also said: “Okey was a close friend. When I came into the national team around the late 1970s, early 1980s, he was always encouraging me as I was still in schoolboy then. He was very experienced at over 20 years in age at that time and was playing for a big club like Rangers. “His death is a big loss to his family, the nation and everyone close to him. He had big plans of his own to help develop the game in the country but unfortunately he’s gone.” Isima died at the age of 56 in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja penultimate day.
We got AFCON funds 48 hours to tournament, says NFF
T
Late Okey Isima
Keshi denies warring with Maigari
S
uper Eagles head coach, Stephen Keshi, has dismissed insinuations that he was at loggers drawn with the leadership of the NFF executive committee. Though he admitted that there were some issues which
needed to be sorted out with the football federation, he said there was no time he did say that these issues were with the president of the NFF, Aminu Maigari. “I wonder what people want to gain by saying I’m fighting the NFF, I’m at war with Alhaji
Maigari, who in the first place found me worthy of employment as national team’s coach?” Eagles Spokesman, Ben Alaiya, said in a release that Keshi praised the leadership qualities of the Maigari led board and called for total support to enable the board
Kofarmata in search of golden touch with Pillars B
ello Musa Kofarmata, appears set to rediscover his golden touch at his home town club, Pillars, where he developed into a cult figure from 2007 through 2010. Kofarmata, who returned to
Bello Kofarmata
Pillars after an uneventful spell at Heartland FC was one of the scorers as the Nigerian champions hammered Olympic de Bangui 5-1 in a CAF Champions League preliminary round first leg
match in Kano. Ganaru played him behind top strikers, Gambo Mohammed and Nasiru Ibrahim, in the match that Pillars sparkled. Speaking a day after his first goal in a competitive match for Pillars, he said: “My best is yet to come.” The former Under20 international helped Pillars to the semi-finals of the competition in 2009 and in 2010 played at group stage with Heartland. Back in 2010, Heartland splashed N5million (about $33,333) on Kofarmata, but the forward struggled to impress. For Kofarmata, who learnt his trade at defunct Buffalo, the goal mattered a lot as he had spent more time searching for goals rather than celebrating goals at the Naze Millionaires. The move was to take his career to the next level, but turned out to be the reverse. As a result, he retraced his steps to Kano, where it all began. Kofarmata’s decision to exit Pillars was fully maximized by Ahmed Musa, who has since headed for Europe and big forward, Mohammed. Ironically, while Kofarmata was struggling at Heartland, Musa hit 18 goals to emerge league top scorer in 2011 and erased the previous all-time record of 17 goals. Mohammed, who also started
his career at Buffalo l i k e Kofarmata, has now turned out to be
do more for Nigerian football. “I have never and will never fight my President, all I have asked for is support from him and am getting that over 100 per cent so let those wanting us to start a war leave us a alone”, he said. the fans favourite. 2012 Federation Cup: To compound his misery at Heartland, the forward lost his place in the finals of the 2012 Federation Cup to rookie, Emeka Ogbuh, who partnered Brendan Ogbu in the attack. Ogbu’s goal eventually earned Heartland the trophy. “Kabiru Umar and I played in the attack against Prime in Ilorin. Umar got a red card and missed the finals. However, I can’t explain why the coaches left me on the bench,” he told supersport.com. Super Eagles After representing Nigeria at the FIFA Under20 World Cup hosted by Canada, in 2007, Kofarmata eventually made his Super Eagles debut in 2009. He was in the Nigerian squad that failed to qualify for the inaugural CHAN competition in Cote d’Ivoire. Kofarmata scored twice against Burkina-Faso in Calabar in round one, but Nigeria eventually lost 2-3 to Ghana in the final round and failed to progress to the competition. And in 2010, he replaced Peter Utaka when the Eagles hammered Congo DR 5-2 in a friendly ahead of the World Cup, in South Africa. With limited playing time at Heartland, the forward eventually lost his place in the national team. Perhaps, an impressive performance for will in domestic and continental assignments will earn him a return to the Eagles as Stephen Keshi prepares the home lads for the CHAN in South Africa.
CHANGE OF NAME I, FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MISS. ANAJEKE NKECHI CALISTA, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. NWAIFE NKECHI CALISTA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NGO VILLAGE, IGBOUKWU IN AGUATA L.G.A. ANAMBRA STATE AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.
he Nigeria Football Association (NFF) yesterday revealed that it got the funds for Super Eagles’ participation in the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in South Africa only two days to the tournament. Mr Emeka Inyama, a board member and Chairman of the NFA Media and Publicity Committee, disclosed this in Abuja in an interview. It would be recalled N1.4 billion was released by the Federal Government for the Super Eagles’ participation in the tournament but the money was released in bits to the NFF by the National Sports Commission (NSC). According to Inyama, the team were supposed to have received the money two months before the tournament. People may be celebrating the Super Eagles’ today but the team only got money 48 hours to the competition. “These monies were supposed to have come one or two months to the time to help them prepare for the competition. “Nobody cares to know how the federation borrowed and financed the team’s camping, paid players match bonuses and hotel bills before the tournament. “However, the federation is doing all it can to ensure that, despite the paucity of funds, football is taken to the next level in Nigeria,’’ he said. Inyama’s revelation comes after the NFF was criticised by some Nigerians for its poor handling and lack of trust in the Stephen Keshi-led Super Eagles. He said it was pertinent for Nigerians to know how the FA sources its funds and would be glad if the FG could come to their aid. “The resources of the FF cannot accommodate, at a time, the almost nine national teams that we cater for. What the government provides for football is inadequate for things to be done; that is why sometimes we owe the coaches. “A situation where you have N1.8 billion from government and maybe another N1 billion from sponsors, making it N2.8 billion and the budget of the FA is over N4 billion given the number of teams, definitely it must run on deficit,’’ Inyama added. He, however, confirmed that in spite of the shortage of funds, the FA had released N6 million to John Obuh, the Flying Eagles’ coach, as part payment of backlog of salaries owed him by the football house. The NFF board member gave assurance that the balance of the money would be paid to the coach when he returned from the U-20 Africa Youth Championship (AYC) beginning on March 16 in Algeria.