Our Really Busy President
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is a busy man. We have reasons to assume so. The insecurity in the North-East, the turmoil in his party, and debates about how well he has run Nigeria, should fully occupy anyone.
Our President is different. In what versed Africans would tag, “scratching for cricket when bearing an elephant,” Dr. Jonathan has appointed, rather, imposed Stephen Keshi return coach of the Super Eagles.
The rambunctious authorities around football have acquiesced. Who are they, knowing their worth, to oppose the President? For the crowd around football, the return of Keshi through the presidential residence is another indication that football is possibly part of the President’s “transformation agenda”.
More tellingly, Keshi agreed to return under these obscure settings. He knows that he has solid grounds to shield himself from blames, when they arise. We would not forget the President begged him to take the job. Are there insights presidential to these football matters?
We are really living in engaging times. The appointment of a coach for the national team is a matter doused in such technicality that even experts approach it with perspicacity. What does the President know about the appointment of a football coach? Are there no limits to presidential meddlesomeness?
How does the President often seem to have time for peripheral matters at moments of high demands on his presidential attention? Why do we not see the presidential wand waved with similar alacrity around security, electricity, food, unemployment, and telling parts of our common lives that are going through uncommon hardships? Who should we now hold accountable for the affairs of the Super Eagles?
Some perspectives on the President’s decision would highlight the dangers of his involvement. The President would determine the terms of Keshi’s engagement. As the appointing authority, he would be the one to discipline him, if matters ever get to that point. The President would look after Keshi’s welfare; the football federation caters for the Super Eagles, creating more fragmentation in a team that is divided along brash technical and personality lines. The indices for Keshi’s performance are indeterminate, or at best purely presidential.
No justification exists for the President’s involvement, in this manner, in an area he is clearly bereft of technical capacities.
Whether the Super Eagles qualify for the 2015 Nations Cup – really a low, short-sighted ambition for Nigerians – or not, the fact remains that the President has added to the confusion in our football by supervening in a matter so ordinary that it should not under any circumstances have commanded presidential attention.
Nigerians are left wondering if issues like these are what occupy our President while our country drifts with unimaginable momentum.
Our President is different. In what versed Africans would tag, “scratching for cricket when bearing an elephant,” Dr. Jonathan has appointed, rather, imposed Stephen Keshi return coach of the Super Eagles.
The rambunctious authorities around football have acquiesced. Who are they, knowing their worth, to oppose the President? For the crowd around football, the return of Keshi through the presidential residence is another indication that football is possibly part of the President’s “transformation agenda”.
More tellingly, Keshi agreed to return under these obscure settings. He knows that he has solid grounds to shield himself from blames, when they arise. We would not forget the President begged him to take the job. Are there insights presidential to these football matters?
We are really living in engaging times. The appointment of a coach for the national team is a matter doused in such technicality that even experts approach it with perspicacity. What does the President know about the appointment of a football coach? Are there no limits to presidential meddlesomeness?
How does the President often seem to have time for peripheral matters at moments of high demands on his presidential attention? Why do we not see the presidential wand waved with similar alacrity around security, electricity, food, unemployment, and telling parts of our common lives that are going through uncommon hardships? Who should we now hold accountable for the affairs of the Super Eagles?
Some perspectives on the President’s decision would highlight the dangers of his involvement. The President would determine the terms of Keshi’s engagement. As the appointing authority, he would be the one to discipline him, if matters ever get to that point. The President would look after Keshi’s welfare; the football federation caters for the Super Eagles, creating more fragmentation in a team that is divided along brash technical and personality lines. The indices for Keshi’s performance are indeterminate, or at best purely presidential.
No justification exists for the President’s involvement, in this manner, in an area he is clearly bereft of technical capacities.
Whether the Super Eagles qualify for the 2015 Nations Cup – really a low, short-sighted ambition for Nigerians – or not, the fact remains that the President has added to the confusion in our football by supervening in a matter so ordinary that it should not under any circumstances have commanded presidential attention.
Nigerians are left wondering if issues like these are what occupy our President while our country drifts with unimaginable momentum.
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