Expectedly, Nigeria’s Super Falcons are African champions for the ninth time in 11 editions of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. Winning continental honours with over 81% success indicates that the Super Falcons are the dominant forces in Africa.

But the bare statistics speak little about the increasing decline in the status of the team. The gulf that existed between the pedigree of the Super Falcons and that of the rest of the Africa is increasingly narrowing.

In essence, the rest are catching up, while the standard in Nigeria is at best stagnant if not declining. In the just concluded tournament in Ghana, the Super Falcons played 330 minutes of matches without scoring in the open play.

The statistics consist of the blank shots in the 90 minutes of the opening encounter with South Africa, and the 120 minutes played with each of Cameroon and South Africa in the final stages. It is the lottery of penalty shootout that earned the team both the World Cup ticket and the continental title.

Goals, almost in torrents, were scored against only the punching bags of Group B – Zambia and Equatorial Guinea. It should be noted that the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year will not feature such weaklings.

At the best of forms, the Super Falcons had never found their feet at the global level, even though the dominance in Africa earned the team the honour of being one of the only seven to have attended all the past seven editions of the tournament since the inaugural edition in 1991.

Yet of the seven that comprise of USA, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Norway and Sweden, the Super Falcons are the only one not has ever become one of the third-place finishers. Next year, it will be exactly 20 years since they had their best outing, a quarter-final finish at USA ’99.

Shall they continue to live in past glory? That is why a lot more have to be done. The Super Falcons appear to be the only one of Nigeria’s national teams that commands little or no attention. The only significant preparation in the form of friendly match was the one played against France earlier in the year.

Of course, the results speak volumes on the gap between our team and those of the ambassador class, the medium but rare and those still learning the hard way as the FIFA Technical Report of China 1991 espoused on the three-tiered participants.

At the global level, Nigeria still remains at the third tier, even 27 years after. It calls for urgent concern. Virtually all the squad members of the current Super Falcons are based abroad; an indication of the paucity of talents at home. In the early days of 1990s, women clubs established by spirited enthusiasts dotted virtually all parts of the country.

These days, the clubs have thinned out leaving the Rivers Angels, Bayelsa Queens, Delta Queens and Pelican Stars as some of the few existing ones and without vibrant domestic competitions to sustain, let alone multiply talents.

Except urgent steps are taken by the Nigeria Football Federation, the end of Nigeria’s dominance in this category of football is imminent. Even as we draw most of the Super Falcons’ players abroad, a time will come when there will be none to export to be refined for later-day importation into the Super Falcons.

Probably to increase the interest in women’s football, the clubs in the NPFL could be encouraged to have teams of opposite sex. Considering that women’s clubs attract no gate fees which is the barest to sustain the clubs in competitions, the ones attached to NPFL clubs can play curtain raiser matches ahead of the main menu especially if the opposing clubs are in the neighbourhood.

For instance, a fixture of Enugu Rangers and Enyimba can be preceded as a curtain raiser by the women’s teams attached to the two clubs. That way, those who ordinarily will not go out to watch women’s football will have the opportunities.

The ladies get exposed to more competitions and in crowd attended environments. The result will be multiplication of talents and the raising of women football to the next level.

The die is cast, the moment of decision is nigh and in just one year or so from now, the drummer boys will gather, ready to beat the drums of war ahead of what promises to be the fiercest and toughest  NFF presidential elections ever.

It promises lots of fireworks, the daggers will be out full length and this time, no one will be spared according to a top inside source.

From the North East, to the North West and North Central, the familiarity visits have begun.  The scheming game has intensified as meetings have started stretching into the dark.

It all began on the first day of the league season, when over 23 State FA chairmen converged in Kano State.

After that match between the hosts Kano Pillars and FC Ifeanyi Ubah, which ended rather abruptly, a congregation of FA chairmen from the North, spiced up by the presence of Nigeria Referees Association president, Tade Azeez and Chairman of Association of professional footballers of Nigeria APFON, Dahiru Sadi, met with the Kano State governor and the agenda on the day was how to return football administration to the North.

The North can boast of at least 22 votes from the 44 available and for now.  Two men are the hottest delegates in town, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali and Chidi Okenwa.  As FA chairmen of Nasarawa and Enugu states and also Chairmen of the Nigeria Nationwide and National Leagues respectively,

Both are proud owners of two votes each, out of the 44 available and as we speak  both are courted by all and sundry like beautiful brides in their prime, all, in their desperate bid to sway them over to their sides in good time ahead of the elections.

…But who wants Amaju’s seat?

The incumbent, Melvin Amaju Pinnick (MAP) could become the first man in history to return for a second term in office.

Amaju describes himself as the anointed one. I am God’s anointed and the chosen one he said after dusting Mucharafou Anjorin of Benin Republic to the CAF executive committee seat.

Amaju has become very powerful in only a matter of months after emerging as a member of the exalted FIFA organising committee, CAF executive committee and now, chairman of CAF organising and media committees, two of the most respected committees in CAF.

He emerged NFF president in September 2014, and has done so well to keep his team intact and very united. He recently embarked on rigorous marketing drive to make the NFF buoyant again with the recent signing of the 2.5 billion naira Aiteo deal.

However, he still has a case at the Supreme Court to contend with as the Chris Giwa faction all turned up in court last week only to see the judge adjourn their plea to relist a case that have dragged on for over two years.

By December when the case will come up again, the World Cup ticket must have been secured and the pressure certainly will reduce on the shoulders of a man who has battled with forces far and near to get to the very pinnacle of world football politics.

He believes he has his soldiers fully behind him but daily; there are cracks in the walls as new groups have begun to emerge.

Still his strongest ally and supporter, is Chairman of the League Management Company, Shehu Dikko, a man who has refused to join forces with the opposition to fight a friend he has grown to love and accept.

The North sees Shehu as the ideal candidate to wrestle powers from Pinnick but his continued reluctance is gradually forcing them to change strategy and think of a plan B.

What is the plan B? For now, three options are available.

The first is for the North to align with a strong political warhorse from the South West who has told everyone that cares to listen that he will emerge the next NFF president.

This former NFF General Secretary is a silent planner but also a very intelligent politician. He contested against Pinnick in the September 2014 elections and has embarked on a constant pilgrimage to the North in the last two months in his bid to fraternise with the power blocks and get them support his presidential ambition.

The Option Two: A few of the Northerners are also dancing with a strong billionaire from the East who is fast emerging as one of the most powerful football administrators in Africa.

He has a club, he is building a sports village in his home town in Anambra state and he has a football club and remains one of just two private clubs owners in the NPFL.

He took over ten FA chairmen to London last year in continuation of his companies’ partnership pact with West Ham United football club.

He has kept very close ties with the real power blocks in the North and he is gradually infiltrating the rank and files among them in a bid to finally getting them to support his presidential ambition.

He is a man who goes for whatever he wants and gets it, so his influence and power as an emerging APC stalwart can never be under estimated.

Already, one very strong NFF executive committee member is being positioned to run with him as his vice president and he has vowed to drag twenty or more delegates along in this fresh adventure.

The third option is looking like the most workable even though the pilot flying this plane has continued to deny interest or acceptance. He is described by many as the ‘Jagaban’ of Nigeria football. A friend of many and enemy to none.

He smiles at every joke and offers a handshake when necessary.  He is loved by the media, worshipped by his very close associates and respected by all.

Across board, this man is gradually building an empire that will in no time catapult him to the very top of the ladder.

He tells one anytime he is asked that he has no ambition ofbecoming the NFF president and that he is more comfortable as a king maker.

Indeed he is a kingmaker because he attends every function from naming ceremony to birthdays, to graduation and marriages ceremonies. He doles out money to the rich and poor and carries all the northern FA chairmen along in this his emerging football empire.

He is a threat to anyone if only he decides to run for the NFF presidential seat.

Other Options…

There is the unseen hand from the presidency that could change everything and pick a candidate loyal to the ruling party as NFF president.

There is also the story of an emerging strong ally between some members of the present board who already smell foul play and members of the Giwa team to truncate the process before the 2018 World Cup.

We also hear that a group is compiling documents to get the EFCC to disrupt the process and put a few people behind bars few weeks to the election.

All these options are open for consideration as the 2018 NFF elections draws closer.

For now though, everyone prefers to stay quiet as if all is well as they go about their scheming and politicking in the dark.

Fans of local football in Nigeria have enjoyed themselves like never before in the manner they have trooped to match venues to see the NPFL clubs do battle twice-a-week since the new season kicked.

The fans always knew a reward was waiting for them somewhere along the line as the season cruised on. What reward, anyway, could be more befitting than seeing some of the NPFL players starring in the Super Eagles as Nigeria continued preparation towards Russia 2018 World Cup?

They got a jolt, however, when the NFF released the list of Super Eagles’ players to engage Senegal and Burkina Faso in friendly games last month. Only one NPFL player, Ikechukwu Ezenwa of FC IfeanyiUbah, was invited.

Not even the NPFL’s free-scoring MFM FC striker, Stephen Odey, was considered as a fringe invitee among the 24 listed, although Odey had scored more than ten goals as at the time.

Blue murder, the local fans cried. But they were ignored by the NFF which seemed to declare a no-going-back stand. It should have been thought that the Super Eagles’ performance against Senegal would justify the NFF’s stand on shutting out the NPFL players.

But the “star-studded” team could only get a 1-1 result against the Senegalese in a scrappy game that the Eagles’ gaffer Gernot Rohr would describe as “eye-opener”, although he was only being economical with words after he virtually threw the team open to several new Europe-based entrants whom he hoped to give playing time in order to dissuade the countries of their residence from capping them.

It was just as unfortunate that the “new discoveries” could not be tested further as the second game against Burkina Faso was cancelled over logistic reasons.

But it did not stop Rohr from dropping a bomb shell that tended to foreclose invitation of the NPFL players to the Eagles in the near future, no matter how many Stephen Odeys continue to lighten up the league.

“Our best players are in Europe,” Rohr declared according to various reports.

Not that the Franco-German offered any cogent argument, anyway. Hear him: “The Lions of Senegal that we played had no single player based in the local league.”

He must have reckoned that the leagues in Senegal and Nigeria are at par in terms of talent and organisation, in addition to the fact that none of the Europe-based players he invited was a fringe player at his club. But, was this the case?

The London camping offered an incredibly free entry into the Eagles’ team such that top ranking journalist and columnist, Mumini Alao, titled a piece that address the loose arrangement “Super Eagles of England”.

El-Kanemi coach, Issa Ladan Bosso, not a man to mince words when the issue is the development of local players, expressed dismay last week on the shut-out of the MFM’s star forward, Odey.

“No matter that Stephen wouldn’t be fielded in the London friendly games, he still deserved to be invited as I believe it would spur him to excel further in the NPFL,” Bosso stated, although he knew he was little reckoned by the Nigeria football authorities.

Perhaps, as a face-saving move, Rohr arrived in Nigeria early in the first week of this month “to monitor players in the NPFL with a view to determining their suitability for the Super Eagles ahead of the Nations Cup 2019 qualifier with South Africa in June.”

He was also reported to have met with Odey, whereupon he assured the MFM forward of an invitation to the Eagles. But everyone knows that this is a ruse. The same Rohr had earlier been quoted to have said in London during the recent friendly games that he had listed a total of 40 European-born Nigerian players to be drafted in the months ahead as he continued to build what he called a formidable Eagles’ squad.

Without doubt, the onus rests on the NFF to draw a policy that would guarantee adequate representation of NPFL players in the Eagles’ team, moving forward, while also drawing measures at ensuring strict adherence to the policy.

In the meantime, it is either that the NPFL players settle for the lot at their disposal, that is, the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) or hop overseas in order to be considered for invitation to Eagles. Whether the Europe-based Eagles have real quality to compete is another matter entirely.