In a series of interviews he granted Tunde Busari in his Adegboye Onigbinde Crescent residence, Felele, Ibadan, late Chief Adegboye Onigbinde reflected on diverse but related issues, especially his contact with disappointments in his struggles to bring change to Nigerian football. Excerpts
You’re Festus Adegboye Onigbinde. But you seem to play down Festus. Why?
I don’t play it down but I don’t recognise it as my name because I don’t feel the impact of the name on my spiritual being. Unlike Adegboye Onigbinde, two names which convey meanings that speak about my birth, my root and my history, Festus is not me, hence my disregard to it. When late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, both learned, realised their colonial names did not add to their beings, they dropped them. Awolowo was christened Jeremahia while Azikiwe was Benjamin. Did you ever see or hear any of them carrying the names till they left? Also important, if you won’t mind, is the fact that I am not convinced by some doctrines of Christainity.
Really?
Yes. For example, who is satan? Where is heaven?Where is hell? These, to me, are human creations to control little minds, with due respect to those who believe these things. God has blessed me with enough intellectual capacity to separate truth from illusion.
You sound really odd here, sir. Are you an atheist?
What is that? Well, that depends on how you decide to perceive me or the category you want to place me. What is more important to me is my convinction about what I do to my fellows. What I keep in my mind is important to me. That is why I am always at peace with myself. Without any intermidiary, I communicate with God, my creator, and He listens to me all the time. This is enough for me. So, am I an atheist?
How did you come about coaching?
I was first a player as a pupil, then a coach/player and finally full time coach.
Don’t you think there is need to break this down?
It is like you want me to tell you full story of my beginning. I was a pupil of St Stephen Primary School in Modakeke. I must say that I started school late; I was 10 years already playing, jumping and doing other physical exercises with my senior at home. During break time, we used to play football during which teachers would select players they thought were fit to be in school team. I was selected from early class but when it was time for me to join others at evening training, I would be nowhere to be found. That was so because as soon as I arrived home after school hour, I would carry my drum and follow my father to outings. Even if we did not go for outings, we would go to farm. What it meant was that I was unable to play for my school, even in a single match. Isn’t it ironic that I eventually became a football person in life, despite that constraint? That is the handiwork of God who has perfected His work on his creatures. There is nothing anybody can do without God’s approval. This is what I tell parents about their little children. I tell parents this story recently at a church service in my hometown. I told them that each child has in him special talent. I encouraged the parents to allow the child to express the talent. That is where the white have got it right. They identify individual talent from childhood and help the child to build it.
I still want you to connect that gap with your career.
I proceeded to St Peters Teachers Training in Ilesa where I read Grade III. I was there between 1956 and 1957. We were 29 pioneer students, and we were compelled to form school team. That gave me opportunity to express my potentials in full. It was a boarding school outside my hometown, meaning there was no more distraction after school hour. After I had passed out, I returned home and became teacher at the same primary school which I had earlier attended.
You were back to distraction again, I guess?
No. I was a teacher. That status had conferred on me a kind of immunity because teachers were well respected in the society. So, I was not called to drum functions again. After teaching for two years, I gained admission into St Lukes, Molete in Ibadan where I had my Grade II. At St Lukes, I was coach/captain in my final year in 1961. Something happened thereafter in the same year which made me to believe further that God’s hand was in my career. The late Teslim Balogun organised a coaching course at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, and I was one of the 23 who attended it in 1961. But before then I had my Grade III Referee course in 1958. In 1962, I was also coach/player for Ijesa Divisional Team. When I gained another admission into the Rural Education College (School of agricultural science) in Akure, I was also playing for Akure Divisional Team. You can see I had a humble background which God helped me to grow to the apex. What else should I ask God to do after all He has done for me in the game of football? At every crucial point of my career, God would show his hands and lift me to another level He felt I deserved to be. Should I say how a non-Nigerian recommended me for CAF job in 1988? Should I remember how I also got FIFA job in 1998? What of my job at Trinidad and Tobago in the early 2000? Looking back to those years and all those events, I cannot but give glory to God.
I once heard you talking about sabotage in football. Have you personal experience?
I am a victim of it; let me even say I am used to sabotage in Nigerian football. It is one of many reasons our football is not growing, despite talents with which we are blessed by God. Many countries of the world pray for such blessing but don’t have. That is how God does His work. He favours whom He wishes to favour. It does not mean He has forgotten others. He believes in doing things in His own way. Ultimately, everybody would be happy at the end of the day.
Can you expatiate on your sabotage experience?
Time has healed that chapter of my history, more so those involved are no longer alive to either controvert or deny my claim. Can you imagine somebody telling you to your face that were he in the country during your interview for your country’s national team job, he would have stopped your appointment because he already had his own candidate for the job, qualified or not qualified? I only went to greet that man in his office after he had returned to the country, and the next thing he said to me in plain language was ‘don’t bother to greet me. You are only lucky that I was away.’ Can you believe that the person meant what he said? He was well connected within the corridor of power. He used his influence and was desperate to change the decision until he was told to allow me do my job because I was the best among seven candidates interviewed. They told him that the job was an experiment to assess capacity of indigenous coaches. They said in that context, only the best should be given the job to have a fair assessment. That was how he gave up his struggle to deny me that job.
Do you have idea of why you were adjudged the best?
I would not know. All I know was that I was the only person who really prepared for that interview.
Why would you say this?
I can recollect that 60 of us applied for that job. Out of seven shortlisted, I was the only candidate who went into the interview session with a 15-page paper on Two-year development programme for the national team.
How did you know other candidates did not prepare?
We met ourselves before the interview; majority of them brought no sheet of paper to the place. It was when they saw me that they were looking for sheets to scribble something.
What did you score in the end?
I scored an aggregate of 84%. The next person to me was Coach Alabi Essien who scored 65%.
How did you get to know your score?
After the interview, I returned to Ibadan where I continued my job. One day, I just felt that I should go to greet the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) Secretary, Yinka Okeowo. Getting to his office, I met other visitors but on sighting me, he just announced to other people that ‘please, meet the new coach of our national team.’ I did not know what to say. I just stood transfixed thinking he was just joking. He took me into his office and showed me the score and congratulated me. That was how I got to know.
You must have really impressed the interview panel to have emerged number one. What was your impression while the interview was going on?
What I can vividly recall was that while I was presenting and analyzing my paper on two-year development programme, they were all listening attentively like serious students in classroom do. At a point, the head of the panel, Kentebe, had to drop his pen on table and exclaimed that ‘this man has swapped our role, teaching us instead of the other way round.’ I realised that my teaching experience assisted me in preparing the paper. In my paper, I broke down training programme from year to month; from month to week; from week to days.
After you had seen you score, did it occur to you that there would be any obstacle?
I must confess that when they asked indigenous coaches to apply for the job, I had my reservation and I expressed it. I was national officer of Nigerian Coaches Association and chairman of Oyo State branch in Ibadan. We were holding a meeting at the UAC Ground, which is now Teslim Balogun Stadium, opposite National Stadium when the news came that for the first time, indigenous coaches would be given a chance to coach the then Green Eagles. We were even mocking ourselves. When I returned to Ibadan and told my members, they said I should apply but I asked them that ‘whom did I know to connect me?’ So, I was not interested. But I later submitted my application after the closure of submission.
At the Abidjan 84, late Muda Lawal was a odd number among the youngsters you took to the tournament. How did it happen?
Yes, Muda Lawal was the only old member of the Green Eagles in that team. When I brought the players together, I felt I needed a Mudal Lawal and I reached out to him. He did not hesitate. He told me he would come, and the following day, he was in the camp.
What change did he bring to the team?
In fact, as soon as he had arrived the camp, the mood among players changed; some of them seeing him physically for the first time. You know Muda was naturally a lively person; no discrimination, he just loved football and his team mates. He blended easily with the young players before and during the tournament in Abidjan. You can recall his role till we reached the final against Cameroon. He scored the first amd our lone goal in that final. He played with confidence and assurance because he was familiar with Cameroon players. Left for Muda, that cup was ours.
Then what happened that you lost the cup?
Sabotage within the team cost us that important match, and it was frustrating and very painful. I was looking forward to prove to the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari that we had indigenous coaches who could save the country money splashed on foreign coaches.
How?
My players were penetrated by an external force within Nigeria; some of them sold out in the morning of that match. It is a long story I would reserve for my memoir. I have moved on and, in fact, forgiven those involved, especially those who are already late now. There is no need to go back to that story. But I insist, I paraded players who could have easily beaten Cameroon. Muda, and a few others, was not part of the sabotage; he just entered the match with a mindset to win that cup for Nigeria and for me to prove that a Nigerian coach could win international cups for the country.
Why was late Stephen Keshi, and not Muda Lawal, the captain of that team?
That was the reality of that moment; don’t forget, majority of the players were Keshi’s mates from principal cup days in Lagos. A good coach must consider this in order to have a united team. And left for Muda Lawal, he was not hungry. All he wanted was playing, playing and playing. He could play two matches at a go. He was such a strong and dedicated player on and off the field. It is doubtful to have such a true lover of football again in this country with what I see every day.
Can you then say Nigeria is doomed, as regards development of football based on your personal experiences?
I should not use that word, considering my age. But the truth of the whole thing is that with the way we have done things, nothing serious would happen to our football. I watched the international friendly against Algeria the other time and said to myself that I would not waste my time again. I cannot continue to say the same thing all the time. I have written and submitted volumes of papers to them and government. What happened to those papers which I spent days to put together? How else can one love his country? The situation in which we are now requires me to take a break out of public glare and watch from the rear. I shed tears on a day I entered NFA office and found some of my papers scattered on the floor. It simply confirmed that football here is in a mess. What we do here is nothing but a joke. Is it possible to conduct examination when pupils are not taught lesson? That is what they do here in what they call league. Team play against one another without adequate planning!
I learnt you were invited to return to the Shooting Stars at a point?
Late Oyo State Governor Lam Adesina invited me and expressed his willingness to turn the team around; he said I was the one in his mind to deliver. Then, I accepted the offer and began the work.
What happened in the course of that job?
It was a complicated experience. Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola also invited me to Osogbo where we discussed what to do to develop sports generally in the state. What ended it too? Oyo State Governor,
His Excellency, Seyi Makinde also invited me and said beautiful things about me. What happened in the end? (Smiling)
I can see a pattern in these experiences. What did you suspect?
I did not suspect anything other than the usual Nigerian factor. Our people are difficult; the moment they see someone they know won’t uncompromise, they go into action and do anything to block the person. When Governor Makinde was saying good things about me, within me, I felt it that he would not be able to go beyond that because of my previous experiences. And he confirmed my prediction. Perhaps, he would invite me tomorrow.
The Korea/Japan World Cup and you. What happened?
It was simply a national assignment and nothing more to add or substract from there.
Did you lobby for the job?
That is an insult. Lobbying for what with all God had done for my career before then? I was a member of the FIFA Technical Committee at that time. I was not out of job. I would be at that world cup ordinarily in my capacity as a FIFA official. So, the issue of lobbying for eagles coach did not arise. The NFF drafted me to the team after the incident at the African Nations Cup in Mali. The NFF wanted the team rebuilt, and that was the terms of reference. I informed the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter who had so much confidence in me and never hidden it among our people from different countries. Blatter was happy, and he gave me approval to go ahead and assist my country to rebuild the team because that was what I was doing for the FIFA, development.
Did you achieve that development with the team’s failure to play beyond the first round?
The result is there for you to see. Didn’t you see Femi Opabunmi in that team? Didn’t you see Austin Enyeama in the goal and his performance against England? Didn’t Enyeama later become the longest-serving goalkeeper? Enyeama didn’t know he would be at goal until the morning of the match. He was just discovered from league match at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos and brought to me. That was how he broke into the team. Didn’t you also see Okocha playing for the team rather than his usual individual style? Didn’t he get a better contract with Bolton Wanderers after the world cup? What of Yobo Joseph and a couple of other new players? Didn’t Yobo Joseph later become captain of the team? Those players, who were angry and saying all sorts of things, especially that defender who allowed Argentine and Swedish attackers scoring us, were those who felt their age automatically confered on them right to play. And that is not my principle of football. Each member of my team, regardless of his age, is qualified to be called to play in any match. Going by statistics of matches played under me, we played seven friendly matches before the world cup, we won five, we drew two and lost none. We beat Ireland in their home match. What would you call this result given the limited time we had to prepare? I love picking players from home and mixing them with few outstanding foreign-based. This policy gives me joy and a clear road to my destination. Unfortunately, we lack that patience to groom and blend these players for greater results in major tournaments.
Are you aware that you were criticised for sitting permanently on the bench during matches when you ought to stand and direct players as other coaches did at the world cup?
That sounds funny to me whenever I hear such complaint. A coach, who has taught his players what to do and how to do it before they file out for a match, has no business shouting, disturbing and confusing the players on the pitch. That was what I didn’t do, and for which I owe nobody apology. What I owe everybody is education as an instructor.
Would it be correct to then say you didn’t go to the world cup with a mindset to win the cup?
(Smiling) I have said it that my term of reference was presenting a team, under three months, for the world cup, a team that would show us a direction to future development of the game. And that was what I precisely did. Go and check again the list of the players that made that team.
With remarkable strides you have achieved in your coaching career, whom would you consider as your greatest influence?
You must be asking me to tell you about late Teslim Balogun who was popularly called Thunderbolt. The Obafemi Awolowo government brought him home from England and he became head coach. He was touring Western Region divisions when he spotted me and picked an interest in my talent as one who would do well as a manager of players. I think I have said it that he encouraged me to attend my first coaching course in 1961. I developed on that training till I formally joined the Western State Sports Council in 1974. Then, I relocated from Ile-Ife to Ibadan where I started the new job and became whom I am today. I always say it that Thunder Balogun was the greatest footballer Nigeria has ever produced. I had the opportunity to watch his game, especially the match, Nigeria versus England in 1968, at the Olubadan Stadium in Ibadan here. In that match, he scored an unbelievable goal that shook the whole stadium.
You are regarded as a strict, unbending coach, who does not have many friends. What is your philosophy of life?
My philosophy is very simple. Whatever I attempt to have but which I don’t have, I leave it to God because only God makes things happen. It is on record that I never struggled or showed desperation to get any job, either home or outside Nigeria.
Have you some words to Nigerians?
They should all seek forgiveness from God because our ways are not ways of God. I encountered a preacher in my neighbourhood one day. I asked him some questions in the Bible, he contradicted himself. Yet, he has followers who look up to him. Nigerians should beg God to forgive us because here if you cannot tell lies and more of it, you would be frustrated. I was not brought up and trained to defend falsehood, so I stick to the truth, regardless of whose ox is gored. Those who went after me because I stood against lies, I have forgiven them because my God is a forgiving God. At my age, all I need now is peace, and you don’t have the peace if you still see somebody as your enemy. I have done my best and left the rest to God, who is the best, in the first place.
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