By Ernest Osogbue

I was recently reminded of the resilience of Alhaji Shehu Dikko, when tongues started wagging, amongst sportswriters, as to the exodus of Nigerian footballers abroad, after the qualification of the Super Eagles team B for the Championship of African Nations CHAN. Players like Daniel Daga of Enyimba; Sodiq Ismail, and Jide Fatokun, of Remo Stars; and Papa Daniel of Niger Tornadoes, were instrumental to the team’s qualification, but have recently traveled abroad, for greener pastures. There is the fear that the team could fumble at the CHAN, if the best players are not available for selection.  

The championship, to be hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, kicks off on 1st February, and sports journalists were hoping that the team could do well, so as to banish the ghosts of recent failures, by Nigeria, at international competitions. The transfer of these players who could help the team, is therefore a cause for concern.

When I saw the reports attributing the transfer of the players to poverty and the low pay in the Nigerian Premier Football League NPFL, I laughed. It was then I recalled a parley the chairman of the defunct League Management Company LMC, held with sportswriters at the media center of the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, soon after the Bumi Haruna led faction of the Sportswriters Association of Nigeria SWAN, FCT, was inaugurated, a few years ago.

Alhaji Shehu Dikko, had arrived that meeting in a dark grey suit, if my memory serves me correctly. He was calm and amiable, as he greeted his friends amongst the sports journalists. I was given the honor of moderating the occasion, as I took questions from the journalists and passed them on to the LMC chairman, who answered them to the best of his knowledge.

At the back of my mind, and that of my colleagues, was the nagging question of why Nigerian clubs no longer did well in CAF competitions? At the time, Nigerian clubs had made a habit of not making it to the group stages of CAF competitions, not to talk of winning them. Shehu Dikko had smiled on hearing the question and adjusted himself on the straight-backed chair on which he sat. Like a lion surveying its prey, he took a moment to look around the silent conference room, at the eager faces of sportswriters awaiting his answer.

First, he acknowledged the importance of the CAF Champions League, and the CAF Confederations Cup. According to him, no one could dismiss the importance of those competitions, as they were the premier club competitions in African football. However, in his estimation, every nation had a right to determine what was its priority. He cited example with South Africa, which at the time, prioritized the MTN 8, Carling Knockout Cup, and other local championships, over CAF competitions.

According to Dikko, he had observed that football talents abounded in their thousands, if not in their millions, across Nigeria. In that wise, it would be a disservice to the nation at large, and the families of those talented footballers in particular, if their talents were not exposed to the world. As a result, he had determined that the export of football talents was Nigeria’s priority. Dikko, told sportswriters, that from research, he had discovered that Brazil was the highest exporter of football talents. His target therefore, was for Nigeria to rival Brazil as the highest exporter of football talents in the world.

He went ahead to expatiate on his vision, by estimating the foreign exchange earned by Brazil from the transfer of footballers annually. According to him, with dwindling oil revenues, football could be Nigeria’s next oil, if his vision was supported. What he planned to do therefore, was to ensure that Nigeria continued to fulfil her obligations to CAF, by presenting representatives for its various competitions. If the teams do well, fine, but if they failed, there should be no cause for alarm, as Nigerians should focus on the bigger picture, of making football the biggest foreign exchange earner for the country.

At the end of his presentation, sportswriters were left divided. While some were skeptical about the workability of such a bold strategy, there were those who agreed with his vision. In September 2022, however, a big hammer fell on the LMC. The organization was declared illegal by the federal government, in line with a judicial pronouncement. It was believed at the time, that Dikko and his vision for Nigerian football, have been consigned to the dustbin of history. But those who thought so, did so, without reckoning with Dikko’s resilience.  

After packing his bags from the LMC offices in Garki, Abuja, with his tail between his legs in embarrassment, Dikko went underground. While his enemies jubilated in different corners, exchanging high-fives in celebration of his fall from grace, Dikko quietly set about plotting his redemption. His chance came following a disastrous Paris Olympic Games performance by team Nigeria. The Nigerian Olympic contingent had returned from Paris without even a wooden medal, talk more of gold, silver or bronze. Instead, the team returned with disgraceful tales of woe. Having pumped billions of Naira into the team, President Tinubu was left no option, but to issue a red card to the Federal Ministry of Sports Development. Alhaji Shehu Dikko, was subsequently named the Chairman of the National Sports Commission NSC, an organization charged with overseeing the entirety of sports in Nigeria.

Dikko’s traducers were blindsided. They had laid booby traps for him at the NFF, expecting another run at the NFF presidency. Unknown to them, Dikko had bigger fish to fry. He simply sidestepped their traps, and popped up, not only as their boss, but as the generalissimo of Nigerian sports. Like a cat with nine lives, Shehu Dikko is soaring where only eagles dare. What a comeback! What a redemption!

From all indications, therefore, making football Nigeria’s number one foreign exchange earner is still on the Shehu Dikko agenda. So, don’t complain if the home-based footballer you saw yesterday, suddenly starts speaking phonee the next morning, as he boards a flight for greener pastures. Simply understand   that the Shehu Dikko vision is being actualized.