By Ernest Osogbue

When the Nigeria Football Federation NFF, announced the hiring of former Mali manager, Eric Chelle, as the new coach of the Super Eagles, not a few eyebrows were raised. From Sokoto to Maiduguri, and from Abeokuta to Calabar, voices were raised in surprise. Who is Eric Chelle? Nigerians asked, what is his coaching pedigree? What is his football background? These and many other questions were thrown at random by football loving Nigerians, who believe that with the quality of players available to the Super Eagles, and the type of football Nigerians want to see, only a football coach with a credible CV should handle the Eagles.

From all indications, the NFF expected the backlash from Nigerians, and was prepared for the massive resistance to the announcement. This leads me to believe that those who sponsored Eric Chelle’s appointment, must be very powerful football figures, either within the NFF, or within the Nigerian football fraternity. Within minutes of the announcement, there was an unprecedented media blitz, targeted at selling Chelle to Nigerians at any cost.

With the voices of football loving Nigerians screaming against the appointment, the NFF, went to town with its preplanned counteroffensive. Wherever there were dissenting voices, you were sure to hear a notable football voice going against the general complaint. FIFA Council member and former NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, was in the forefront of the NFF counteroffensive. He took the battle to the Arise News Channel, where he extolled the virtues of Eric Chelle to the rooftop. Most people, though, took Pinnick’s praises with a pinch of salt, recalling that the same Pinnick, had some years ago, presented Sunday Oliseh, as the African Pep Guardiola. A toga which Oliseh could not sustain for even a few months, before things went awry. Other notable voices that supported the Chelle announcement include Chris Green, a former NFF board member. Former African footballer of the year, Victor Ikpeba, a member of the NFF Technical Committee, threw his weight behind the appointment, as did former Super Eagles striker, Julius Aghahowa. The number of sports journalists who wrote verses chanting Chelle’s qualification to lead the Super Eagles, are too numerous to mention, so I will leave their names out, but remark that they were plentiful.

Come Monday 13th January 2025, at the media center of the MKO Abiola National Stadium, the venue   for the unveiling of Chelle, you could feel something was in the air. The extra security around the stadium, sent a clear message to mischief makers, that it would not be their day. On the WhatsApp platform of the Sportswriters Association of Nigeria SWAN, FCT chapter, a battle of those for, and those against the appointment, had been bitterly fought, until that very morning, with neither side calling a truce.   

Despite that battle, however, sportswriters besieged the venue of the unveiling, with a battery of television cameras in evidence, as the sports crew of both local and international television stations waited to capture every moment of the occasion. Before then, sports journalists had discussed in muted tones, whether President Tinubu would support a Malian, bearing in mind the current political tensions in ECOWAS, where Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, have rebelled against Tinubu’s headship of the regional body, by dissociating themselves from it. Some wondered whether regional politics could scuttle the appointment. The NFF, as a footnote, ensured that journalists were aware that Chelle has a French father, and should therefore be considered a Frenchman. The five matches Chelle played for the Malian national team, however, gives the lie to this argument, as he remains Malian in football terms.

Back to our unveiling; from the onset, you could tell that the NFF did not want anything to go wrong. With a purported protest by the National Association of Nigerian Students NANS, hanging in the air, and a general discontentment with the entire Chelle situation by the public, one could understand the heightened security at the venue. The entire top brass of the NFF, was in attendance, as a mark of solidarity, alongside the chairman of the NSC, Shehu Dikko. For a moment, Eric Chelle seemed lost in the midst of Nigerian football dignitaries, but by expressing himself in English, and stating his love for the Super Eagles, he endeared himself to some journalists.

Finally, the contract was signed, and the NFF have won, or so it seemed. Fast-forward a few days later, however, and Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, one of Nigeria’s football icons, fires a salvo at the NFF for lacking the love of football. He accused the NFF of being populated by politicians, who only see football through a political lens. He rounded off by saying that trophies would be elusive to Nigeria under such administrators. Segun Odegbami, another football hero, said he has been stunned into silence by the choice of Eric Chelle. According to him, he would adopt a siddon look attitude, until Chelle proved himself. There are also reports that legendary Super Eagles front man, Kanu Nwankwo, is also not sitting pretty with the appointment, with the Enyimba FC chairman, voicing his disapproval to close associates.

From all indications, the battle line has been drawn, between the NFF, and those skeptical about Chelle. Majority of Nigerians are baffled at how the NFF has loudly backed Chelle, when it was unwilling to back Finidi George, while his tenure lasted. The question then is; does the NFF hate Nigeria’s ex-internationals? The answer is neither here nor there, suffice it to say that what I’ll term “the ides of March,” to borrow from William Shakespeare, is just around the corner. With two crucial World Cup qualifying fixtures, in March, against Rwanda and Zimbabwe, the NFF and Eric Chelle have their work cut out for them. They must beware of those two matches in March.

Nothing but victory will satisfy Nigerians. Especially those criticizing the choice of Chelle. There will be no room for propaganda, as the performance of the Super Eagles in those games, would determine whether Eric Chelle and the NFF would survive. For now, many silent voices are watching and waiting, while expecting the worst, and hoping for the best. It follows therefore, that until the successful prosecution of those two fixtures, it is not yet Uhuru for Eric Chelle and the NFF.