Nigeria: Jonathan Reviews Ban Decision
President Goodluck Jonathan announced on June 30th that he has banned the nation’s football team from participating in international competitions for two years following their poor performance at the World Cup. The team came bottom of their group having gained just one point from all three matches, no doubt a disappointment to all who had great belief in them.
One cannot help but speculate, however, that Dr Jonathan is having a kneejerk reaction. Surely the best thing for the national squad would not be to punish them further but acknowledge their shortcomings and encourage them to continue their progress in the future. How can the team ever hope to play well together if they can’t even practice together?
Jonathan, however, appears to have seen the error of his ways and revealed on June 5th that he has overturned his decision, instead allowing the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to rebuild and strengthen the side. Two of NFF’s top officials have already been sacked to appease the president. Jonathan’s actions come after FIFA threatened to expel his country from international football if the government interfered. One would like to think that he also spared a thought for the millions of football fans in Nigeria who would undoubted have been devastated at the proposed ban.
President Jonathan had said that the ban was necessary to “enable the country to put its house in order”.
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