Salihu Ojibara is the former Chairman, Kwara Football Association and also the current Chairman of the electoral committee that will usher in new football administrators in the state. In this interview with MIKE ADEYEMI, he speaks on the need for the Kwara State Government to come up with a think tank on sports so as to move the industry forward. Excerpts:
What are your feelings about those jostling for Kwara FA position?
I was impressed when they appeared before me. I had the opportunity of talking to virtually all of them, and I felt that there is a future for the management of football in Kwara given the quality of the men that appeared before me. All of them have something to offer.
Are you saying with these candidates at the helm of Kwara FA, the lost glory of football can be redeemed?
That I may not be able to say, because this days, you can’t divorce the influence of FA Chairman viz-a-viz the government of the state in the benefits that football will derive. So, I believe that with the new dispensation ,there will be a kind of attention to football. Virtually all the people that stood before me have one link or the other with the government of the day.
And I believe in them, having told them that I was impressed with their dispositions. With those of us who personally have strong passion for the game, we will try to intercede. I just wish them good luck and the best.
As ex-Kwara FA chairman, are there any similarities or differences between then and now?
FA then, I mean during my own time, we were not holding elections like it were now. People then look at your records and then probably pick you.
In the early 80s, our football fathers in the state considered some of us who have potentials for FA management and brought us in believing that we were the future of football administration. When Pa Oladipo was the Chairperson, Alhaji Sehu Gafar was the deputy and Mr. Sanni of Tate and lyle. These were the people involved in football managements in the state then. So they considered it fits to bring some of us on board. Then I was an NTA chief Accountant, Kola Shittu, the engineer with Bukola Saraki and Alh. Ojulari of YUSFON – we were all in the same FA training us on how to manage football.
Maybe as it is now, the ministry and the FA are not working in tandem. They hardly do. During our time, the resources were not there, we depended solely on little income we had.
I remembered when Kwara United was banned from home to Calabar. We were leading the league table for seven weeks unbroken, it was unprecedented. I was the chairperson and the belief that you don’t have to loss matches away and win at home was in vogue. If you are good, you are good. We replicated that. But the power that be at the glass house in Abuja wanted Kwara United to lose at home because we were not coming to Abuja to see people. So, there was a match to be manipulated here, and on this note the fans took law into their hands. Then Col. Yabisu happened to be referee Chairman. They banned Kwara United to Calabar and that was how we lost that league. There were lots of problems bedeviled football then. But, now all that seems to have changed a little. There is supplication all over now. Two, I think the level of corruption has reduced now as a results of some balancing. People are now more enlightened. The men that appeared before me for the post of FA chairman are well informed about the quality of football in comparison to our time.
What policy on sports do you think Kwara State Government could come up with to bring about development in the industry?
It is unfortunate. If we go into the archives ,there are still some old hands that are available that can still be put into the service of the state. The new administration should form a think tank on sports. With this in place, there will be an assemblage of technocrats and they will look at the strategic approach that would lift sports industry forward in Kwara State.
When I was the chairperson, I charged the state on the need to have two stadia in all the local governments. One for primary school, and the other for secondary school.
In those days, Kwara presents 99 per cent of indigenous players contrary to now. Showcasing our players at all cadres of sports.
How would you rate Kwara in terms of sports development?
Kwara is receding. We can see it from the performance of our clubs. All along, Kwara is not meeting up. Then, Kwara play with passion and we are all proud of the state despite little resources. Kwara has come of age. Kwara should be able to stand. We have the talent here. Kwarans are playing for leading clubs across the globe. I believe we will get there soonest.
