When teams lose important matches, the natural reaction is to regroup and begin looking for ways to fix what is broken. It is almost an unwritten rule that, in times of crisis, every hand must be on deck and every available brain put to good use to arrest the situation.
For Enyimba, however, events between Sunday evening and Monday evening told a completely different story.
For perspective, what we heard yesterday did not start yesterday. It did not start on Sunday, and it certainly did not begin this season. What we are seeing is reportedly the latest chapter of something that has been brewing since January, with some accounts even tracing the disagreement back to the first season of the Kanu Nwankwo administration. Success, they say, brings its own battles, and if the reports coming out of the club are anything to go by, the struggle for control may now be doing serious damage to Enyimba.
At the centre of the reported power tussle is the struggle for influence over the running of the club between the sports commissioner and the club chairman, with the African Football League prize money reportedly featuring prominently in allegations flying around both sides. These remain allegations, and they should be treated as such. What is increasingly difficult to ignore, however, is the apparent effect the continuing disagreement is having on the football club.
Back in January, when Enyimba were battling relegation, the then Sporting Director reportedly accused some members of the club’s management of making his job increasingly difficult by taking away responsibilities he believed were necessary for him to deliver results. He subsequently resigned, while the current coach and a new Sporting Director were appointed directly by the state government, bypassing the club chairman’s usual route in the process.
That development appeared to create a crack in the running of the club.
The sports commissioner became a more regular presence at Enyimba matches, while the chairman was less visible on matchdays. Somehow, Enyimba survived on the final day, and there was hope that the subsequent break would provide an opportunity to call a truce, mend fences and rebuild the club.
Instead, if what has emerged since then is anything to go by, the break may have been used more for repositioning and rebuilding personal structures. Kanu returned to a stronger position within the club’s affairs, while the Sporting Director reportedly began to feel increasingly like an outsider.
Then came Sunday.
Following the disappointing home defeat to Inter Lagos, the Sporting Director was allegedly assaulted by some club officials attached to the stadium management over allegations that he had celebrated the defeat. After reportedly escaping the incident, he returned on Monday with the police, leading to the arrest of some of those allegedly involved.
The development subsequently disrupted the team’s training session, while the club chairman reportedly moved the team to the Rapid Response Squad facility in Aba in an effort to secure the release of members of his staff who had been arrested.
Whatever the circumstances surrounding the incident, the timing could hardly be worse.
Enyimba are yet to win a single match this season. We have already lost to two newly promoted sides and now face another home fixture against a newly promoted team almost immediately. In the middle of all this, the club is dealing with an internal struggle that has spilled beyond the boardroom and into the team’s daily football activities.
This is not what a club trying to recover from a difficult period needs.
No Enyimba fan wants this for the club. And to see it happening this early in a season in which we expected a renewed fight to reclaim our glory leaves a particularly bad taste. We should be discussing tactics, recruitment, player development, results and how to get the team back to winning ways.
Instead, we are discussing arrests, power struggles and who controls what. We are setting the cart before the horse. At this point, I believe it is high time the governor intervened decisively. Whatever differences exist between the various factions have seemingly gone beyond the point where the parties can independently find a lasting solution.
If necessary, the people at the centre of the dispute should be kept away from one another and, more importantly, away from anything that can further destabilise the football team, until a proper resolution is found.
The club needs peace. The players need concentration. The technical crew needs time to work. The administration needs to function. And the supporters need a team they can believe in. What worries me most immediately, however, is that a vital training session has already been lost in the middle of all this, leaving the team with barely a day to prepare for the visit of Sporting Lagos.
That is the part nobody should lose sight of. The politics can be settled. The allegations can be investigated. The disagreements can be resolved. But the next match is coming whether the club is ready or not. Hopefully, we can put all of this behind us long enough to get the job done on the pitch and halt this consecutive 0–1 scoreline against Lagos sides.
Enyimba Enyi!
