I have just finished reading an article rolled out by the club’s social media ants titled WAR IN ABA.
For a moment, I genuinely thought I was reading the script of the next movie blockbuster. Mutineers. Ghost players. Sacred cows. Hollywood heists. Government conspiracies. Bazookas. Social media influencers.
By the time I reached the end, I was still waiting for one thing. Football.
That, unfortunately, is the biggest problem with the club’s latest communication strategy. The article spends hundreds of words attacking the character of players, former staff etc. Yet it says almost nothing about why Enyimba flirted with relegation until the final day, why supporters endured one of the worst seasons in our recent history, what exactly is being done to ensure it never happens again, or why, season after season, players are allowed to leave for free as long as they forgo money allegedly owed to them.
That is the real scandal. Not the noise from departing players, but a system that appears comfortable losing assets for nothing while unpaid obligations are quietly used as the price of exit. Apparently, the problem was everybody else. How convenient.
Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that every allegation in that article is true. Every single one. The obvious question still remains: Who recruited these players? Who renewed their contracts? Who entrusted them with the captain’s armband? Who kept selecting them? Who supervised the dressing room? Who ran the football club while all this alleged mutiny, sabotage, incompetence and political interference was taking place? Leadership cannot claim every success and outsource every failure.
If Enyimba had won the league, we all know who would have accepted the praise. So why should everyone else carry the blame for finishing 13th? What amused me most was the article’s attempt to dismiss match bonuses as pocket money; a voluntary “Pat on the back” that players should gratefully accept whenever management feels generous. That is either ignorance or deliberate mischief.
Match bonuses are put in players’ contracts. The club may have discretion while negotiating the amount and conditions, but once those terms have been agreed and the players have earned the bonus, it is no longer a favour. It becomes an obligation. You cannot promise players a reward for playing a match and then call their demand for payment a rebellion. That is not how professional football works.
If there is a genuine dispute over salaries, bonuses or allowances, resolve it professionally. Produce the relevant agreements. Provide the payment records. Meet with the players and settle the matter properly. Do not send out planted articles filled with insults, mockery and cartoon villains.
Let’s talk about the attacks on individual players. One was injury-prone. Another was a ghost. Another could not defend. Another was politically connected. Another one a rebel. Perhaps some of those players were not good enough. Perhaps some should have left the club long ago. But if your rebuilding exercise begins with publicly humiliating everyone on their way out, then what exactly has changed?
Big clubs release players and move on. They do not commission dramatic epics explaining why every departing player was useless, treacherous or ungrateful.
Meanwhile, I have a few questions of my own.
Who is the substantive head coach? Is someone ringing up Eguma again? What is the recruitment plan?
How is the squad being strengthened especially as you’re yet again losing the stalwarts in the team? What lessons were learned from last season? What concrete changes have been made after Enyimba nearly went down?
Instead of answers, we are handed a theatrical production titled WAR IN ABA.
Forgive me if I am not entertained.
A Scripture comes to mind. When Cain became angry, God asked him a simple question:
“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” — Genesis 4:7
There is the answer to all this noise. If this administration does what is right, will it not be praised? If it recruits wisely, will we not praise it? If it appoints a competent coach, will we not praise it? If it treats players professionally, will we not praise it? If it restores discipline, unity and dignity to Enyimba, will we not praise it? If it returns the club to competing for trophies instead of celebrating survival, will supporters not sing its praises? Of course they will.
Nobody will need anonymous writers, social media warriors or carefully crafted hit pieces to defend the administration. The supporters will do that themselves because praise does not require propaganda.
It requires performance.
So let the club leave the bazookas, sacred-cow barbecues and Nollywood scripts alone. Fix this Football Club. Run it like a Professional club for once. Do what is right. The praise will come naturally.
EnyimbaEnyi.
