President Bola Ahmed Tinubu might not have been seen openly following football like many Nigerians, but on 27 August he left no one in doubt that he was reading the minds of the average football lover in the country. Some days before that date, a news story had filtered through one or two front pages of popular newspapers indicating that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) had flagged investigations into the conduct of the Glass House, headquarters of Nigeria’s football in Abuja. As the probe intensified, pressure mounted on the occupants of the Glass House. By 27 August, the bubble burst when the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau, announced at a press conference in Abuja that he was vacating his seat. The Secretary of the NFF Board, Mohammed Sanusi, followed suit, as did the entire board of the Federation. Two reasons were openly adduced for their resignations: the persistent failures of Nigerian teams at international engagements, and the financial scrutiny being undertaken by the DSS, NIA and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
I was one of the happiest people to hear of the fall of the wall of Jericho of Nigerian football – the Glass House. This is a place that has become a coven, so to speak. They did all the bad things and yet went scot-free every time. One case that was mentioned concerned a FIFA Goal Project worth millions of United States dollars that yielded only a field fit for grazing cattle in Kebbi State. The football administrators defended the heist, and nothing more was heard of it. We have seen football administrators forget the kits of national-team players in Abuja or Lagos and condemn footballers to converting their tracksuits into makeshift kits. There is virtually no evil that Nigerians have not seen in the management of football in this country. Despite all the terrible incidents they have visited on the public, the administrators have gone home smiling each time. In the wake of the consistent failures to qualify the senior national team for the World Cup finals in 2022 and 2026, the NFF felt no shame. The Glass House merely extended the same discourtesy to the female national team, which lost what had become its birthright – representation of Africa at the global women’s soccer tournament since 1991. Even then, the administrators only decided to set up a fact-finding team, which was more like asking one set of wrongdoers to report on another. One wonders how the reports of such a team would ever be implemented.
All hope had appeared lost, as the people of the Glass House had become untouchable. Former Green Eagles captain Mathematical Segun Odegbami was one of the first voices to rail against the bad deeds there. He alleged that the planned election at the Glass House was going to be a coronation of sorts, because the then president had already been endorsed by more than two-thirds of the state chairmen. It is a pity that, even as bad as the situation was, the state FA chairmen were not ashamed that the football administrators were leading the nation’s football astray. Then I heard Adokiye Amiesimaka, another former great of the Green Eagles era, and Austin Okocha all speak against the maladministration of the Glass House.
I was shocked by the commentaries I heard on one sports programme in the wake of Odegbami’s intervention. The young football analysts said that the veteran footballer was merely ranting because the law was there to protect Gusau and his team, even though they were known to be dragging the nation’s football backwards. Somehow, many sports reporters and analysts in the country had concluded that football administrators can do as they please. They are seen as untouchable because, if the government is perceived to interfere with football, the global governing body FIFA would sanction the country.
That was the thinking when the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to dissolve the football house and place a two-year moratorium on all footballing activities following persistent failures in that era. The outcry was that FIFA sanctions would land on the nation’s football and that we might never be the same again. That has always been the threat against every attempt to right the ubiquitous wrongs surrounding our football.
And that is why I like what the Tinubu government did in August. The elders say that if an abiku child has perfected the act of dying in the dry season, the parent too must cultivate the art of burying it by the riverside. The scenario is not a strict green field at all. Ask FIFA itself, and the European football body, how Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were removed from the helm of their organisations. Looking at the Blatter and Platini cases, I have always known that if an administration is determined to remove the cabals in the Glass House or elsewhere, nothing can truly stand in its way. Was the investigation that led to the removal of Blatter not spearheaded by government agencies? Did FIFA go to the World Court or the Court of Arbitration for Sport to claim interference? As long as Gusau, or anyone heading the football body, is a citizen of this country, he cannot claim immunity from its laws – especially when the agency involved is run with government money. So enough of the hoopla about government interference in football or sports; welcome the Tinubu intervention. Having made Nigerians happy with the first steps, the EFCC, DSS and NIA should not terminate their probe halfway. The removal of the people in the Glass House is not the destination for our football; it is merely a means of getting to the roots of what ails the nation’s game. Here is one sport that unites the nation and brings smiles to the faces of all, yet it continues to be madly mismanaged by cabals who hide under a non-existent FIFA umbrella. The question they fail to answer is this: if FIFA tolerates incompetent administrators so readily, how come UEFA and FIFA themselves are so well managed that their returns on investment always run into billions of US dollars after each tournament? We need a well-run football body, and that is why the government must take its time in selecting the most competent hands, first to stabilise our football through the normalisation committee.
CAN ZACCH ADEDEJI COLLECT TAXES AND CAMPAIGN FUNDS?
Dr Zacch Adedeji is the Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS). His name also popped up as a member of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC). This has ignited arguments from a number of opposition figures, especially a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Dino Melaye. The contention of the opposition figures is that the Chairman of the NRS should not sit on the ruling party’s campaign council. I beg to disagree with that view. The Nigeria Revenue Service Act (2025) provides that the person appointed Chief Executive of the Service must hold a degree with a background in accountancy, economics, taxation or law, upon confirmation by the Senate. Being an appointee of the President, there is every likelihood that such a person would be affiliated with the ruling party. So, when the appointing authority seeks re-election in accordance with the constitutional provision, must the appointee stand aloof simply because he or she superintends the nation’s tax-collecting agency? I think what is important is for the opposition to emphasise accountability above all other considerations. They should insist that not one kobo of the collectible tax of the federation finds its way into the pool of funds being raised for the ruling party’s re-election, and that participation in the work of the PCC should not affect the chief executive’s performance at the NRS in any way.
The concerns being raised by compatriots about the NRS and its chief executive are, however, understandable, given that the agency has grown into the new cash cow of the federation. Reports have indicated that the NRS was largely responsible for moving Nigeria from “acute macroeconomic distress to a more stable footing.” It is thus possible that some may be genuinely concerned that nothing should jeopardise such a goldmine.
Besides, there are reports that the agency recorded ₦21.6 trillion in tax revenue during the first half of 2026 – a 49 per cent increase year-on-year compared with the corresponding period in 2025. One particularly encouraging aspect is the 79 per cent rise in non-oil collections, something that strengthens the “Nigeria beyond oil” conversation many Nigerians are keen to pursue. Strong performances are not isolated. Reports in recent years have shown an upward trajectory since 2023, with total tax collections rising from ₦12.3 trillion in 2023 to ₦21.0 trillion in 2024 and ₦28.3 trillion in 2025. So long as Dr Adedeji can ensure that tax collections remain intact, his membership of the PCC need not be an issue.
(Published by the Sunday Tribune, September 6, 2026)
