Amodu is an ingrate

I rejoice with you -readers of this column and I rejoice with myself, as we celebrate the most popular festival on this planent, yet again.

We need to congratulate ourselves for being alive to celebrate the birth of the One who was and is and shall remain the greatest sportsman in the world. The One whose headquaters is situated in this great nation called Nigeria, because as I have always remarked in this column,

He is a Nigerian, He is also the One who created all things - including sports, for His pleasure. Yes, He created all things, especially human beings, in His own image.Well, you may not agree with me, but that is what I believe.I believe that my paternal or maternal great, great, great grand parents were not monkeys, or apes, or gorrillas or chimpanzees.No, not even the orangutang. God forbid bad thing jo.

What about you? When you look at the mirror, what do you think you look like? The choice is yours, so please feel free to choose one - a monkey, gorrilla, chimp or the orangutang? No pun intended please.This is just part of the reasons for this festive season - celebration of the greatest sportsman, to have lived on earth .

Between Amodu and Amiesimaka

And this is one of the reasons why I will react to a publication titled ‘‘Amodu's religious faux pas; is damage limitation not possible?" of 13th December 2009, written by one of my favorite colunmists - Adokie Amiesimaka. It is very important for me to react now, because the One whose birth the entire world is celebrating, I mean the reason for this season, encouraged us while He was on earth and even now, to engage ourselves in these religious activities called fasting and praying. Is the damage limitation referred to in the write - up impossible? The answer is simple. It is very possible.It is possible because there is nothing impossible with the One whois the reason for this season.

The issue is lack of wisdom on the part of Shuaibu Amodu. No more, no less. Permit me to simply describe wisdom as the application of knowledge and knowledge as the information at one's disposal. So may be it will be correct to state that the way and manner by which a person applies or manages the information he/she possess, determines how wise or otherwise, he/she is. I submit therefore that Amodu lacks wisdom and has severally and embarrasingly too, displayed how inept he is when it comes to information management.

Amodu and T.B Joshua

For Amodu to have ascribed the qualification of the Eagles for the FIFA 2010 World Cup to the intervention T.B.Joshua, is to say the least very dangerous and unfortunate. Dangerous, because the One who is the reason for this festive season, is a very jealous God, who does not share His glory with anybody.I may also have to add the fact that except Amodu apologies to the faithfuls and God Almighty Himself, this may be the beginning of the end of his journey with the national team.

I therefore agree with Amiesimaka that the intelligent thing Amodu should have done was to appreciate all Nigerians for their spiritual support. Yes, it is very blasphemous to have credited T.B.Joshua with the awesome and great miracles that God performed in Kenya and Mozambique, within 60 seconds. I wonder if Nigerians remember that the Nigeria's winning goal and that of Mozambique were scored almost at the same time by players whose names start with ‘'M''.Oh yes,

‘'M'' for miracle. Period! But I totally disagree that "the whole idea of praying for celestial or supernatural support to win matches is simply absurd...and a nonsensical phenomenon that it really is" This, to begin with is a contradiction of what Adokie himself referred to as "factors outside your control...that may determine whether you win or lose a match..." in the first paragraph of his write-up.

I have mentioned severally in this colunm, that it is the spiritual that controls the physical and never the other way round. I stand to be corrected please. Anyway great footballers like Jay-Jay Okocha has shared his testimony with us. During the Korea/Japan FIFA World cup finals in 2002, he did something interesting for some of us when Nigeria scored a goal. Jay-Jay lifted up his jersey to display"I LOVE YOU NKECHI". While some people felt disapointed, because they expected to see "I LOVE JESUS" or "THANK YOU JESUS" as have been made popular by the Brazilians, I found it romantic and instructive. At least, he has appreciated his lovely wife. Something a lot of us find difficult to do.

Okocha's celebration

A year later or so, Bolton Wanderers - originally known as Christ Church Football Club, were on the verge of relegation. The chaplain of Bolton Wanderers requested members of the church to fast and pray for victory, so Jay-Jay and the team would not go into relegation. The match was played on a Sunday and guess what, Jay-Jay scored the winning goal for his team. As soon as he scored the goal, he lifted up his jersey and this time he had "THANK YOU JESUS" on his singlet.

The One who hears and answers prayers

As regards the so-called U-17 national team, I mentioned in this column during the fiesta, that the genuine U-17 footballers, who should have represented the country were not happy with the selection made by John Obuh and his crew. What was not mentioned is the fact that some young ones were fasting and praying so that the so-called eaglets would not succeed. The rest is now history.

It is therefore important for us to pray as we celebrate this season, that God should rescue Nigerian sports from the grips of the enemies of this great nation.

Merry Christmas.