Why Siasia must Not be Sacked

By Chukwudi OHIRI

  

Yes, since the ouster of the Nigerian Super Eagles from the 2012 nations’ Cup courtesy of their truly dismal performance in the match with Guinea, even those who joined me in singing Sia-one’s praise when he took over the Nigerian senior team have overnight, started calling for his head. Though I am not particularly surprised as this is the Character of Nigerians generally, I want to beg that we should not sacrifice this young man who means well for Nigeria for as the saying goes, failure is a recipe for success.

First of all, was he the one who told Taiye Taiwo, Osaze, Nsofor, Yobo and all other players who lost very glaring chances that my old mother in the village cannot miss to flicker the chances. No. Nigeria had no reason to lose that match if not for the lack-luster approach of the team and perhaps, mother luck. The pressure was on the Guinean team almost all through the game and the technical formation of the Nigerian side was quite OK. It was the players who simply failed to raise the game to the right tempo allowing the Guineans to play on their temperament.

Is it because of Vincent Enyeama whom who sincerely wanted to tame? The problem with Nigerians is that we are not ready to make painful sacrifices today so that our tomorrow will be better. There is no doubt that indiscipline and undue interference has been the bane of our national teams for years now. These are some of the small small clogs in the wheel of our national progress which Siasia intends to deal with while building a formidable team for Nigeria. Nothing good, they say comes easy and sincerely I can see indiscipline and undue interference gradually taking the back seat in our football. Halting Siasia now will definitely send us back to the beginning where players will hold the nation to ransom believing they are indispensable. The NFF will also begin their interference by dictating to the coach who to play and who not to play. If only Nigerians will see things this way and give Siasia a chance to complete this Cleansing. Enyeama may not be the worst or most stubborn player in the team, but someone has to be the scapegoat. No matter what it costs us today it promises a better tomorrow.

In the past, the allegation against our national coaches has been that of shortchanging players for money. They are accused of collecting money from glaringly unfit players to feature them in matches to the detriment of nation. Since Siasia took over, such stories are no longer heard and as a matter of fact, there are no sacred cows in the Siasia team that one can say are untouchable. No player can readily lay claims to a regular first team shirt except probably, Enyeama, yet, the coach did not spare him in instilling the much desired discipline in the team. The fruits and benefits of this, if only we can be patient enough, would far exceed the loss of today if sustained. The team no doubt, is not yet our ‘dream team’ but Siasia has been injecting new names into the team giving everyone the opportunity to prove his mettle. Some names that gave Nigerians heartache and yet they were always sure of a first shirt have gradually disappeared into oblivion as there is no longer any place for them in the team. No wonder the likes of Aiyegbeni Yakubu were the first to call for the sack of Siasia because he gave them their rightful position in the team. Where are the likes of Kaita and the rest of them who will always sneak through the back door and still make the team?

 In the past, one used to hear of a ‘mafia’ group in the supper eagles team. I doubt if such things still exist. The rot has been so monumental that the cleansing is likely going to take a longer time to complete, but we all need to be a little bit patient as Siasia is even moving faster than we had anticipated. Westerhof (the most successful coach we have ever had) came to Nigeria in 1989 and it took him some five years of trial and error to produce a team that later led Nigeria to her first ever World Cup appearance having led the team earlier in the same 1994 to a successful outing in the Nations cup hosted by Tunisia where they clinched the trophy. The team soon became tormentor in chief of any country it played against. Siasia has only been on this job for barely a year and has on the average, happier moments than sorry ones (though nation’s cup ouster appears more painful than all happy moments put together).

Alright, let us sack Siasia. Who are the likely successors from the local scene first of all? I heard some people say Stephen Keshi. The same Stephen Keshi we booed out of the national team. Sacked by NFA for non performance and lack of technical knowledge. The same Keshi that was yet to find his feet in Togo. No doubt, he is one of the most respectable coaches of our time but is he better than Siasia? If he cannot contend with the Togo FA, then supper Eagles is bigger than him point blank. Some say Oliseh, are we not tired of experimenting with the supper Eagles? Okocha and Kanu where mentioned in whispers. Good and likely great potentials let them start at the academy levels and grow. Great players indeed with a lofty and bright future for this country, but they must start somewhere. Is it Amokachi, Amodu, Eguavoen or John Obuh? Haba Nigeria, when are we going to grow up for once?

I hear many say “get a foreign coach”. This is beautiful, but even a Josep Guardiola, Jose Morinho, or Sir Alex Ferguson will need a lot of time to settle in Nigeria. We will still lose and lose matches before we find our feet. But again, will they cope with our bureaucratic bottleneck; our politics; our interference? There are chances that our local football may no longer receive attention as experience has shown us. They will concentrate more on combing Europe to find our players for us. Siasia has proven with time that he is a grass root person. A discoverer who has made many great foreign based players out of our local clubs. The urgency of qualifying Nigeria for major tournaments may have distracted him all these months. Now that there is nothing to fight for and with years to prosecute the 2014 world cup qualifiers, perhaps our local clubs may receive the greater part of his attention.

While we are clamouring for the sack of Siasia, let us try to juxtapose the idea with the likely alternatives, then we will begin to appreciate that the devil we know is better than the Angel we are yet to see.   

The True Story of Pastor Adelaja’s Travails in Ukraine

By Chukwudi OHIRI

There is no better way to describe the travails of Pastor Sunday Adelaja than the words of the bible which says that “many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). Pastor Sunday Adelaja has been through murky waters in the last three years—perhaps, his own fair share of the biblical “being tested in the crucibles of fire” which every believer must pass through at one point or the other.

To the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, he is a ‘powerful cult leader’ who has come to destroy their ‘sacrosanct’ orthodox religious tradition, replacing it with a more radical style of Pentecostalism devoid of the usual solemnity and rituals associated with orthodoxy and so must be stopped at all cost. For Ukrainian politicians, especially the communist-oriented Ukrainians and Russians, he is a big threat and a symbol of Western influence permeating their political landscape and so must be eliminated with every possible arsenal in the armory of the state. To the law enforcement agents (who have repeatedly investigated him for one form of fraudulent act or the other and finding nothing of substance to hold against him), he is a king pin in the pyramid scheme. In all these, Pastor Sunday Adelaja remained undaunted even as his personality continued to grow. Pastor Adelaja alleged that one of his crimes was that he is a black man, a Nigerian for that matter, wielding unprecedented political and religious hegemony in a land that is 100% white. “I came to this country disadvantaged as black person”, Pastor Adelaja once lamented in an interview some time ago and his detractors in Ukraine and Russia may have retorted, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth”. From time to time in Kiev, a racial caricature was being made of him.

He had come to the then Soviet Union first in 1986 as a student of Journalism. He completed his Masters’ in degree in journalism in the Belarusian University and relocated to Kiev, the capital City of Ukraine to work as a journalist in 1993. There in his dilapidated apartment, Pastor Sunday Adelaja sowed the first set of ‘mustard seeds’ by organizing a small interdenominational prayer group in a small town in Russia. This mustard seed soon grew to be known as ‘Embassy of God Church’ and in less than a decade, it has become a household name not only in Kiev, but also in the entire Ukraine, Russia and all over Europe with branches across the globe. It also acquired the status of a social and political power house in Ukraine and as the church continued to grow, the public figure of Adelaja became more intimidating even in Ukrainian political circles, a situation that has continued to give the government of Ukraine cause for worry. A conservative estimate of about 100,000 adherents presently attend services regularly at the main arena in Kiev and the affiliate stations across  Ukraine with a population of about 46 million. Of this estimate, 99% are whites Slavs who embraced Pastor Adelaja’s religious methodology and philosophy with open arms. Said Anna Vdovenko, an ardent parishioner of the Embassy of God church in her mid 60s: “Before, I was depressed and my life was a nightmare. Now I am living and it is all thanks to Pastor Sunday”. Little did Pastor Sunday know that his alarming popularity would soon make him a public enemy No.1 of the state of Ukraine.

Secondly, Pastor Adelaja did not in any way envisage that he was threading on a dangerous path when his church participated stoutly in the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004 that was vehemently opposed by the Kremlin for its pro-Western stance. Although it was roundly believed and alleged that the Embassy of God’s Church solely masterminded the execution of the orange revolution, Pastor Adelaja has refuted the allegation but acknowledged that his church actually provided only logistic and technical support for the revolution as a way of exercising her Universal Human right of ‘Freedom of Association and Expression”. In a swift response to that action, the Russian government allegedly declared Pastor Adelaja persona non grata thereby forbidding him from entering Russia. To prove that it was not a mere threat, he was turned back from the Russian capital’s Sheremetyevo Airport on the 3^rd February 2008. This involvement also put him at odds with both the Ukrainian and the Russian government who dreaded him for propagating pro-Western ideology and value system in their state. Sequel to that, he was then accused of nursing political ambition and so must be nipped in the board. On the contrary, MIGHTIER THAN SWORD gathered that “Pastor Adelaja has never sought Ukrainian citizenship because he said he did not want to raise suspicion that he was interested in obtaining political power”, according to our source. However, by virtue of his long residence in the former Soviet Union spanning almost 25 years, getting a full citizenship would have been a smooth sail, but no, this would not be granted because of the perceived threat to the monogenic culture of Ukraine, especially as a black man. As long as he is not a citizen, he could not aspire to any political office in the land as a matter of legislation. Incidentally, several members of the Embassy of God Church are becoming more and more active within the political arena and many politicians regard this as a threat to their political ambition.

The 2008 global economic meltdown pastor Sunday alleged, presented an ample opportunity for the Ukrainian government to cast aspersions on the ever increasing religious and political influence of this amiable Nigerian that has made ‘life uncomfortable’ for those opposed to positive change in Ukraine. A scandal case was leveled against Pastor Adelaja and publicized in national dailies and online publications. “Nigerian pastor defrauds members of over $100 million in Ukraine”; “Nigerian Evangelical pastor, Sunday Adelaja charged with fraud in Ukraine”; Ukraine-based Nigerian pastor, Sunday Adelaja in fraud charges ...”; “Pastor Sunday Adelaja, The Lost $100 Million & Troubling False ...” etc were some of the headlines reporting the alleged financial scandal of Pastor Adelaja.

Kings Capital Investment Company, a legally registered company in Ukraine is in the eye of the whole storm. The authorities alleged that it defrauded investors of huge sums of money running into millions of Dollars when it suddenly stopped paying dividends to its investors in 2008 as a result of the global economic meltdown, according to its proprietor. Unfortunately for Pastor Adelaja, the proprietor of this company, Aleksandr Bandurchenko happened to be a member of the Embassy of God Church and had been given opportunity to address the church on some occasions. But the Ukrainian authorities strongly allege that Pastor Adelaja had some links with the company. This speculation about Adelaja’s involvement with King’s Capital grew after reports emerged that he was part of a bank in Nigeria known as GS Microfinance Bank Limited—an allegation he did not disprove. It was then alleged that Adelaja invested funds from King’s Capital in the Nigerian bank and planned to leave the country. Aleksandr Bandurchenko till date has not admitted having anything to do with Pastor Adelaja in relation to Kings Capital nor has pastor Adelaja’s signature been found in any documents of the company. In spite of all these, the authorities were hell bent on nailing Pastor Adelaja to the charges. On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, the Ukrainian law enforcers finally brought charges against him alleging complicity in bilking his congregation of millions of Dollars as well as “financial machinations in especially large volume”. If convicted, the sentence would be between 5 to 12 years imprisonment according to under Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the embezzlement of funds in very large amounts via fraud). The investigators explained that pastor Adelaja forced his members to donate 10% of their earnings to the Embassy of God church and used the Kings Capital Investment Company (which allegedly has no real business) as an apparatus for laundering and funneling huge investors’ money to Nigeria. In his defense, pastor Adelaja has lamented that the whole saga is a political vendetta orchestrated by the political class to checkmate the growing social and political influence of his church. He alleged that the charges brought against him were grossly baseless and unfounded.

 On the charges of defrauding his members of 10% of their salaries, he clarified that members were only encouraged to (and not forced) to donate 10% of their salary without any form of compulsion nor was it a requirement that they do so to attend services. He explained that many of his members do not even comply while some do so on their own free will. The money, Pastor Adelaja said, goes towards the church’s activities including plans for a new $50 million headquarters in Ukraine. He equally added that he earns his income largely from sales of his bestselling books worldwide. He wondered why such allegations could even be adduced when the very same congregation allegedly defrauded is ardently praying against his unwarranted attack and persecution. Nobody has reported that the church was being depopulated on account the allegations.

On the allegation of complicity in Kings Investment Company, pastor Adelaja dared his Ukrainian accusers to provide any evidence whatsoever that suggests his involvement in the affairs of Kings Capital or any evidence that points to the fact that money belonging to the company was transferred to any account in Nigeria. He said King’s Capital was a legitimate business that failed under the pressure of the global financial crisis. Because the company invested its capital into real estate, which decreased in value, it has been unable to pay dividends to its investors. "When the economic crisis came, all the real estate is no more selling. The land is [not] enough to pay back the money owed. ... The problem is ... everything is stopped in the country--nothing is selling now in Ukraine,’’ he said.

Contrary to the allegation that he lured his members into investing in the company because it was owned by Godly persons, Pastor Adelaja said he never encouraged his church members to invest in the company and cautioned them to invest in businesses that offer insurance. "Of course ... if you invest with insurance you get less percentage," he said. "What happened was many people said they didn’t need insurance because the (King’s Capital leaders) were Christians."

After three years of investigations, (an investigation that was supposed to last for three months in accordance with Ukrainian laws), the case was finally brought to court for hearing on 13^th September, 2011, but Pastor Adelaja  says he has lost faith in the judicial system of Ukraine banking only on divine intervention. He alleged that already, a lot of injustice has been meted out on him and his associates in the case. A member of the church who related with  MIGHTIER THAN SWORD lamented that at the commencement of investigations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs actually went ahead to arrest two
members of Pastor Sunday`s church, who do not have anything to do with the
company, just for them to give a false witness against Pastor Sunday. Their refusal to cooperate with the former Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko allegedly prompted him to insist that they be remanded in prison custody because they refused to cooperate with the
investigators against Pastor Sunday. So since the last two years, Sergey Golovanov and Igor Kolesnikov who are Pastor Adelaja’s members  are still
in police detention (according to our source), against the Ukrainian laws which states that ‘nobody could be
detained for more than 18 months’. On the other hand, the directors of the
King`s Capital company who were also arrested have since been released because they allegedly agreed to work with the police
department against Pastor Sunday. 

While rejoicing that the case has finally been charged to court, members of the Embassy of God Church fear that the Ukrainian government is quite biased and sympathetic towards the Russian Orthodox Church and will not hesitate to send a black pastor to prison in the belief that they are doing God and the Orthodox church a favour. They therefore call on all its members to persevere in prayer intervention that will see their senior pastor discharged and acquitted and the wicked punished as he has already done to the former Chief of police Lutsenko in December 2010. He was jailed for the same charges he falsely accused Pastor Sunday of and may likely spend 12 years there--the same as he tried to do with Pastor Sunday. Former Prime Minister Tymoshenko (who also masterminded the allegations against Pastor Sunday) was in the same 2010 put under house arrest. As at press time, MIGHTIER THAN SWORD could not verify the status of the duo’s case.

   

Pastor Adelaja's Day 2 In court: Adjourned till 7th of October, 2011

BY Chukwudi OHIRI

For the second time, Pastor Adelaja who is presently undergoing trial in Ukraine for an alleged involvement in a pyramid scheme, complicity in allegations against a certain Kings Capital Investment Company as well as defrauding his members of large sums of money as reported by MIGHTIER THAN SWORD recently was again, arraigned before a Ukrainian Court on Tuesday, 27^th September, 2011.

A large crowd of pastor Adelaja’s teeming supporters besieged the court premises chanting solidarity slogans in defense of pastor Adelaja. According to our source, they were shouting on top of their voices saying, “Pastor Sunday is innocent! Pastor Sunday is innocent, clean and honest person!” The atmosphere was overcharged and turned into a celebration and victory march.

Inside the court room, the atmosphere was more peaceful than it was during the first hearing. However, pastor Adelaja could not hide his excitement in the court room as he defiantly proclaimed the word of God in Ukrainian language to the dismay of the trial judge Alexander Dzyuba who threatened to charge him for contempt and remand him in prison custody.

Finally, when hearing resumed, there was no interpreter and Pastor Sunday’s lawyer, Andriy Fedur complained that his client’s understanding of Ukrainian language was very poor but Pastor Sunday volunteered to use either the Ukrainian language or at best, Russian, a request which was turned down by the trial judge who rather started asking questions bordering on Pastor Adelaja’s family life and past criminal convictions. In the end, nothing of substance could be arrived at and the case was again adjourned till Friday, October 7, 2011 as further investigations are still ongoing.

Recall that MIGHTIER THAN SWORD previously narrated in details how Pastor Adelaja had alleged political vendetta in the whole allegations against him and further urged his faithful to persevere in prayers for God’s intervention in order to shame his detractors. Updates on this case will be published in subsequent editions as they unfold.