I wish to score 25 NPFL goals…Wasiu Jimoh..

By Ayo Ademokoya.

Shooting Star Sports club hat trick goal hero against Mountain of Fire and Miracle football  Club of Lagos, Wasiu Jimoh in an interview with  journalists present at the Lekan Salami’s stadium to watch the oluyole warrior pummeled the ‘church boys’ by 3-0 in the  3 fixtures  of the Nigerian Professional League said that he hope to become the new goal sensation of the Nigerian league at the end of the 2015/2016 with 25 goals!.

The petit midfilder Wasiu who was first featured  for Shooting stars in 2012/2013 league season under coach Festus Allen said though he has target for this season though ,he would love the team to be more successful in doing well in the league so as to bring joy to the faces of teeming fans of Shooting stars all over the world an objective which is bigger than his personal ambition.

 

The highly elated footballer who went home with the ball having been the first player in the league to score a hat trick this season however dedicates the goals to his mum who has been his everything in his career

Wasiu opened scoring in the 5^th minutes of play with a subtle shot which beat goalkeeper James Ayeyemi. His second goal was a very cheeky one which caught goalkeeper Ayeyemi napping again in the 19^th minutes of play. He however capitalized on the error committed by Julius Oriyomi in the 35^th minutes of play to latch the ball in to the net to make 3-0 in favour of the Oluyole warrior of Shooting stars

Winning the League would be a huge bonus..Enakkhena..
By Kelani Oladapo Babatunde
The chairman of newly promoted Nigerian Professional Football League side, Mountain of Fire and Miracles FC,Godwin Enakhena has come out to say his team target in their first ever season in the top flight of Nigeria football league is a top ten finish at the end of the season .
According to Enakhena,he believes that anything that comes after that is a bonus for him and the team. 
The church boys have six points from two games played so far this season and are currently top of the NPFL table after two games. Their next game is away to Shooting Stars of Ibadan on Sunday.

Ayo Ademokoya, a foremost football historian/Biographer on Channels TV

Like Chelsea Like Shooting Stars?

Blow by blow account of 3SC versus Lobi Star match....

Aftermath of 0-1 home loss of the Oluyole Warriors of Shooting Stars to Lobi Stars of Markudi, fans cries out for mutual understanding between the coach, players and management.

By Ayo Ademokoya

Before the League commenced (Season1)

Expectations were high when the darling team of the Yorubas secured the services of the hitherto best coach in Nigeria,Chief Khadiri Ikhana(MON), as the Technical Adeviser when Gbenga Ogunbote left for Giwa FC . But it was not without hitches as it was rumored that the management of Shooting stars was not favourably disposed in the appointment of Ikhana.

nt. Why? lack of funds to sustain his high salary was the first excuse given. The second excuse was the high handedness of Ikhana. The management simply preferred the American trained Henry Abiodun who they believe would be at the beck and call of the management.

Several meetings were held between 3SC management and the Oyo House Committee on sports, over the ‘chosen one’ (Ikhana) and the ‘anointed one’ (Henry Abiodun). As far as going through the intimidating profile of Ikhana, the choice of the House Committee on Sports was far better as the ‘chosen one’ has won the Nigerian Professional league for the record of three times and the CAF Champions league as well.

Ikhana however  agreed to a pay cut  from 1.8 million monthly salary to 1.2 million, the same amount paid to Gbenga Ogunbote who moved to Giwa FC shortly before the commencement of the league but refused to live in the rented apartment meant for the him,  preferring to live in the hotel. This decision of incurring extra hotel bills for the management did not augur well with them a condition they must accept and off the team went for a close camp at Ijebu-Ode for more than 4 weeks now.

 Little or no information about recruitment of new players and the activities happening in the camp of Shooting Stars were available until the very last week prior to the commencement of the league and many seem skeptical about the performance of the team since no one had a glimpse of the team before the opening game against Lobi stars, not one quality pre season game were played.

On the match day (Season 2)

 

It was a bright Sunday afternoon of the 21^st of February; fans began to trickle into the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan to witness the week one of the Nigerian Professional football league 2015/2016 season between 3SC of Ibadan and Lobi Stars of Markurdi as early as 2pm.If not for the increment in the gate fee the crowd could have been more, nevertheless nothing less than 5,000 fans made it inside the stadium while the state box which was the costliest was filled to the brim.

www.harohkah.blogspot.com.ng got to the field about 90 minutes before the kick off, meeting the their opponents from Markurdi in a very relaxed mood on the tartan track of the Lekan Salami stadium, strategizing with the technical crew led by former coach of the the under 21 national team, Godwin Koko Uwua even before the home team and its technical crew could arrive the stadium.

Lobi Stars seems more focused and more determined to get something out of the match as report had it that they flew in to town by air something that is a good development for Nigerian football. The norm in the Nigerian league is for players to travel for hours on the dangerous  roads in rickety buses while officials travel by air.

Match situation(Season 3)

The dice was cast after the one minute silence observed in honour of the late marleting officer of Shooting stars, Demola Abodunrin, who died after a brief illness 2 weeks before the commencement of the game.

 As usual, 3SC  made dangerous incursions into the 18yard box of Lobi Stars in the early minutes of play but for lack of marksmanship ‘Sutin’ would have been 3 goals up in the first ten minutes of play.

Omololu Waheed was the greatest culprit in the left side of the defense of the Oluyole warriors as the telepathic passes from creative midfilders of Ajia Emmanuel,Okpotu Anthony often find its way in the outside right of the opponent creating panic for  Alaba Osawe and Moses James the central defenders of shooting stars .

The experimentation of  Yinka Adedeji whose  natural habitat was the left full back but made to play in the deep for the best known reason to the technical crew was a great blunder commited by Coach Khadiri Ikhana. Yinka later got injured  and was removed for Daddy Bazuaye while Daddy bazuaye too was removed for silvester Ebiakwu..

Apart from the striking positions of Olukokun  who could not convert chances that came their way in the early minutes, fans saw the worst display from the midfielders as well..Wasiu Jimoh shots at goals were aimless while passes from the  midfield to the attack  lack cohesion as there was strong or visible holding middfilder who could not curtail rampaging strikers of Eduwo,Okpotu and Ajia of Lobi stars.

Only Ajani Ibrahim could be scored above average in the match

Alas in the 14^th minutes of play the fantastic combination of the trio of  Ajia Emmanuel, Gwarza Iorliam and Sunday Alimi from the midfield paid of as Kingsley Eduwo broke loose to latch in the first and the only goal of the encounter in the 15^th minute of play to silence the home crowd.

 0-1 the match ended, though 3SC tried all they could to equalize in the second 45 minutes of the game but all to no avail.

What the fans says after the match

Trust the vociferous fans of Shooting stars as they began to insinuate so many reasons why the team may go nowhere this season.

There seem to sabotage from these players,” says one of them

They just refused to put in  their best simply because they are not in support of the new coach.” To be honest ,I was shocked!!!

Others began to revisit the personality clash going on between the General Manager of the club Mr Rasheed Balogun and the Technical Adviser, Chief Khadiri Ikhana.

“Did you not see the lackadaisical approach of the General Manager towards what is going  on the pitch today? hmmmm, I became interested the more

“Why ?” I asked the angry fans as we  tried to defend the performance of the team and persuade the angry fans together with a staff of the club who had been pleading with them before I came.

“We know what is going on even though you may not want to agree with us.

“For instance it is very unlike Rashidi Balogun to sit down all through the entire match without communicating with the bench. Balogun is an energetic man who is so enthusiastic about the success of the team, he would have been charging the players and the crew to go all out to win the match even the referee would have think twice once he sees the GM charging at everyone, but today he seems not concerned with whatever that is hhappening here.” the  angry fan said

“Oga Ayo, I know you very well right from your days with BCOS and all we want is for this club to perform well because we are spending our money to come and watch Shooting stars and its painful to see them perform like this”.

One cannot but pity the situation of these fans who claimed to have traveled miles to watch there darling team only to be rewarded with such dismal performance.

“Do you know that Coach Ikhana had earlier insulted the management of Shooting stars who came visiting the team during training session last Thursday? He continued.

Ikhana walked them saying he doesn’t want any interference from any quarters as far as his team his concerned.

This became too shocking news for me to bear!!!

Another school of thought blamed the Oyo House of Assembly for recruiting a first class coach yet parading average player for the league and wonder the kind of magic they want the coach to perform.

Some even insinuated that the coach himself does not understand the team from the experimentation he carried out on Sunday during the match, looking for an attacking midfielder in a match situation and not during a friendly match?????. Aaarrrrgghhh!!!!! Or why will he put Yinka Adedeji, though  an overlapping left full back into the deep yet a natural left footer from the left full back?.

Also, why putting  Silvernus Ebiakwu who does better from the right full back  and  placed him at the left side of the defense when Omololu Waheed kept fumbling from that position only for the coach to even removed Daddy Bazuaye from the midfield a situation which completely paralyzed  that department.

These are indication that much work were not done at the pre season of the club.

No wonder the team went to hid in Ijebu Ode without allowing the fans to assess their team for once before the commencement of the league.

Though Mr Jubril Arowolo did his best to appeal to the aggrieved fans who are not contented with the level of play despite the increment in the gate fees, many are still of the opinion that all parties concerned in the day to day activity of shooting stars come together to work for the development of the club as they would not take it lightly with any of the officials if the club goes down this time around. www.harohkah.blogspot.com.ng

Khadiri Ikhana’s reaction

In his response the coach told journalists after the match that it is up to the management to recruit more players but since there is no money to do so he had to make do with the materials available for him. He agreed with the observation that he had to experiment with certain players in certain positions during the match  against Lobi Stars saying Cletus Itodo and 3 other players in the attacking midfield fell ill and got  injured few days to the match

He confessed he had no option than to experiment with  Yinka Adedeji who later got injured if he could fit in while  Daddy Bazuaye was given a chance to prove his mettle. He later said that he believed the will get it right along the way as there is need to forfeit the team with good strikers and midfielders provided there is fund from the management..

Rasheed Balogun’s Reaction

www.harohkah.blogspot.com.ng also spoke with the General manager who was apparently not happy with the performance of the day saying in Yoruba that “Ko si ibi ti won tin se igbeyawo ti won ni sin oku nbe, meaning there is definitely going to be a funeral ceremony someday in a place they are used to wedding ceremony.

“This happened last year when we were beating by heartland FC of Owerri by 3-1 and we survived, I believe it too early to conclude.

On the issue of recruitment of new players , Rasheed  Balogun has this to say

“It is the duty of the coach to identify the areas he needed to fortify in the team, present it to us and we approve, it is not our duty to do that for the coach.”

In his submission, the team manager, Dimeji lawal complained about the attitude of the strikers whom he said was the greatest undoing on the field.

“I wonder how a striker would find it difficult to free himself from the defender and create at least 5metre away from him and then take the ball to the defender. It absurd.

Conclusion

When two elephants fights, it’s the grass that suffers.

The question is why would all this lapses were just been discovered on the very day the league started?

Why would the management claim there is no money to recruit new players when tactually the statement from the General manager shows no list for recruitment was brought forward for the management for recruitment?

Must the general manager interfere in the job of the technical crew at any point in time and why why and when must he intervene?

Why on earth would a Technical Adviser sent packing his GM? This is rude. Why on earth would he not want to listen to voices of wisdom? Afterall these people had been here before him.

The General Manager this morning (Tuesday 23^rd of February had gone on the radio to debunk most of these rumour and promise fans there would be a better performance of the team I believe

this and many more question must be answered as the team travel to Aba to meet the league Champion, Enyimba International in the week two fixture of the Nigerian Professional League.

On Wednesday 24^th of February

I WAS RICHER THAN DANGOTE..BAITA, KANO PILLARS CHAIRMAN

By Ayo Ademokoya

As the commencement of the 2015/2016 Nigerian Professional Football league hotsup tomorrow 21^st of February 2016 across all the football stadia in the country, www.harohkah.blogspot.com.ng  revisits the exclusive interview held recently with the  Chairman of Kano Pillars FC of Kano, Alhaji Kabiru Baita at the Kano State Governor’s office where he revealed how he was once richer than the Africa’s richest man and business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. In the interview, he also promised millions of  “Sai Masu Gida” fans  of his readiness to use all at his disposal to make sure that Kano Pillars FC conquers both the Nigerian Professional Football league once again and even the elusive CAF champions Cup which has been a mirage to the people of Kano.

 “I never for once accepted to serve as the Chairman of Kano Pillars for personal enrichment but to contribute his own quota to the development of the Kano Pillars, a dream that was truncated about 13years ago when his 4 year tenure of been the the Sole Administrator of the club ended at the emergence of Dr Rabiu Kwankwanso’s government” He began

“Many people don’t know who Kabiru Baita is, but if you are an indigene of Kano, you will recollect that Kabiru Baita is a successful businessman who has used his money to develop football in Kano. Some of this young journalist may not know that I was once appointed the Sole Administrator of  Kano Pillars in December 1999 and was the man who brought Kano Pillars out of relegation in 2003.

I used my personal money most of the time when government fund were not available for months and up till now I am still owed about 1.5milion naira which I had forfeited to the club. You can now imagine what the value of 1.5milion naira is like nowadays compared to what it was over a decade ago.

I employed coach Pele, Audu, Maikaba, Tunde Abdurahman and later Justin Tenger and Bitrus Bewarang to reposition Kano Pillar that was struggling in the second division of the Nigerian 17 years ago. I could not complete the job of making the club due to that fact that the new government of Rabiu Kwankwaso was brought in 2003.

So now that the Government of Ibrahim Ganduje is brought me back on July ,2015 it is with a mission to revive the fortunes of the dwindling fortunes of the club.

Revealing to harohkah.blogspot.com.ng on how he used to be richer than Dangote, the soft spoken football Administrator said.

“Ask anyone in Kano who Baita was, my father was a successful businessman and in 1977 he gave me 200,000 naira to start my business ,even Dangote’s father did not give him that much when he approached his father. My business was thriving and I know how much I sank into Ishiaku Rabiu’s Sugar business in the late 1980’s, in those days as I was among the first set of young man to use fiat and ladder as my first car.

“So I am not here for financial gain but to contribute to the growth of Kano Pillars and In sha Allahu, Kano Pillars would be great again.

Kano Pillars plays at home at the Sanni Abacha stadium against Enugu Rangers on Sunday the 21^st of February 2016 in the week one of the Nigerian Professional Football league.

Unseating Jonathan,my greatest headache..TinubuBy Maxwell Olusegun Adegbenro

ay not be reappointed as Petroleum Minister.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/jonathan-in-talks-with-tinubu-akume-akande-ngige-others/

ay not be reappointed as Petroleum Minister.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/jonathan-in-talks-with-tinubu-akume-akande-ngige-others/

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said his most difficult battle ever in life is ousting an incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general elections.
Tinubu revealed this in an interview with senior editors at The Sun ahead of the Sun Man of the Year Award which the astute politician will be honoured in Lagos later today.
In his words, Tinubu during the interview said,“President Jonathan’s battle was the toughest. When you are fighting the incumbent, it is tough.
You had the chal­lenge of terrorism; you had a class that is divided and a nation that was almost moving from its focus of religious tolerance and diversity to religious division.
You had a system that had been corrupted beyond anybody’s imagination. People were being bombarded with money in Lagos. But you have to forget personal temptation”.
On how he engaged former President Obasanjo on the political field, Tinubu said, “Obasanjo, during his time disobeyed court order on the disburse­ment of money for local governments in Lagos but you knew where he was coming from; you just had to be careful.
That period was also a bit challenging.
There are different situations that you had to face with different strategies. But to unseat an incumbent president in Africa was the toughest battle. It was not easy".
On his role in politics as a political godfather, Tinubu further said “Godfather is not negative but godlords are.
They are the mafias. Godfathers exist even in the church.
If you call me a godfather, it is alright. I have many children everywhere.” Explaining his position further, Tinubu added that, “You are talking about imposition in a democracy.
If you are a strong adviser, you would get blackmailed; you have seen great quali­ties in an individual and one that has capacity to do good; you identify those you believe can deliver on the evolution of good governance.
"I have a responsibility to recommend.
My party has a right to reject the person. When I identified Babatunde Fashola, some people shouted imposition but when he started to blossom like flowers in the garden, Fashola now became their child.
The umbilical chord is buried and the baby has survived. In democracy, sometimes, you have the sprinkle of dictatorship too when you know that you are working on the overall interest of the people.
You have facts that some people do not have; so you do not get angry.”

Ikhana joined 3SC to prove a point to Enyimba…

By Ayo Ademokoya

A prominent member of Oyo State House of Assembly committee on sports who played an important role in the employment of the most successful coach in Nigeria as the coach of the Oluyole warriors of Shooting stars, Chief Khadiri Ikhana has revealed to www.harohkah.blogspot.com.ng  recently in an exclusive interview that Ikhana actually agreed to team up with Shooting stars in order to prove to Enyimba his true worth as the best coach in Nigeria.

The Honourable member who prefer anonymity said, Ikhana is aware of  Shooting stars been a big club in Nigeria and would like to prove that to the world, hence his resolution to even take a pay cut from us in order to achieve his goal.

“When the General Manager, Rashidi Balogun presented the choice of Henry Abiodun to us, we at the House of Assembly felt we should jump at the availability of Khadiri Ikhana whose pedigree in the Nigerian League having won it for the record of 3 times with Kano Pillars in 2007/2008 and Enyimba in 2003/2004 and most recently in 2014/2015. This is a man who won the CAF Champions League and  we believe he is the messiah to reposition the club and take us to our rightful position as the number one football club not only in Nigeria but Africa as a whole.

“Not that Henry Abiodun is not a good coach, but Khadiri Ikhana’s intimidating profile cannot be swept under the floor, more so he(Khadiri) was of the opinion that if given the chance to work with us ,he will prove a point to Enyimba who refused to re-validate his contract with the people’s elephant despite winning the league for them. We saw the passion and also the commitment which money can’t buy.

“We are glad the GM reasoned along with us despite been skeptical about our decision at the initial stage thinking Ikhana might not be as submissive as Henry Abiodun but all is well and we are ready to kick off the season on a brighter note as we allowed the team to just concentrate instead engaging in unnecessary distraction and I believe at the end of the season all of us we have a reason to smile.

Shooting stars play Lobi Stars of Markurdi on Sunday the 21^st of February in the week one of the  Nigerian Proffessional football league at the Lekan salami stadium, Adamasingba Ibadan.