Letter To The Sports Minister: Pinnick Needs To Stop Disrespecting Genort Rohr -By Umar Sa’ad Hassan

Dear Honourable Minister of Sports,

I hope this meets you well. I will get straight to it. Let me start by drawing your attention to the fact that Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr was not consulted by Amaju Pinnick and the NFF before appointing Joseph Yobo as his assistant.As a matter of fact, he learnt of Yobo’s appointment from the news like everyone of us. That interpreted along side the declaration by the President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick on Arise TV’s Monday Morning Show that Rohr would have to live in Nigeria, receive his salary in naira and watch NPFL games with him to get a new contract translates to one thing; Pinnick is hoping Rohr feels disrespected enough to quit the Eagles’ job.

A lot of our coaches here won’t tolerate half the things Rohr has.Someone like Sunday Oliseh would insult Pinnick to his face before doing so in the media. I understand a lot of ministers do their utmost best to steer clear of NFF business but I think it is time you wade in and weild your supervisory power over all sports related matters. If Pinnick is desperate to kick out Rohr, he mustn’t embarrass the entire country in the process.

That a contract doesn’t stipulate that a coach should choose who he will work with doesn’t mean Pinnick should not reach out to Rohr to discuss compatibility and other related issues regarding the NFF’s choice of assistants. In the end,Rohr will be the one to not only work with Yobo but also bear total responsibility for the outcome of their working relationship.

If there were any doubts as to Pinnick wanting to humiliate Rohr, those doubts were cleared by his Arise Tv interview. It was not only degrading but highly unprofessional of Pinnick to discuss the terms of Rohr’s contract before he had even received it. Moreso when Pinnick said that he either accepted those terms or he would pick the numerous calls of people vying for the Eagles’ job.
Honourable Minister, you have to step in at this juncture. Pinnick is not only embarrassing the NFF, Nigerian sports or the Buhari administration, but he is also embarrassing the country as a whole. If Rohr leaves in conditions as unsavoury as this, our reputation will be dented in the football world. Any foreign coach willing to accept any job offer we present will charge astronomical fees because it is no longer just the common case of dealing with an impatient people, it would also be one of dealing with people without any sense of respect and decorum.

These things are normally kept secret and are only reluctantly disclosed when negotiations fail (mostly through anonymous or third party sources) especially when it concerns a coach that has not only delivered in the 4 years he has been in charge but who is also well loved by football fans. Rohr deserves the utmost respect for what he has done for nigerian football and no thieving rascal must be allowed to walk him out in shame.

The 2 reasons being widely attributed for the refusal of the CAF President to renew Pinnick’s tenure as CAF 1st Vice-President are that he hadn’t shown due regard for his position and that he was facing corruption charges in Nigeria. The man bungled away our best opportunity of producing a CAF President in decades. In saner climes, people like that will not run football. Nigerian celebrities know Pinnick as a very generous individual that doles out money whenever they ask and even before the EFCC pointed to the fact that he and others were embezzling NFF money, the raging question had always been where was all that money being handed to AY and co. coming from?. His treatment of Rohr more than anything suggests that he is still the same man. Maybe even worse.
To address the terms spelt out to Rohr on TV, Pinnick required that he lives in Nigeria and accompany him to Nigerian premier league matches. First i must remind you sir that the next coach to the boss is responsible also for handling the home based Eagles. That is the role former assistant and Rangers International of Enugu league-winning coach, Imama Amapamabo played.It goes without saying that Rohr’s assistant is not only responsible for managing the local based players, it is also his responsibility to scout for the very best players in our league. Pinnick didn’t state that Rohr was also going to handle the home based Eagles from now on so that job is Joseph Yobo’s; a man whom former NFF technical director Kashimawo Laloko among others have described as ‘unqualified’. Yobo has no knowledge of our league so Pinnick is without even the slightest hint of shame, trying to shift that responsibility to Rohr. If he endures every humiliation, that perhaps is what Pinnick plans to be the last straw. This man mustn’t be disrespected like this. If the NFF pays the man, it is not its business where he stays. Except it is also asking him to take charge of the home based Eagles which it hasn’t.

Then the issue of paying Rohr in naira. If Amaju Pinnick feels paying the national team coach the naira equivalent of his salary will help grow our currency as he has stated, then please let him go ahead. Only as long as he doesn’t wake up tomorrow to say he meant changing the dollar sign at the end of his salary to naira-$50,000 to N50,000.

One thing is clear, Pinnick is angry with Rohr and wants to frustrate him out of the job. Unconfirmed reports point to that Rohr vehemently opposed any of his players handing him the traditional ‘anything for your boy’ gifts. Whatever it is, please ensure our football administrators act like true professionals. If Amaju Pinnick wants to kick Rohr out and install his friend Joseph Yobo in his place, at least make sure that Rohr is treated with the respect he deserves. Professionally at the very least.

Best Regards
Lifelong Eagles Fan

Umar Sa’ad Hassan is based in Kano

Twitter-@Alaye_100
Email-uhassan077@gmail.com