Why Adebayor beat AboutrikaMany questions

Former Eagles Chief Coach, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, has said that football fans and other stakeholders should celebrate with Arsenal and Togo international striker, Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor on the 2008 African Footballer of the Year award bestowed on him on Tuesday in Lagos by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).According to Onigbinde, the call had become imperative since nothing could be done by anybody to alter the award. "We have different interpretations on issues like this," Onigbinde began. "There are criteria that had already been laid down for recipients to fulfill before one wins the award."Apart from the performance on the pitch, behaviour both on and off the pitch, consistency, remaining a good ambassador of the game etc. are all part of the considerations. And if Adebayor was found worthy having fulfilled those criteria, the only thing we should do is to congratulate him instead of insinuating that another player ought to have won the award."Chief Onigbinde bared his mind on the recent Glo/CAF Awards because of the snide remarks by many that Egypt and Al Ahly playmaker, Aboutrika, who won the BBC African Player of the Year was robbed, as it seems he met most of the criteria the Modakeke chief highlighted.Speaking further, Chief Onigbinde said that one of the problems we have in this part of the world has been people reaching conclusions out of ignorance. He said that even those who were supposed to know better still make the same mistake of reaching conclusion without having substantial evidence. According to him, when the provisional list for the awards was made available by CAF, Nigerians complained about the non-inclusion of our players in the list. He recalled that he explained then the conditions for listing players for the awards and asked those who were not comfortable with the list to check if Nigerian players met those criteria."One of the problems we have in this part of the world is that we reach conclusions without having concrete evidence. And I am sure we do this out of ignorance. What baffles me is that those who are in the position to know some of these rules also join in this expression of gross ignorance.Meanwhile, the 2002 World Cup coach has described the Legend Award bestowed on the former captain of the then Green Eagles, Christian Chukwu, as "good omen" for Nigerian football. Onigbinde said the former Super Eagles’ coach deserved the honour for his contributions to the development of football on the continent. He recalled that Coach Chukwu played football very well and gave his all to both club and country."You will recall that Chukwu played football for many years and I don’t think there was any time he fouled the rules of the game. His attitude both on and off the pitch speaks volumes. He has remained a good role model for the up-coming players. And without missing words, I would say that Chukwu is a good ambassador of football. Even as a coach, you cannot fault his qualities. So, he deserves the award for his contributions to football development on the continent."This is the period we should celebrate Chairman Chukwu because this recent feat of his will motivate the up-coming players to realise that hard work must be recognised one day," the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) consultant on technical matters concluded.