UNIFORM NUISANCE.

Wonders they say ‘shall never end’ but I beg to re-phrase it as ‘ wonders shall not stop happening’. How can we explain the misuse of power by the so-called uniform men. Abuse of power was associated with only the military in a period we prefer to call the dark ages, but now, the other Para-military outfits have now started harassing, molesting, maltreating and in some cases, end up incapacitating their victims.

What they do, they do in the name of being dutiful. The military protects the country, police offers protection to the populace, Yellow fever, sorry. Road Safety seeks to prevent accident but what is the VIO protecting, vehicle insurance? Your guess is as good as mine.

On a sunny afternoon when people were at work or preparing to close at work, the power-drunk VIO chaps descended heavily on an unfortunate victim beating him almost to a state of pulp. Questions from people brought out part of the true story which was that they requested the driver of the truck to stop but he wouldn’t or maybe he did not even hear. A few metres away, he stopped and they took a maximum advantage of the slip.

The question been raised is that in a country that her ill president keeps preaching the gospel of due process and rule of law should the law enforcement agencies keep taking law into their hands? If the ordinary VIO staff can barbarically deal with a citizen that has not been condemned, only God knows what the BIG OGAs can do.

It is in Nigeria that we see a trigger happy police officer shoot down a lawful citizen of the country just because of a paltry twenty naira. Anyway, hopefully, in no distant time from now, Nigerians will breathe the air of true freedom. Until then, my advice is that we should always be careful until God delivers us from these uniform PHAROAHS.

PREMIER LEAGUE, TWO HORSE RACE ?

That the premier league is second nature to Nigerians is no understatement. Many football loving Nigerians follow the English league more than they follow the local league. What’s the local league called sef? Is it GLO , MTN OR ZAIN, who cares to know?

Owing to the habitual poor performances of the ‘super chickens’ sorry Eagles, fans have taken solace in watching tactically sounds managed teams, disciplined and gifted players.

The 09/10 Barclays premiership season is the most closely fought season in a long while. This season, some teams have tried to push the traditional top 4 teams all the way for the coveted champions’ league football or even the league crown. Teams like Tottenham, Aston-villa and Man-city have attempted to crash the top 4 party.

As expected, top 4 is not about money but character of the teams and the caliber of players they pararde. The traditional elite teams in England pulled clear of the others expect Liverpool that unexpectedly suffered dwindling fortunes .

The race for the coveted trophy was at the beginning of the season narrowed down to three teams; Man-utd, Chelsea and Liverpool. Arsenal was totally discountenanced initially owing to the departure of Adebayor and Toure in the summer but the demolition of Everton at the Goodinson park made football aficionados to have a rethink.

Arsenal in recent weeks have suffered some embarrassing defeats to both title rivals in Man-utd and Chelsea. These defeats have made football analysts to rule Arsenal out of the running for the league. I want to state categorically here that the league is not won by the team that accumulates the most number of points from his battle with direct rivals but by the team that is able to beat the smaller teams well. My analysis is based on the facts of last season.

Last season, of the top 4 teams, Liverpool got the highest number of points from their top 4 rivals, amassing a total of 14 points. The breakdown goes thus;

Liverpool against Man-utd- 6 points

Liverpool against Chelsea- 6 points

Liverpool against Arsenal- 2 points

Arsenal got 9 points

Against Man-utd – 4 points

Against Chelsea – 3 points

Against Liverpool- 2 points

Man-utd got 5 points

Against Liverpool- 0 points

Against Arsenal- 1 point

Against Chelsea- 4 points

Chelsea got 4 points

Against Liverpool – 0 points

Against Arsenal- 3 points

Against Man-utd – 1 point.

With the above analysis, one would have thought that Liverpool should have won the league but they didn’t. The winner we all know. The reason why Liverpool couldn’t end their lengthy wait for the league crown was because they couldn’t beat the smaller relegation threatened teams. To remind you, Middlesbrough beat them and of course Middlesbrough now plies its trade in the nationwide league.

Beating top 4 rivals does not translate into winning the league, it only gives you an edge that if well managed, can give you the crown. Now that Arsenal has lost to their bitter top 4 rivals, I want to state categorically here that they are down but not out. If they can win their remaining matches, they could still win it if their conquerors can’t pummel the bottom teams. Both Chelsea and Man-utd have struggled against bottom teams ; Chelsea has lost to Wigan, drawn Hull and west-ham. Man-utd have lost to Burnley, drawn Sunderland and Birmingham.

To true Arsenal fans, I say keep the faith and let’s remain incurably optimistic, the league trophy can still be lifted by our Spanish maestro and be domiciled at our Emirates trophy cabinet.

To deluded Chelsea and Man-utd fans, I say the bird has not come home to roast yet. The final resting place of the league crown for the season has not been decide yet. It could be Old-Trafford, Stamford bridge or even the Emirates!