Five days to the opening of the 2010 World Cup, I took permission from readers of this column that I was going to South Africa “to fly the flag and wish the Super Eagles a glorious outing.” I did and even had a glorious holiday. For me the World Cup has been a familiar ground since 1966 when I had the privilege of watching in England.

I have been watching on television 70, 74, 78 until 1982. Mexico 1986, I had the privilege of leading an NTA four man team of commentators, thus becoming the first African television station to cover the World Cup live. Happily Nigeria still continue with the tradition and even getting better thanks to the collaboration of BON and OSMI. Going to South Africa for the World Cup filled me with a lot of expectations, the first time it is holding on African soil.

I had been to South African twice before in 1992 for a football coverage and in 1999 when Johannesburg hosted the ALL Africa Games. Moving up and down the beautiful place for two weeks, I wondered why they classified South Africa as a third world country. Then in 1999, official brochure claimed that all the automobiles in Egypt, Ivory Coast and Nigeria added together, were not up to half of those in Johannesburg. Some Nigerians felt affronted, but when we cross checked, it was true.

By 2010 when I went for the World Cup, the stark reality is that all the highways and motorable roads in Nigeria are not up to one tenth of those in Johannesburg, and that the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg is bigger and more equipped than all the airports in Africa. And Johannesburg is just one of several cities in South Africa. If Nigeria are classified among the third world, South Africa certainly do not belong to our group. The rainbow country belongs to Europe. If only we had allowed the “oyinbo” to help us, our own country would not remain like a big jungle.

Johannesburg is big and beautiful. It is winter period and to those of us from tropical Nigeria, a bit chilly.

On the opening day, in spite of our leaving the hotel in good time, we were held up in a traffic snarl for two hours and missed the colourful opening ceremony, but got to the futuristic Soccer City Stadium to watch the opening match, South Africa versus Mexico. The following day when Nigeria met Argentina, I thought with all the bravado of the Nigerian Supporters Club and the vociferousness of the Nigerians living in South Africa, we would overwhelm the Argentines, I was wrong. The Argentines outnumbered us four to one. Every top club in Argentina was represented by hundreds of fans and every column of the stadium was covered with Argentine flag. I did not see a single Nigerian flag hung out.

In our first match, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was our saviour from a humiliating defeat, and Osaze Odemwingie was the villain for initiating a selfish approach, seeking for glory, which Obafemi Martins imitated. That signaled the end of the World Cup for Odemwingie, who badly wanted to shine to attract a transfer to the English Premiership. Monday June 14 I flew out of Johannesburg in search of the Super Eagles camp in Richards Bay. From the Durban Airport I took a taxi on a two hour drive to Richards Bay, checked into a Protea Hotel, headed for the Waterfront Protea Hotel of the Super Eagles, and as soon as I stepped out of the taxi, a vicious wind almost lifted me off my feet and immediately asked the driver to take me back to the Protea Hotel, checked out and headed back to sunny Durban.

Nigeria’s next match was on June 17 against Greece in Bloemfontein, the coldest part in South Africa. Durban is the warmest in South Africa and perhaps the most beautiful and with what I experienced in Richards Bay, I didn’t fancy another winter in Bloemfontein. Sani Kaita, perhaps reacting to the “curse” that the Super Eagles will always crash, got a red card against Greece and gifted the match to the Europeans. Kaita should have been taken for a psychiatric test. On June 22, Nigeria met South Korea in my own base, Durban. I thought it fit to visit the team at their Riverside Hotel, Durban to wish them well, saw Dan Amokachi and paid a courtesy call on the President of the NFF Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdulahi, who I met in his room with the Chairman of the Technical Committee, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, and Secretary General, Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba. I wished them well and they appreciated my gesture.

Later in the day, we all went to the Durban Stadium where we needed a win to sail through to the second round. But the “curse” frightened Yakubu Ayegbeni from tapping the ball into an empty net, and later, Obafemi Martins chipped the ball wide with the goalkeeper well beaten. Incidentally Nigeria/South Korea match was the best Eagles had played in several years and some began advocating the retention of the Swede coach, Lars Lagerback. But as long as the “curse” is hanging, the NFF have not atoned for their serial committal of soccer sins – age cheating – and their penchant for misapplication of tax payers money, no more international competitions for Nigeria.

My appeal is for the NFF not to fight the Presidency. They can never win. If they engage in a tussle, it will bring more ridicule to Nigeria and nobody will like that. If they think they can use FIFA to mess Nigeria, they should remember that Nigeria are a sovereign state and a power base in our own right.