A former Chairman of the defunct BCC Lions FC of Gboko, Benue State, former Board Member of the defunct Nigerian Football Association (NFA) now (NFF), and former Nigerian Ambassador to Argentina with concurrent accreditation to Chile, Peru and Uruguay, Barr Chive Kaave has said in an exclusive interview with VoiceSports’ Terfa Alaghga, that BCC Lions created both wealth and individuals. He said if he had stayed longer than he did in the Board of the Nigerian Football Association (NFA), he would have become its President. He also spoke on other issues.
Excerpts:
VoiceSports: You did not play much football in your youth, but what prompted you into football administration?
Kaave: It was a divine accident because when I was working as the Company Secretary and Legal Adviser of the Benue Cement Company PLC Gboko, I was very interested in football and it got to a point when the Management, appointed me to serve on its Board.
VoiceSports: How did your opportunity come as Chairman of BCC Lions FC of Gboko?
Kaave: After serving on the Board of the club for many years, I rose to the position of the Vice Chairman during which I supported a lot of Chairmen to make history for the club and it was until when the club started going down on relegation before they started looking for who would fix it and somebody told them that the person who had been running the club from the background was Chive Kaave. They were all afraid of handling the team for fear that it would go on relegation under their watch and that was why I boldly and with confidence, accepted the responsibility. On the 17th April, 1997, I took over BCC Lions FC as Chairman and from April to September, 1997, we escaped relegation and also won the Challenge Cup under the late Coach Justin Tenger as gaffer, who was incidentally the first coach from the Tiv axis to lift the Cup. This was his breakthrough in coaching.
VoiceSports: Did you impact the players at all?
Kaave‘ Of course I did. I made the local boys believe in themselves that they had the talents and that if they also have the commitment and discipline, they will also make history for themselves. When I made the late Tenger coach of the team, everybody said, ” this club is going to die on your hands oo Chive”, so you want to localize the team and even the coaching crew.? But I told them that I knew what I was doing and said, “Justin, you now have a challenge to prove to me that this club cannot be run by only people from outside. Now prove yourself and we are going to give you every support that we gave to Shaibu Amodu, so take it”. We played and defeated Katsina United FC, a team that came from where the NFA President, Aminu who appointed match officials for the Challenge Cup final was.
VoiceSports: How well did you manage the club as Chairman?
Kaave: I managed BCC Lions FC to the best of my ability and without hitches. During my time, we won the Challenge Cup competition and went ahead to lift the Mandela Cup Competition. In fact, the Challenge Cup was like our national gift. We also won the Professional Football League title. To show that God was really on our side and He was blessing us for the efforts I was putting in, I got elected to the Board of the Nigerian Football Association (NFA), representing the North-central.
VoiceSports: What was the secret behind your success as Chairman of BCC Lions FC of Gboko?
Kaave: One mistake that most people make is this, they think there is a secret behind winning matches but I must tell you without mincing words that there is none. However, if there can be one then it should be by entrusting your efforts in God’s hands and buttressing the scripture which says, “by thy sweat thou shalt eat”, we made sure we sweated on the pitch by training very hard, relentlessly, marked with discipline and self confidence. We did all that was required of us to win our matches. All these factors gave us good results and success. I didn’t go to voodoo houses and all we were doing was to go to church and ask for God’s blessings.
VoiceSports: Can you recall one or two persons that BCC Lions FC nurtured and they made a remarkable impact on the Nigerian Football scene?
Kaave: BCC Lions nurtured so many people who developed their talents into becoming exceedingly great men on the Nigerian Football scene. The late Coach Shaibu Amodu for instance, was a creation of BCC Lions FC of Gboko.
VoiceSports: Shaibu Amodu was a creation of BCC Lions FC, how do you mean?
Kaave: Outside of BCC Lions FC, the late Shaibu Amodu was an unknown individual playing local football with the Niger Tornadoes FC of Minna, in Niger State. He came to BCC Lions to be an assistant to Coach James Peters and Coach Peters being somebody that could not create history for himself and also manage his opportunities despite the God given talent that abounded in him. We sent him to Brazil for further coaching training, he took advantage of this and mismanaged his position as the coach and when we were looking for somebody to take over from him, we thought it wise that since Coach Shaibu Amodu was the one who had been used to the system, he should wear the crown as coach of the Cement Boys. Coach Shaibu Amodu rose from this humble beginnings to limelight in the world of football coaching. BCC Lions had good players, had the money and the passion to manage football.
VoiceSports: How did you become a Board Member of the NFA?
Kaave: Very simple. When the position was vacant and people were asked to file in their nominations which I did after consultations, I was nominated by clubs on merit because they found me worthy to represent the zone. After going through all the processes required of the contestants and contesting the election, I won with 97 votes to beat retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Joseph Ibi from Nasarawa State, in 1999.
VoiceSports Did you lobby for it or was it your track record in football management that won you the ticket as Board Member of the NFA?
Kaave: If you say lobby, yes because we had to go and lobby the other states in the north – central zone to support our candidature for the slot which was zoned to the region and if you also say track record in football management, of course we had a good team that was well managed, was very successful and had only Plateau United FC that was its rival in the north – central. The most successful clubs in the zone were in Benue and Plateau States, and Plateau had for several times produced members at the Board and it became obvious by rotation that the position would go outside Plateau State, which I contested for and God gave me the victory.
VoiceSports: What were your achievements as a Board Member of the NFA, representing the north – Central states?
Kaave: Thank you very much for that question Alaghga. It is always very difficult to appraise yourself but I can tell you in confidence that each time I had the opportunity of leading a delegation of Nigerian Football team to play in any tournament outside the shores of Nigeria, I came back victoriously because I never lost any match. I led a delegation of the U – 23 team in 2000, captained by Joseph Yobo, preparatory to the Olympics in Australia. Before qualifying for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, we had a crucial match to play against the Cranes of Uganda, which we needed to win in order to stay ahead of our rivals and it turned out to be a spectacular match which we won by 3-1 and this earned us qualification for the Olympics in Australia. After qualifying for the Olympics in Australia, the Minister of Sports led the delegation. I also had the opportunity of severally leading the Falconets and as the commandant, I camped the team in Makurdi, for their qualifiers and we went to Mali and defeated them on their soil, 5-1 after which we toured all over Africa without losing any match and we qualified to represent Africa in Canada. This time again, the Minister of Sports led the delegation to Canada.
VoiceSports: After completing your first tenure as Board Member of the NFA in 2003, why didn’t you contest again?
Kaave: Well, I did contest in 2003 and at this time, it was for the Chairmanship of the NFA, but political pressure was brought to bear on me to concede the position to another person which I did and the Federal Government compensated me to continue on the Board for another three years and later, I became the Vice President of the Board. I am very sure if I had stayed much longer on the Board, perhaps I would have realized my dream of becoming the NFA President. However, when politics set in, I aspired to be the Governor of Benue State, I contested and lost but was later made the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice by the then Governor Gabriel Suswam. That was how the door of the football administration was shut on me.
VoiceSports, What would you say were your sad moments as Board Member of the NFA?
Kaave: There are some memories that are better not recalled but in order to answer your question, I wish to recall in 2001, when I led the Falconets to Mali for a qualifier which we won overwhelmingly. After returning from the match to my hotel room to rest my nerves, I was watching the CNN and I saw where the Nigerian Soldiers invaded my hometown in Nigeria, mowing down tents, burning down houses and people were also killed. I was shocked that one of my younger brothers was shot dead right in front of his mother. In fact, nobody’s house was spared in that incident including the house of a former Chief of Army Staff, the late General Victor Malu (ret). The pain I felt is what as I speak to you, I find it difficult to let it escape my memory. I was alone in my hotel room and I had to weep bitterly, wondering if it was real or a dream. The then President Olusegun Obasanjo in whose time the unfortunate incident happened, of course visited Benue State and tendered an unreserved apology to the people of the state. The apology had some level of healing process, it was comforting and consoling and as it was coming from a person who hardly offered an apology to anyone.
VoiceSports: When the door to become the NFA President and Governor of Benue State was shut before you, what was your next line of action?
Kaave: After serving as the Justice Commissioner in his administration, Governor Gabriel Suswam also nominated me for an Ambassadorial position and I was appointed Nigeria’s Ambassador to Argentina with concurrent accreditation to Chile, Peru and Uruguay.
VoiceSports: Coming from a very humble background, how did you view your ladder of exalted positions in life?
Kaave: I view it as a divine grace which I always thank God for every step that I take in life and having come from a poor background, I received a University education as a Lawyer. I consider all of these achievements as a special grace of God, love of God and his mercy upon my family for me to receive such accolades.
VoiceSports: What do you think is the cause of the dwindling performance of the Super Eagles of Nigeria?
Kaave: Football is not just for leisure but it is business and you have to invest in a business before you can reap the dividends. Nigeria is not investing enough in it. If I may ask, how many football academies do we have in Nigeria today? A set of players will grow and once they retire, there will be no replacement. For instance, when you go to Argentina, where I served for five years as an Ambassador, every state has up to two to three football academies where they produce and churn these players out and send them to Europe to go and prepare for every stage of the World Cup. So they always have a surplus of talents, passion and commitment to represent their country at any stage of the World Cup. Here in Nigeria, we are not ready, we assemble a team in less than two months and we expect them to go and represent Nigeria and win laurels. Football is about passion, consistency and continuity.
VoiceSports: In a nutshell, what are you saying?
Kaave: I am saying they have exhausted their passion, commitment and discipline so they are now paying for it. Take for instance, the Super Falcons in the ongoing tournament where most of the players are old legs and you can see that younger teams are coming up with greater passion, greater strength, greater creativity and commitment to make history because every country wants to beat the Falcons of Nigeria to make history for themselves. We have to plan everything we want in life because Everything requires proper planning, prosecution and supervision. Nobody can pick a World Cup by accident. We are always praying to God to give us luck and everybody is also praying to God.
VoiceSports: If you were to advise on who to coach the Super Eagles of Nigeria, would you go for a local or foreign coach?
Kaave: Management of players requires a lot of psychology and the psychology of our local and the foreign based players has an edge over our local coaches such that they are even afraid of them because they take money from them. So you need a coach that has the mental capacity to tell a Multi- Million Dollar player to sit down and do exactly what he wants him to do or to wake up at six o’clock and come and see him. Running a football team is like running a cantonment where you must obey the rules and regulations which everybody has to key in.
VoiceSports: Were you instilling such a level of discipline in the players of BCC Lions FC?
Kaave: Very well. Sometimes I would stay in the camp with the players until midnight, to make sure that they did not receive strange guests, I would keep them away from all distractions and I made sure that they had sufficient rest and recreation, to be able to give me the best. I also paid them while they were in camp to motivate them to give their best.
VoiceSports: How did you receive the news of the sale of Benue Cement Company PLC to Dangote Group of Companies?
Kaave: I received the news with dismay. The loss of the company to Dangote was not only a loss to Gboko as a town and Benue State in general but to the entire Middle Belt region because with BCC, every part of the region was represented. Today, it has been localized by one man, Dangote who is said to be the richest man in Africa but could not even pay off our engagement benefits. BCC was creating both wealth and individuals. It created individuals like, Senators Barnabas Gemade who was the Managing Director of the Company, Abdullahi Adamu, former Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Haruna Abubakar, Joshua Dariye, former Governor of Plateau State, Alhaji Yahaya Kwande, myself and others too numerous to mention. When we handed over the Benue Cement Company PLC to Dangote in 2002/3, a bag of cement was sold at less than One Thousand Naira and today, a bag is sold at the rate of #12,000. We are not benefitting anything from the company now.
VoiceSports: What is your position on the re-election of the NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau, even when he could not qualify Nigeria for the World Cup or win the AFCON?
Kaave: Football is not like a Federal Character Commission, where it must be rotational. It should be strictly on merit, commitment, competence and discipline. If I may ask, what is his pedigree about football? Not minding things that are happening recently, because he may be a victim of circumstances of the situation.
VoiceSports: In essence, what are you saying?
Kaave: What I am saying is that before he became the NFF President, was he a committed football manager anywhere that you know? It is not that there are a lot of Dollars in football so let us find a Northener to fill in the position.
VoiceSports: Can you mention one or two persons that contributed in one way or the other to the success of your election as Board Member of the NFA?
Kaave: Yes I can. Jack Moses Ekwe-Ekwe was part of the team that made me an elected member of the NFA in 1999. My relationship with Jackie Moore as I fondly call him has come a long way, we are like 5 and 6. He is someone I have known and we’ve been friends for over four decades, he is my media consultant, he is my friend, my soulmate and part of my family. Everybody in my family knows Jackie and he is the only one who can come to my house at 6.am and my wife will say, “just wait for your friend he has gone for jogging”. Before I return from the jog, breakfast will be ready for us to eat and we will have breakfast on the same table.
