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News_Naija

Well Petition NFF Over Dads Unpaid Wages Christian Chukwus Son

First son of late Green Eagles captain and coach, Christian Chukwu, Christian Chukwu Jr, shares the life and times of his father, in this interview with RAPHAEL EDE. He also speaks on the 1980 AFCON-winning captain’s life at home, away from his celebrity status, his alleged unpaid salary by the NFF and more Can you share the last moments of your father here on earth with us? His last moment was very peaceful, we didn’t expect it but it came. It is the will of God. The time he passed away was very peaceful. He had some crises and we rushed him to the hospital, unfortunately he passed on. Did he share any information with you or the family before he died in terms of his career or otherwise? He didn’t expect to die, so he wasn’t prepared to share anything. We were optimistic that he will recover because we were talking; everything was nice before he had a little crisis before we took him to the hospital. It wasn’t really serious and like I stated earlier, we were not expecting him to die, so, it just came up. So, he didn’t talk to us about his career. He complained about being owed by the Nigeria Football Federation, do you know how much he’s being owed and what efforts are being made to get being paid? He didn’t also share his business life with me. He carried it personally and that’s how my daddy was, he carried it personal. He didn’t share it with us. Now you said he didn’t share such information with you, will your family write the NNF requesting that they should pay the family whatever your father was owed by the football body? We should, we will make a request and hopefully the NFF will do the right thing. How did the family cope during the time he was owed until his demise? It was hard; it is been hard but not all that hard. My father tried as much as he could but thanks to God most of us had gotten paid jobs. So, it’s been hard but he tried his best to make us not to feel whatever that he was owed. He was covering us, trying his best. Was he bitter about being owed and did he forgive those who owed him knowing that he worked for it? My father was always to himself, he didn’t like to share the burden he was battling with but he kept us apart from him and the NFF. So, I don’t know much or how he was feeling it. He tried and tried to the extent that he said ‘let everything be to God’ to fight for him. He fought to that stage. He was named Chairman on the field of play. Away from the glamour what sort of father was he? He was a very calm, loving and caring father. He was good in listening to us the children, even to the extent we were surprised by the way people respected him more than the way we respected him. It was like he had authority outside but with us he made everything easy, very easy with us. He didn’t bring his chairman status to the home, in the house, he was very calm. He solved our problems when we had any. It was because of us he retired from coaching outside the country. He coached so much outside – Kenya, Lebanon, Algeria – and it was because of us that he decided to take a break to come down and stay with us and train us. He tried his best as a family man, he was a good and wonderful father. How did the family relate with him when he was outside the country coaching? He will always call and we will talk for very long periods of time. That was when there was NITEL landline, we will open it and everyone will take their turns. I will talk, my elder sister will talk, my younger sister and everybody will talk and he never missed whenever he had the chance or had free days off work, whether it was in the US, Lebanon or Kenya, he would always try to come back and stay like one or two months before going back. Do you think he was well treated by the government after his efforts? For me, I don’t think so. What are those things you would have expected the government to have done? It is not only my father that was affected, it’s same thing that happened to all those in their age grade that tried and suffered as Jim Nwobodo had rightly said. They are supposed to have a programme to feed all of them, those of the 1980s, almost all of them are above 70, they should feed them and have a programme for them – proper healthcare, maybe some allowances and that stuff. They were supposed to have a programme where all of them would get something after trying and stressing their lives for the country. Multi-billionaire businessman Femi Otedola assisted your dad some years ago when he had health challenges by flying him to the UK for medical treatment. Were you surprised? We didn’t expect that much – my daddy found grace in the hands of a Yoruba man because the money he brought wasn’t small money and I also thank the Enugu State Government for doing their own part when he was admitted at the Special Hospital; they did their own part and I thank Femi Otedola. We have thanked him before and we are still thanking him for what he has done because we would have lost him then but God used him and the Enugu State Government to give him the more years that we enjoyed with him till he died. As the first son do you really feel his absence considering the burden of taking decisions on issues concerning the family and solving problems? Yes, I am not supposed to be talking to you if he was alive. I am not supposed to be talking to all these media personalities, he was the one shading me from them all, I was just doing my work in Port Harcourt and all over the place. If I just come home we greet, we talk but now he is not I have to restructure the way I do things and find a way to fix them because the duty has changed. So, I will try to fix, take care of my family and other things. When your father was alive did have preference for any of his children? You know fathers usually have preference for their female children while the mums prefer their male children. My daddy had preference for the ladies; he believed that we (men) could find a way to work out at things to become a man, and to try to learn. He was trying to make us become men looking at the time, like this day and onwards he will not be around with us. Your dad made his name in sports, are you a sports lover? Yes I am a sports lover. I played football but when I graduated from school after studying engineering, I lost interest in playing professional football. I still love sports but I have a career in engineering now. Which clubs did you play for? Before school and when I left school I played inter-school football: inter-secondary school matches. I went for Pepsi Academy trials but it was during my school days – inter-seminary school competitions that I had an ankle injury and after that I saw that football wasn’t easy and my father advised me. I remembered him saying when he played all through his life till then, he didn’t have such an injury and for me having an injury like that maybe I had to go to school first and graduate. And I obeyed him and it favoured me because I have seen most of my friends that followed football till now but they don’t have any problem. He will always advise people, that even if you want to play you must have a second plan, a Plan B, you must go to school or you must get a handwork so that if football doesn’t work you can follow the Plan B, football is not for everybody. How do you people relate with your mum especially now that your father is no longer around? We don’t have any problem with our mother; she is the one that trained us majorly like I told you earlier that my father travelled a lot. She is the one that knew all our lapses and all the things, so it will be easy to relate and to also take care of her. It is for us to take care of her now and not for her to take care of us. It is our duty to take care of her now.

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Why Is Zimbabwes President Mnangagwa Facing Pressure To Resign?

An internal split in the ruling ZANU-PF party is driving fears of a possible coup attempt against Mnangagwa, who is trying to stay in power beyond 2028 despite a constitutional bar. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is facing what experts say is the biggest threat to his rule yet as a succession battle erupts ahead of general elections scheduled for 2028. Recent manoeuvrings by the president and his supporters to extend his rule to 2030 have led to calls and protests from within his party for the president to step down or be forced to do so. The upheavals have seen the dismissal of top security officials, a move experts say Mnangagwa is taking to avoid being overthrown in a coup. The president has long faced criticism from Zimbabweans, but dissent within his ZANU-PF party is rare, and public calls for demonstrations against him are unprecedented. On Monday, demonstrators took to the streets in protests called by a top ZANU-PF member. Zimbabwe has for decades been mired in political crises that have led to economic stagnation, a dearth of jobs, and general government dysfunction. Hyperinflation over the past two decades has pushed the South African country’s economy to its knees and wiped out the savings of common people. “Zimbabweans are tired and need a messiah,” Blessing Vava, director of human rights group Crisis Zimbabwe, told Al Jazeera. Here’s what to know about the latest crisis: An internal split within the ruling ZANU-PF party, which has held power since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, is driving the current crisis. Two main factions are at loggerheads, one supporting a prolonged term for Mnangagwa, 82, and another one supporting the ascendancy of Constantino Chiwenga, his 68-year-old vice president. Mnangagwa came to power in 2017 amid promises of democratic and economic reforms. However, critics say corruption levels have remained high, the opposition has been targeted, and the economy has continued to slide. Zimbabwe’s constitution has a two-term limit for presidents. Mnangagwa is currently in his second elected term, which ends in 2028 when elections are due. However, some members of the ZANU-PF party have been chanting a “2030 agenda” since last year, saying the president should stay in power for a third term to continue his reforms, although that would violate the constitution. At a conference in December, the party officially adopted a motion to extend Mnangagwa’s rule till 2030. That’s subject to the approval of the Senate and a national referendum, but the motion has prompted nationwide debate and controversy. Within ZANU-PF, a dissenting faction led by Blessed “Bombshell” Geza, a liberation war veteran and senior party member, has since held conferences to speak out against Mnangagwa. He has accused the government of being corrupt and called on people to protest. In one video published on social media, he regretted supporting the president’s rise to power. “As soon as he [Mnangagwa] had the taste of power, he escalated corruption, forgot the people, and only remembered his family,” Geza said. The politician said Mnangagwa would be forced out and accused him of “surrendering” power to his wife and kids, who he said are powerful behind-the-scene actors in the president’s third term bid. First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, alongside her husband and several other government officials, were sanctioned by the United States in March 2024 for alleged involvement in illicit diamond and gold networks. In 2023, an Al Jazeera investigation revealed that Zimbabwean officials were using smuggling gangs to sell the country’s gold to soften the impact of sanctions. However, Geza’s critics point out that he, too, is part of the establishment that has long controlled Zimbabwe. Analyst Takura Zhangazha told Al Jazeera that Geza’s opposition is gaining broader traction only because it comes at a time when the country’s national economy is also struggling – which Zimbabweans blame on the ruling government. Any support that Geza’s calls for Mnangagwa to resign gets is not because people believe he will fight for them, he added. “Mr Geza is representative of [the government] in the public eye,” Zhangazha said. “So he does not have an organic or popular authenticity.” ZANU-PF officials, as well as Mnangagwa, have called Geza’s taunts “treasonous”. The politician, who has now reportedly gone into hiding, was ousted from the party on March 7. He is wanted by the police on several charges, including “undermining the authority of the president” and for allegedly inciting public violence. Meanwhile, Mnangagwa has shuffled the country’s national security leadership. General Anselem Sanyatwe, commander of the presidential guard, was fired last week. Earlier, Godwin Matanga, chief of police, and Isaac Moyo, head of the intelligence service, were dismissed. Geza had, in recent weeks, called for mass demonstrations this week against President Mnangagwa. By Friday, security officials had poured onto the streets, conducting stop-and-search on vehicles in the capital, Harare. On Monday, some demonstrators gathered at the city’s Robert Mugabe Square, even as social media videos showed armoured tanks rolling down the streets as security was beefed up. Most people, however, chose to stay at home to avoid potential violence. Businesses and offices were completely shut down across the country, as a result, although authorities had urged people to go to work. Vava, of Crisis Zimbabwe, said many Zimbabweans are fed up with ZANU PF’s power struggles, but that they had protested in their way. “Zimbabweans feel cheated, and they don’t want to be used again,” Vava said. “But the shutdown was also a success. By choosing to stay at home, what we saw was also Zimbabweans demonstrating, saying that we don’t want to be dragged into your internal battles.” Meanwhile, those who gathered were forcefully dispersed with tear gas. Police also arrested dozens of others. On Tuesday, officials said they had arrested 95 protesters on charges of “public violence” and “breaches of peace”. Officials said some people were arrested at the site of the demonstrations, while others were picked up because of their social media posts. State-owned newspapers, such as the Zimbabwe Herald, reported that the protests were a “failure”. Reacting to the low numbers, government spokesperson Farai Muroiwa Marapira said in a post on X that the demonstrators were “put to shame”. Good morning Zimbabwe. Another day to go forth and work and uplift our country. Already plotters and planners are put to shame. Like we said… What is loud on social media is barely a whisper in real life. Quasi journos creating none existant flight numbers and claiming Cde… pic.twitter.com/CvUZ6WzPyF — Farai Muroiwa Marapira (@marapira_farai) March 31, 2025 To many, the current crisis is reminiscent of the fall of the late Robert Mugabe, who held onto power for 37 years before being deposed in a coup in 2017. Mugabe, who was forced out at the age of 93, led the country’s fight for independence. However, his subsequent rule was characterised by the repression of opposition members, election rigging, corruption and economic stagnancy. He refused to give up the presidency for decades. Mnangagwa was a longtime ally of Mugabe and served as defence minister and then vice president in the final years of Mugabe’s rule. He had close ties to the military. However, the two men fell out over who would succeed Mugabe: Mnangwaga was backed by the army on the one hand, while Mugabe wanted to hand over to his wife Grace Mugabe on the other. On November 6, 2017, Mugabe dismissed Mnangagwa, triggering the beginning of his downfall. A week later, the armed forces seized control, and Mnangagwa took power. Now, the president, too, appears caught in the same spiral. Although he had once promised to hand over power to Vice President Chiwenga, who was a major player in the Mugabe coup, Mnangagwa has since changed his tune, analysts say. Chiwenga, who Geza claims to be speaking for, has not publicly stated his desire to run for president or spoken out against Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa is unlikely to be successful in prolonging his rule because of a citizenry fed up with political machinations and because of the deep internal splits in ZANU-PF, Vava told Al Jazeera. “People don’t want the 2030 agenda,” he said. “It will be a battle for survival for Mnangagwa.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...