Adamu: Putting his Nation's Name in the Mud

Over the weekend, the final sentence for the five football (soccer) officials has been declared. The man who sparked the most controversy in the country was Amos Adamu, who is now a former FIFA and CAF executive member. Back in November Adamu was banned from all football related matters, but this past Friday, the football's world governing body, FIFA, announced the results of the appeals the men had made. "Amos Adamu: the appeal has been rejected and the decision of the FIFA Ethics Committee confirmed. The sanction of a three-year ban from taking part in any football-related activity and a fine of CHF 10,000 has been maintained." This was the worst punishment of them all. Also, with the spark of all this corruption in the football world in Nigeria, FIFA has also denied Nigeria the chance to host the world cup in 2018 and 2022. This means that not only are the men going down for the things they have done, but they are bringing the country down with them. Everyone knows that the hosting the world cup brings a large economic chance for the country, but now, Nigeria will not get the money they oh so direly needed.

From what I could gather, the five officials had been shuffling money around from the FIFA account straight into their pockets. Due to the fact that Adamu was one of the top executive members in both FIFA and CAF, he is the one who had been leading the whole operation. Therefore, he is suffering the most punishment.

There were some who were upset by this punishment and others who were upset with the Nigerian government for not stepping in and helping the FIFA officials. The claimed that by this getting out into the news makes Nigeria look corrupt and gives them a bad name. Of course, these were all the people who had worked with Adamu and FIFA. The people of the country had a very different reaction to the sentence given to Adamu. They said that it was Adamu's fault and he got what he deserved. They said he was throwing the Nigerian name into the mud, and that it was not the government's responsibility to cover for Adamu.

This relates to what we have learned in class because it ties back into the corruption of the wealthy in Africa. They have so much power and freedom that they were able to place so much money into their own pockets for years without anyone knowing it. If FIFA a worldwide organization had not stepped in these men would not have been discovered. We all know there is much corruption in the African system, but this is proof of corruption in the wealthy.