MFM Football Club: How Dr. Olukoya keeps away juju away from it
By Debo Akinyemi
In what is seen in the sports circle as an unprecedented development, the MFM footbal Club has been featuring successfully for years in the Nigerian football league with crops of players groomed to have zero tolerance for superstitious and voodoo practices.
Most Club sides in Nigeria usually set aside huge budget to procure charms which they sensationally call ‘tactical for matches.
Speaking in a chat with our correspondent in Lagos, MFM Director of Sports, Godwin Enakhena said MFM FC had over the years maintained ” a clean” camp in spite of having players of various religious persuasions.
However, the famous sports broadcaster said the team had achieved this feat as a result of strict guidelines laid down by the Overseer and Club owner Dr Daniel Olukoya.
He noted that the club has on its pay roll a Camp Commandant whose duty is to ensure that no player or official violates the rules and guidelines through acts of indiscipline or indulgence in fetish practice.
“We have never had any incident of a player or official bringing charm in to the camp.We have Muslims among our players and we allow them to practice their religion. But players are not allowed to use juju to either enhance their performances or for good luck off and on the field of play. We have trained them in line with the popular saying that if you are in Rome you behave like a Roman.”
On the secret of the team’s brilliant runs since joining the professional League, Enakhena said the management believed in recruiting and retaining quality players and officials, stressing” with our top grade players and a deep bench, we are usually well positioned to do well”
He added that funding has not been a problem for the team due to the home-grown strategy of getting MFM branches scattered all over the country to provide support for the team, especially while honouring away fixtures.
According to him, the branches are usually notified and requested to provide accommodation and logistics when the team is coming to play in their domains.
He added that the MFM football Club has been serving as vehicle of evangelism and Corporate Social responsibility for the church,stressing that youths are being taken away from the street and gainfully engaged in line with Olukoya’s Youth reposition agenda.
Enakhena expressed confidence that MFM Football Club would soon win the professional league,recalling that the team once narrowly missed the throphy due to inexperience and high rate of Injuries among the players.