Immediate past Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Bolaji Abdullahi, escaped the first major cabinet reshuffle of the Goodluck Jonathan administration. On the day the cabinet reshuffle took place, Abdullahi was receiving encomiums from his boss for a job well done as Blessing Okagbare, who won silver medal in 200 metres final at the 2013 World Athletics Championship in Moscow was being honoured at the Presidential Villa. As a lucky chap, he escaped the second. Sadly, the nominee of the former Kwara State governor, Senator Bukola Saraki (who is now in the All Progressives Congress) was singled out in the third. Evidently, his sack is not because he was found wanting in the discharge of his official functions, but because his heart still lies with his former boss, while his head lies with the present one. ENO-ABASI SUNDAY writes that Abdullahi must have eased himself out of job owing to his continuous desire to serve two masters, and a failed attempt to discharge the duties assigned to him by both masters pari passu. 

Tragedy as a form of drama is based on intense pains and immense human sufferings and almost always having an unhappy ending, which usually brings about the downfall of the main character-hero or heroine.

Greek philosopher, author and poet, Aristotle, who was born in Stagirus, northern Greece, in sharing his view of what makes a tragic hero in his Poetics, suggests that a hero of a tragedy must evoke in the audience a sense of pity or fear, saying: "The change of fortune should not be from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad."

  The sage further wrote that the tragic hero has to be a man "who is not eminently good and just, He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous and whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty." 
  In this direction, he went on to give examples such as Oedipus and Thyestes," both legendary figures in Greek Tragedy.

  Love him, despise him or fall somewhere in between, immediate past Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi will not go down in the history of Nigerian sports as a dot in the footnotes of history books, but as one who did his best for his country.
  Unfortunately, however, he was not schooled in the fine art of paying political obeisance to the momentary paymaster. And like the tragic hero, which Aristotle described, Abdullahi's frailty (political naivety) has led to his downfall. Thankfully not death.

Now, his above average performance for the real paymaster notwithstanding, his devotion and loyalty to his political godfather has punctuated his cruise, which was several thousand feet above sea level, forcing him to crash land with a thud after just two years, 11 months and 18 days.

Since coming on board, Abdullahi, an award-winning journalist and former Education Commissioner in Kwara State, came along with a measure of determination to excel where his predecessors failed. He pursued his vision with a view to achieving his mission with religious zeal.

But his failure to cultivate the right strategy in our peculiar political environment; his refusal to stoop in order to conquer when it was overwhelmingly necessary to do so and his decision to play the role of a professional, where he ought to have played a politician, cost him his plum job.

In the first instance, Abdullahi, many say, will not claim to be more professional than the likes of Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Agriculture Minister, Prof Akinwunmi Adesina and Trade and Commerce Minister, Olusegun Aganga, who all play their political roles, any time the need arises and switch into their professional apparels, when the occasion is right to so do.

What has made this scenario more interesting is the fact that while Bolaji's heart was still with his former boss and political godfather, Senator Bukola Saraki, and his head with his new boss, President Goodluck Jonathan, his successor, Tamuno Danagogo's head and heart had departed from his former boss, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the moment the latter decided to jump ship and romance the opposition.

Danagogo served as commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs and later as commissioner for Urban Development in the Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi's administration in Rivers State.

He resigned his appointment as a commissioner in December when he told the governor that he would not join him to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He ended up beating two former deputy speakers, Chibudum Nwuche and Austine Okpara to the ministerial slot.

 His former boss, Senator Saraki, nominated Abdullahi as minister. And his first appointment as Minister of Youth Development was in 2011. He was later saddled with the task of supervising the Sports Ministry and appointed substantive Sports Minister in March 2012.

Before now, Abdullahi's godfather had initially shown interest in squaring up against Jonathan in the 2011 presidential contest. He later backed down and gave Jonathan his support during the 2011 poll.

Since joining the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) along with his supporters including the state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, he also became an ardent critic of the President, a development that sparked the rumours that his political godson could soon be shown the exit door.

Since that did not happen then, many tied Abdullahi's continued stay in office to the successes recorded by the country in sports since he took charge of the ministry.

Abdullahi's luck apparently ran out recently when Jonathan visited Kwara to welcome decampees to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

During the visit, a reliable source informed The Guardian, that the minister, who had failed to move ahead and spearhead preparations for the visit, did not feature prominently in the picture, as has always been the case when the President is visiting the home state of a serving minister.

In addition to this, during the rally, Abdullahi's people, who are of the opinion that he is still tied to the apron string of the former governor, complained about his attitude towards them alleging that the biggest problem they were grappling with in the party at the state level was disloyalty.

Furthermore, prominent decampees including the governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011, and Senator Gbemisola Saraki, a sibling of Senator Bukola Saraki, allegedly told the President that they couldn't work with Abdullahi in Kwara. 

Another reliable source also informed The Guardian that against tradition, Abdullahi was not given any role to play in the President's visit hence his decision to travel to the state in Jonathan's entourage instead of moving ahead of it.

The afore stated reasons, and Abdullahi's failure to show enough political sagacity as well as his inability to expressly choose, which of the two masters to give his all, many say made him the sacrificial lamb.

Since assuming the reins on March 23, 2012, Abdullahi has recorded some significant strides as Nigeria won several laurels in sports. This includes a beautiful outing at the London 2012 Paralympics Games, where Nigeria won six gold, five silver and one bronze medals.

Nigeria finished in third place at the 2012 Senior African Wrestling Championship in Morocco; was the overall winner at the 2012 Senior Africa Weightlifting Championships in Kenya and Nigeria male basketball team, D'Tigers, qualified to represent Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympics.

In February 2013, Nigeria's Super Eagles won the African Cup of Nations after 19 years while the Golden Eaglets won the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The home-based Super Eagles won the bronze medal at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in the country's maiden outing there, while the Nigerian cricket team, also for the first time ever, made it to the highest cricket league in Africa - League Five.

Same year, Blessing Okagbare ended the country's nearly two decades wait for a medal at the IAAF World Championships. She won the silver medal in the long jump event at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, and the Nigerian weightlifting team to the Commonwealth Championship in Malaysia, returned home with three trophies late last year. Apart from topping the overall medals table in the female category, Nigeria also won the Overall Best Lifter of the championship, both in the senior and junior categories. The country's medal haul at the championship stood at nine gold, two silver and three bronze medals. 

On the flip side, apart from the country returning empty-handed from the London Olympics, Abdullahi also presided over a sports ministry that nearly pushed some sporting disciplines into extinction owing to poor funding and the failed concessioning of sports federations.

Another sore point of his administration was the heavily criticised re-grassing of the main pitch of the Abuja National Stadium for over N90m. The needless re-opening ceremony, which gulped millions of Naira are also part of his blunders.
  Seen largely by some administrators and athletes as a nice guy, 
Abdullahi attended all major athletics events, interacted and even had dinner with teen athletes in Warri, Delta State before the commencement of the African Youth Championship (AYAC), and was with the Nigerian team in Porto Novo, Benin Republic, during the Senior African Athletics Championship, and at the last IAAF World Athletics Championship in Moscow. He attended all editions of the All Nigeria Athletics Championship in Calabar, Cross River State. 

When asked to comment on Nigeria's unprecedented run of victories in sports, which some said boiled down to luck, Abdullahi, in an interview with The Guardian had this to say: People try to explain the unprecedented run of victories in different ways. Some say it is luck. But I think it isn't exactly correct to ascribe our run of success to just luck. Yes, in every aspect of life you need a bit of luck, but saying it is just luck is not only incorrect, but it is also unfair to those who have worked very hard to get us to where we are. It is like saying that the reason we failed in the preceding years was because those in charge then were unlucky. When we say that we close the door to hard work, we close the door to responsibility, we close the door to accountability.

"I would not say it is luck. I think that what has happened is that we have managed to build a system that is beginning to show results, and at the head of that system is leadership at all levels- whether from the part of the President, who convened a retreat and thereby managed to mainstream sports in national consciousness or within the dynamics of national policy and governance. That in itself is a remarkable act of leadership. It sent signals immediately that this government is serious about sports.

"Or from the minister, who has sat down to ask so many questions, that is what we journalist do, and use the response from those who know to begin to construct a system that deliver results. It could be in the way we manage relationships; in the way we organise people; in the way we deploy resources and in the way we resolve problems. What determines whether an athlete performs well goes beyond what happens in 90 minutes of football or within the seconds of a 100-metre dash. You have so many people across a broad range of areas working together efficiently to make this kind of result that we have seen possible. This is how I can explain what has happened and I am very proud to be part of that process.

"I will not say it is luck. People can take credit at different levels and deservedly so. For me, I don't bother about taking credits because long ago, I realised that there are two categories of people at a work place: those who want to do the work and those who want to take credit. And the lesson I have learnt is that it is better to be in the first category because there is not much competition there. Anybody who wants to take the credit can take the credit, but I know that we have been able to organise ourselves in a way that we had not organised ourselves in the past and that is why we are getting the kind of result we have now."

Asked what specific steps he took, and how Nigerian sport has been so tightly organised to ensure that results were pouring in, without him having much pedigree in sports, he responded thus: "Thank you for this compliment. I will say that before I joined the Ministry of Sports, I never had any interest in sports beyond watching football on television like every other Nigerian. But, what you need to run Ministry of Health, for example, is not your proficiency as a medical doctor. What you need to run the Ministry of Agriculture is not your expertise in planting crops. I ran the Ministry of Education in my state for four years and I never studied education. 

"What you need is your ability to manage public policy process. If you are able to manage public policy, from planning to execution, be able to put a team together and understand clearly how the process relates to the final outcome, then it does not matter what your disciplines are, what your orientations are. And I am privileged to have had a graduate education in governance that has really helped me. I brought into the job experience in management sector. I have been in the public service now for 10 years. I was special adviser, I was special assistant, I was Commissioner of Education and I understand that most of the time the critical element that is missing is leadership. And that mindset for problem solving is very important. 

"It is easy to go to work and just push files, talk to people and award contracts. Those who work with me know that the least of my interests is awarding contracts. I never met any contractor in my life as a public officer, whether as a commissioner or as a minister; I am not interested. 

Again, you can't find a single file on my desk. The moment it comes in, it goes out because the job of a minister or leadership is the ability to imagine what is possible, focus on what really matters and be clear about what outcomes you want to get and then knowing the people that are critical to achieving those results and mobilising them to achieve those results. That is very important. It may sound trivial, but it is very important. 

The glaring political undertone of Abdullahi's sack has provided the opposition with the cannon fodder to fire at the Jonathan administration. The Kwara State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) was the first to fire the salvo, describing the sack as the "triumph of politics over excellence."
  According to the local interim Publicity Secretary of the APC, Sulyman Buhari in a statement: "While we concede the fact that Mr. President reserves the powers to hire and fire, in the exercise of such powers however, international best practices demand that excellence and competence should not be traded on the altar of politics. That a President could sack a performing Sports Minister three months to the World Cup speaks volume of the quality of Nigerian Presidency. This nature of politics is anti-people and anti-development.
  "It bears repeating that the achievements of Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi are known to Nigerians and can hardly ever be captured by any book. As the Minister of Sports, he steered the ministry's ship to stardom and catapulted the Nation's sports sector to world class standard.

"Mallam Abdullahi is the most successful Sports Minister in recent times and arguably the best Minister in the Federal Executive Council (FEC). By this sack, the President Jonathan administration has lost what is remaining of its credibility.

"Though, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi is not a member of our party but as an indigene of Kwara State, we are proud of his great achievements at the Ministry of Sports."

While in office, Abdullahi has always publicly declared support for the Jonathan administration, alongside his other role as Senator Bukola Saraki's loyalist. Now out of job, his true political hue is expected to manifest soon.