TRAINED as a teacher at Government Teachers College, (GTC) Makurdi, from where he graduated in 1982, Moses Kpakor however made his mark not in the classroom but on the football field. A veteran of the Super Eagles, Kpakor was one of the finest and dedicated players of his generation. Upon retirement from active football, he took up coaching at club level in the country as manager of Sharks Football Club of Port-Harcourt, among others.
Kpakor, who will be 56 on 1st June this year, after his retirement from active football, wrote JAMB and went to the university; got his first degree, Master’s degree and is currently a doctoral student at the Benue State University, Makurdi, where he is specialising in Sports Administration.
In this interview with National Record’s Amos Aar, and other journalists recently in Makurdi, Benue State capital, Kpakor speaks on a number of issues – his background and formative years in Kwande United FC, the challenges facing sports, his days in the Super Eagles and the inherent politics in the national team as well as his hopes of returning to sports as an administrator and the dream of retiring to lecturing in the university; for he believes that teaching and coaching are similar; “they have the same methodology,” he said.
National Record (NR): It may be of interest to our teeming readers and Nigerians at large to know the personality we are speaking with. So, who are you sir?
Kpakor: My name is Moses Akuhwa Kpakor; I am from Kwande local government area of Benue State. My father was Daniel Akuhwa Kpakor; he trained as a nurse at Mkar Hospital in 1953. My mother came from the present day Ushongo local government area. So, that is who I am.
NR: At one time or the other, the name Moses Kpakor rang bells in the sports world, specifically in football; can one still link that personality of yore with the persona in you now?
Kpakor: Of course, Moses Kpakor till today is synonymous with football. I came from a football family because our father was also a footballer. These Kpakors were three; the eldest one was Joseph Kwaghgba Kpakor, and my immediate senior brother, Terfa Kpakor.
They were already established names in football in the state. They played for the defunct and legendary Kwande United Football Club of Adikpo. Kwande United FC was the first football club, if I could remember correctly, to win the first Benue State Challenge Cup way back in 1976.
I remember Kwande United also won the Governor’s Cup in 1980. It was the best team in this country, I still remember some of the good players – Geoffrey Shande who was the Captain, the late Wanongo Ugbema; Terfa and Kwaghgba, Agema Tiam who was a good goalkeeper, Andrew Iornongo, Herbert John and a host of others. When you talk of football; in Adikpo, football is synonymous with the names like Sir Akpoo Abrakabo, Akusha and it is these days we have seen Barcelona playing what Kwande United played over forty years ago. This, anybody who watched that team can testify. So, Kwande United was simply the best team in Benue State.
Of course, I came into limelight during the third Benue State Sports Festival; that was in 1981. I represented Kwande local government in the intermediate and senior football teams. I was playing two matches each day; I was Captain of the junior team. After that match, I would pull off my jersey, I would wear the senior team and we won silver in football. We lost to Gboko in the intermediate and we won gold in the senior team and I was voted Benue State footballer of the year 1981.
I had three weeks to go to Feyenoord in Holland or the Netherlands for my medicals; then I broke my leg, right lower limb, which shattered my dream of playing professional football in Europe. I don’t like remembering the incident but honestly I tell you, six months before that injury, I saw the injury coming and I kept telling my officials that I am sleeping and dreaming that I had broken my leg. Six months before it came, we were going playing matches.
I think that was the beginning of my soccer career because I never expected I would achieve success very quickly like that. From there, I represented the state at the 5th National Sports Festival in Benin, and I ended up being the nation’s highest goal scorer with four goals. Those four goals were scored in one match and I got invitation to the Flying Eagles in 1982. So, that is the brief story. Moses Kpakor is a very long story.
NR: Where is Kwande United Football Club today?
Kpakor: Kwande United has been defunct for a very long time! You remember that in 1980, after Kwande United won the Governor’s Cup, the then Governor of Benue State, Mr Aper Aku, wanted a situation whereby Benue State would be represented at the national level. In other words, Benue State as at that time had no team playing in the defunct National Amateur Football League. As a result of that, Aper Aku now formed a formidable club which was state-owned, called Hawks Football Club of Makurdi, and some players were selected from Kwande United, some were selected from Juladaco Babes of Gboko, some were selected from Otukpo and Katsina-Ala United. In other words, good players were selected from every part of the state to form Hawks Football Club in 1981 to make the team strong so that Benue would also have a team playing in the defunct National Amateur Football League and ever since then, Kwande United died. However, from the few players who were left behind, the club later metamorphosed, first into a team, National Union of Road Transport Workers of Adikpo, and so on and so forth. It’s unfortunate that Kwande United is no more but there were and are still very good players from the area.
NR: So, what is the future of these good players that you are talking about since it is no longer Kwande United, no more BCC, no more Hawks or what did you call it? What is the future of these players?
Kpakor: The future of present day players in this country is in great doubt because if I tell you that Moses Kpakor began his club side football here with Hawks FC, Lobi Stars FC, and that players like Amir Angwe, Alimin Aule, John Zaki, Barnabas Imenger and others; almost all the best players from Tiv land began their football career from Hawks which is today Lobi Stars, you young ones may find this hard to believe.
Hawks was looked upon as a team of Benue State that gave the indigenous players the opportunity to spring to stardom and that is why I continue mentioning Benue players, that they have affiliation with Lobi Stars of today. But that was not all, we had many teams in this state such that if your quality was not good enough for Hawks, it may be good enough for Hospital Management Board, it may be good for Green Seed, and so on. Makurdi alone had so many football clubs; the same thing in Gboko; there was Juladaco Babes, there was Strikers of Gboko, there were many teams; so our generation of players had many options for progress in football. But today, we don’t have as many clubs functioning as that, so it has in a way drastically impeded their football guts and that is what we are seeing today.
NR: If you go to the primary and secondary schools today, you will see children or young people playing football skilfully, but they don’t have such opportunity to showcase their talents simply because they don’t have people to connect them. What is your take on that?
Kpakor: Well, I think we, as a people, have not been enthusiastic about sports generally, not only football. I remember Benue State had basketball team, they won many national competitions. We also had a volleyball team.
The problem is that we have not been enthusiastic anymore. I’m surprised because most of the good players of yester-years from Benue State were products of the school sports. I think this is the beginning of the problem. We played for the junior team in the primary school and when we progressed to secondary school, to the college, you play for the intermediate or senior teams. Like I said before, after you finished secondary school, there were many football teams around that suited your quality. But today, you asked a big question; how many primary schools after all have football pitches? I’m not talking about basketball or volleyball; no! We have schools where the kids don’t even have recreational activities so that shows that sports, generally, are not recognised in our schools.
It is something we need to start at that early stage. So, I think until we come up with legislation or we come up with collective effort to ensure that all schools must have at least football fields, volleyball fields, and so on and so forth; then we’ll start tapping these talents from the onset. But since we are failing to go back to the drawing board to start searching for young talents, as they say, to catch them young, and as long as we continue to neglect this, we will be putting our youths in jeopardy. They have other areas they can redirect their energies to and we all know it is social vices because if they have nothing to do, then they go doing what is available.
I remember Kwande United also won the Governor’s Cup in 1980. It was the best team in this country, I still remember some of the good players – Geoffrey Shande who was the Captain, the late Wanongo Ugbema; Terfa and Kwaghgba, Agema Tiam who was a good goalkeeper, Andrew Iornongo, Herbert John and a host of others. When you talk of football; in Adikpo, football is synonymous with the names like Sir Akpoo Abrakabo, Akusha and it is these days we have seen Barcelona playing what Kwande United played over forty years ago. This, anybody who watched that team can testify. So, Kwande United was simply the best team in Benue State.
NR: Sir, from what you have just said, you mentioned names of Benue players that formed the then Hawks, which is now Lobi Stars; but nowadays when you watch Lobi Stars or hear the line-up of players of Lobi Stars, you have names that have little or no correlation with Benue. What do you think is responsible for this?
Kpakor: Well, sometimes it depends on the objectives an organisation sets out to achieve, and like I said earlier, during my time, Lobi Stars was a springboard for indigenous players to make their names. But today, I believe we are in the era of the so-called professional football, and professional football, in that sense, means a club wants to compete among the best and therefore the club would want to get the best of players that are available anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world.
If we go as we had practiced at the time, you will discover that we are neglecting one important aspect of professionalism which is youth development. Who then is going to discover those young talents in your area for them to rise to stardom? Nobody! So, that is the idea of youth academy. You know, Man U has their own youth academy, so of course, we cannot say we don’t have professional players of Benue indigene who can play them and we have been saying this for many years.
When the national teams are formed, U-17, U-20, U-23; we no longer see our boys there, but in the past, these were the cadres we donated – John Zaki, John Agum, Aondofa Akosu, call their names. If we never developed them, how could they have played for various national teams? I think that is the biggest mistake we are making today but like I said before, every organisation has its set goals it wants to achieve and I don’t want to sound too critical, but we need to do that. Nobody will develop our youths for us.
It is high time we went back to the drawing board, to ask – why was Benue State able to produce the national players it did in the past? If I begin to mention names, we are too many and that is where we are failing and I believe something needs to be done. I think about three months ago, I heard over the radio the governor complaining about this same thing we are talking about. He was kind of asking the club to put a certain percentage for our indigenous players. So, it is very important, we have deviated and we need to come back to the drawing board.
NR: Moving out of Benue sports arena, it was at the national level that most of us came to know of Moses Kpakor and his value-addition to national sports with respect to his football skills. In 1994 or so, a particular South African player in the name of Rabah Madjer was a thorn in the flesh of the Super Eagles. There were reports that in one of such matches, the coach then, Westerhof, drafted you specifically to police Rabah Madjer and you effectively did it. Where are the Kpakors today? Secondly, some foreign coaches were engaged along with Westerhof; does that mean Nigerian coaches do not measure up to the standard? Couldn’t they have fitted into that position haven played so well up to that level?
Kpakor: Eem…, that was in 1990, at the 17th edition of the African Cup of Nations; and Rabah Madjer is Algerian. Well, it is true; we were in the same group and in the opening match. We lost 5-1, Madjer scored a hat-trick, and about four or five players were asked to mark him throughout that match but they couldn’t.
But here were we after a long while in the finals and I was asked to mark him. Prior to that, I had never played defence but there was something that the coach said. He called me before a pre-match conference, I went there and he asked me, Moses Kpakor, can you tell me why I have called you here? I said I don’t know sir. He said no, no, no, there is a computer in your head, I know you will know, think.
Before the tournament, we trained in Holland for a month and we played so many matches. At the end of each match, the coach would come to me and say that was terrible, and I asked, what was terrible? He said your marking was terrible. Then, I thought over that and I knew the dimension of Rabah Madjer and everybody suspected that man wanted me to mark Rabah Madjer one-on-one. Then I ask him, do you want me to mark Rabah Madjer? He said oooh! I told you there is computer in your head. Then when we came to a pre-match conference, I did not speak much; I said that we are going to win today.
Two things told me we were going to win: number one, the Algerian keeper had plenty of beards, the only keeper in the world then with beards like that? I said we will beat them and the second reason is this, Algerians were boasting of their superstar Rabah Madjer and Nigerians are boasting of their superstar Moses Kpakor, and Moses Kpakor is a better player. The coach said, Moses, here you are if you want the world to know that Rabah Madjer is a better player than you, let him shine. Then, we went for the match and I did the job to satisfaction and in fact to the satisfaction of Nigerians. Even though to me I had played better games than that one, Nigerians still rate my performance with Algiers the best one I had ever had.
The second part of your question; you see, there is too much politics there for some of us who have been there in the national team for a period of eight years, we know what happens there and that is how our fortunes were being moved like a coaster bus, it will not remain on top like in Westerhof’s time until we have a coach who has those guts, the coach who is committed to the country, who will take absolute control of the national team, who will decide who and who plays. So, at the moment, we have not had that coach like Westerhof. There is something that goes in between, until we have that.
If we go as we had practiced at the time, you will discover that we are neglecting one important aspect of professionalism which is youth development. Who then is going to discover those young talents in your area for them to rise to stardom? Nobody! So, that is the idea of youth academy. You know, Man U has their own youth academy, so of course, we cannot say we don’t have professional players of Benue indigene who can play them and we have been saying this for many years.
And the second part of the second question; why Westerhof succeeded so much, was because he formed a team that was based on exposure and commitment. Exposure in this regard refers to these Nigerian players who are playing abroad, they have been exposed to the highest level of football in Europe, they know the tricks. Now, the clear determination here simply means those local players who have qualities and who have the desire to also play in Europe. They are rugged, they are determined, they are ready to make name so that they too can be seen by foreign clubs. That was the mixture. In contrast today, we all have twenty best players and they are coming to play against African team and Africa has its own football and that is why we are finding it very difficult. We need to go back to the drawing board, those home based players are not given the chance there but they are determined, they also want to go to Europe; that is the only difference.
NR: You have told us what you did to Algeria; we asked you because some of us were part of it. After that match, you were drafted into the core team in the sense that there were speculations that the coach wanted you to captain that team and shortly after that, a miserable thing occurred during a club side engagement when your leg was broken, and it was alleged that the injury was politically orchestrated; that was the allegation. The incident incapacitated you from functioning in the national team. Was that politics, what do you have to say about that?
Kpakor: Yes, I was always a captain but my captainship was a general captain. A captain that was beyond wearing a band and each time the coach never hesitated to let his players know whether they were foreign or not. We know that Keshi was very instrumental in the team, he had been there before me; he was there 1980-1981 even though he never made the final list for the 1980 Nation’s Cup. I came there 1982 when he was the main Super Eagles captain. So, Westerhof used to give him respect but when it came to official and every other thing, I was the one.
There was no politics involved in my injury; it was a pure accident that happened.
I had three weeks to go to Feyenoord in Holland or the Netherlands for my medicals; then I broke my leg, right lower limb, which shattered my dream of playing professional football in Europe. I don’t like remembering the incident but honestly I tell you, six months before that injury, I saw the injury coming and I kept telling my officials that I am sleeping and dreaming that I had broken my leg. Six months before it came, we were going playing matches. When we returned from Libya, we played in the second round of Mandela Cup defence in Libya on Friday. We returned here on Tuesday and played a match in Gboko 2-2. I scored the two goals against ACB.
Then, I had the feeling, this match we were going to play, that was the match and I sat Amodu down, I sat Abubakar down, all the officials; I told them the feelings I had been having for over six months, it is like this is the beginning, so, I didn’t want to go. They convinced me, they asked me is it because you are going abroad that you don’t want to play? I said, no, I have been telling you a story and these are my feelings and I was going to the national team the following day, they pleaded with me. I followed the team to Owerri, I shared the jerseys but I said I was not playing, I only came. There was nothing they didn’t talk. Then, I wore my jersey, I got into the game; three minutes later, I broke my leg!
That is to tell you how contentious that night was. We had a red card; we had a goal disallowed before my injury in the third minute. Well, I can say that was the will of God but at the same time, I want to say I did not respect my feelings. I needed to have respected my feelings because to God, He showed me everything only that I did not obey. So that is what happened, if I show you the picture of my knee in that match, my leg was as big as this (demonstrates the size of his swollen injured leg with his hands) because I had a lot of bandages and I put a lot of very thick shin guards, yet it happened. So I think that’s just the will of God, there is no malice at all. The guy purposely hit me but he didn’t know that my leg was going to break because he left the ball very far and hit me up here, so that was normal.
And I still came back; that was June 15th, 1991, I found my way back, I recovered within nine months and I re-joined the national team in 1992. I was fit for many games but I played only one World Cup qualifier against Congo Democratic Republic on a Sunday and in the match between BCC and Rangers. I played 90 minutes, I scored the winner, with the match ending 2-1. The next game, I played 90 minutes for the national team and we won 2-0. So I retired from active playing but there was no problem.
I have always explained why I didn’t want to play for the national team initially. I was in Cameroon in 1989 when somebody gave me the Punch newspaper where it was reported that the Nigerian Football Association had given me 48 hours to report to the national team otherwise they would ban me from football. You will remember that they banned Keshi and Nwosu and they left. I left Cameroon and it took me one day to travel back. You know, then I was playing with two clubs at the same time; I was playing with BCC Lions of Gboko and I was also playing for Prisons of Yaoundé. I was giving Prisons 10%, I would sneak out here, go there, play, take my money and come back.
So I arrived Bauchi at about 10pm, I had two hours left. So I met the coach, Westerhof, and he was happy seeing me. I told him I had come but I would be going back the following day, I didn’t want to play for this country. He asked me why? I told him the national team in this country has been biased, I have come from the Northern part of this country, I have been with the national team since 1982 but I have never played a single game, so I have lost my desire to play for the country. I am enjoying my career with BCC.
I told him I will be part of a national team that Nigerians will be proud of, I wanted to be part of a real national team for people from North, people from so and so. He said I shouldn’t worry, and told me you are my captain. He addressed the players, that’s my captain because I sent three people to go round the country and write the names of good players and all the three coaches wrote your name. I spoke to you in Lagos when you played against ACB at half time, you are my captain, and he told the players. So look, you are a big part of the team. He convinced me and I stayed.
I told him a lot about other politics, so when I played against Congo Republic and we started preparing for Algeria, something was happening and I didn’t like it. I lost my mother 1992, September 22nd, they brought the letter to the camp and I told the assistant coaches that I came from my mother’s burial. Westerhof went abroad, when he came back, he didn’t see me, he asked, they told him that I had left the camp without permission. The man was angry with me but I told him no, my mother died, look at the programme, and he said he was sorry.
Then, Terfa died in 1993 after our match against Democratic Republic. He came back; he watched the match and was impressed. He said ah! I wanted Moses to play against Congo DRC second match but people told me Moses was not fit. So you see? Something was happening, now Terfa died, I came home, I did his burial and went back. When Westerhof came back against South Africa, I came a week to that day and they told him nobody had seen me in the camp. So, I went to training in the evening, he drove to the training ground. On seeing me for the first time, he started yelling at me, where did you go, bra, bra, bra. We nearly fought on the pitch ! I got very angry when he said, you left camp without permission; see me crying… Then, I told him Terfa died. After the training, he came to the camp, I showed him the programme.
Somebody asked if I am not interested in coaching? Well, I am no longer interested because I quit coaching since 2009. You know, my last involvement in football management was with Lobi Stars here as a club manager in 2008 and something happened. I went back to school; I wrote JAMB, I did my first degree, I did my master’s, I am undergoing my doctorate and I am happy there is nothing that will take me back to coaching. But I have not left football. That is why I am studying Sports Administration. I can count on the capacity of an administrator, I know the challenges, I know the expectations of footballers, haven been one.
Terfa was in the camp with us, I wanted to send him for training but he is dead. So, I told him well, I think I have had enough. Somebody here is trying to force a player into my wing but I don’t play one wing. I played right football, I played attacking midfield, I played number four, all the five matches I played different positions. So, I told him no, I am leaving, I have had enough, we made an agreement but that thing is resurfacing, so I am leaving. He came to Gboko here, I told him I would not go, I have made up my mind. So this question has always come but you are the only people that I have revealed what happened, I have always not told anybody the reason. That’s the reason and I know the coach was bringing one small Ibo guy, I don’t want to mention names.
Incidentally, the greatest thing there; let me put it this way, in all of my successes, 90% of my successes came during my post injury. Before my injury, we won African Cup in 1989 and Mandela Cup in 1992. After the injury, we won the FA Cup in 1994 and in 1997. We won the League Super Cup three times. So, I made a lot of gains post injury than pre-injury. But I have not regretted at all that I played for the national team, I was satisfied as one of the players who contributed to the qualification of Nigeria to World Cup and we went to the World Cup in 1994.
In 2002, the Mikel’s group, I was also offered an assistant coach of the same U-17 in 2007 but I declined, that time I was working for FC Abuja. I was the one who formed the club as interim coach. It was Ribadu and el-Rufai that called me and gave me the job, two big men. There was something I was looking for, unfortunately it didn’t work out but I don’t have any regret at all. I applied for the U-23 job three years ago but I was not considered. Not only me, Finidi George applied too but was not considered.
What is happening today began about 20 years ago. The management of sports, not only in football, they are very scared of people who had played the game before; they want people they can stage manage; they want people they can manipulate. When you stand out and tell them this is your task and there should be no interruption, they don’t like it. So, that is what is happening, Finidi George applied for the U-23 coaching job, they didn’t give him. I don’t think somebody like Finidi George should be applying for a coaching job for the U-23, they should call the guy straight to come because this generation of players watched these players as kids. It would be a great pleasure for them to play under Finidi George, under Amunike, under Moses Kpakor and the whole rest of the veterans. But you hear coaches for the national team you have never seen them play, you have never heard their names before and that is not helping the youths to grow.
There is another second part to that question; somebody asked if I am not interested in coaching? Well, I am no longer interested because I quit coaching since 2009. You know, my last involvement in football management was with Lobi Stars here as a club manager in 2008 and something happened. I went back to school; I wrote JAMB, I did my first degree, I did my master’s, I am undergoing my doctorate and I am happy there is nothing that will take me back to coaching. But I have not left football. That is why I am studying Sports Administration. I can count on the capacity of an administrator, I know the challenges, I know the expectations of footballers, haven been one.
If I am an Administrator of a club, I know how I can relate with the players, I was a player, I know what it means to be a player, I was a coach, I know what it means to be a coach, the challenges and expectations from the management team. I can still relate as an administrator with my coaches knowing that I was also a coach, I will also relate with my other managerial staff. I was also a team manager, I know what it takes.
I’m not going back to football to coach; I am going as an administrator. In football; I know that you support a football team; you later play the game, after playing the game, you become a coach, after becoming a coach, you become an administrator. So, I am still going into sports, at the same time I am the Assistant Chief Coach at the BSU football team where I combine that with my studies. I also combine that with some lectures, I teach them. There are some courses that I lecture there. But I am changing completely to academics, maybe in the next four years because I’m not getting any younger, you know? Teaching and coaching are the same; they have the same methodology, so I am sharing my knowledge in sports with students.
NR: On a final note, the event that we found you at in Benue Hotels was meant for media workers. If you look at the award, “Best Benue Journalist Awards 2020” was designed for journalists who performed well; you came and snatched an award. How did you find yourself in the mist of journalists? You are not a journalist, but you got an award, what operated on your mind?
Kpakor: Well, I think it is just one of the most important aspects of journalism. I think their task is to give information to the general public, good or bad and all that we have said here, with all that I have achieved, it is good for the general public to know that somebody has done something very well and I feel greatly honoured because when we began playing football, neither did I know that there would come a time that people, especially an organisation, would come and say thank you for what you have done for this country and that remains my biggest prize.
I will be going on the street, somebody will come and say hey; Moses Kpakor, thank you for what you have done for this country. It is worth more than millions of naira, somebody there appreciates you and I value such praises, they are very important to my life. At the same time, you know, they are encouraging the younger ones, they know that one day, they too will be recognised. So, I think it is part of journalism that will give information to the general public.
I have never failed to say this; that irrespective of the grace of God and people who helped me from childhood to where I am today; I think the press have about 30% involvement in my achievements as a footballer because the press can do and they can undo. They can shoot you to the top; they can also shoot you from top to the bottom. All these, the press have the power to do, so I owe them for their contribution to my life.
NR: Thank you for sharing your time with us!
Kpakor: You are welcome!
