Fear Looms as FIFA Deadline on Nigeria Expires

Astate of unease pervades the country as the deadline issued by FIFA to Nigeria on the crisis at its football federation will expire by midnight tomorrow.

The red flag was flagged on Friday when FIFA outrightly rejected Chris Giwa’s claims to have been elected as the NFF President and asked him to vacate the NFF office by or before midnight of Monday.

The football governing body’s FIFA letter was written by its Secretary General Jerome Valcke. In the correspondence addressed to NFF Secretary General, Musa Amadu, FIFA condemned the elective congress held on August 26 through which Giwa emerged as the president.
According to FIFA, the so called election held last week Tuesday was a ruse as an elective congress was not on the agenda of the NFF General Assembly.


Before the crisis marred congress, FIFA had given the NFF board the permission to hold the election at a new date after extensive deliberation by the General Assembly.
The date agreed upon by the majority faction that pledged its allegiance to Aminu Maigari, the former president of the board was September 4.

Nigerian football administration has been steadily rocked by crisis for about two months, leading to the outbreak of a strange inferno that razed the Accounts section, the Secretary General office and Computer department of the NFF secretariat on August 20.
The crisis began on July 2, when Maigari was sacked by a court order granted by Justice P.L Lot of Jos High Court and a phantom congress that sat in Abuja three days later.

The congress, headed by Effiom Johnson, had indicted Maigari for failure to resolve the World Cup appearance fee with the Super Eagles at the World Cup, until a guarantee by President Goodluck Jonathan convinced the players to honour the round of 16 fixture against France in Brasilia on June 30.
FIFA overruled the move to remove the NFF executive committee, deeming the act of government as interference in the affairs of its affiliate federation.

When it issued a deadline annulling the election of Giwa, it contended that the General Assembly (the congress) could not meet to discuss the ‘roadmap’ following the arrest and detention of Maigari and Amadu for questioning by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) when the event was about to begin.
Following their arrest, majority of the delegates, comprising of the State FA Chairmen, met at a different venue to discuss the terms of the ‘roadmap’.

The key decision they took at the parallel congress included the setting up of a three- man interim NFF Board and a new electoral committee to conduct the board election on September 4.
While they were meeting, another faction which could not form a quorum, with heavy backing of Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo, pressed ahead with the congress and opted to immediately elect a new NFF board election when in reality that was not in the Annual General Assembly (AGA) agenda.

It was when they were insisting on the election, that Amadu, who discharged by security forces and invited by Danagogo to supervise the proceedings, walked out in protest, sensing that the exercise was illegal.

Apart from that, neither the media nor an official of FIFA monitored the proceedings as observers.
Until now, Giwa saw nothing wrong in his election and had told reporters when he resumed at NFF Glasshouse on August 27, that the NFF General Assembly in November 2013 in Warri, had fixed the election to the board to be held on August 26.
But he is now viewed as an illegal occupant of the Glasshouse by FIFA and could set a new record as the shortest reigning NFF President whose rule lasted for only six days, if he buckles to FIFA treat and vacates the secretariat on Monday.

‘’According to the facts reported to us, it appears the vast majority of NFF members decided to set the elections for September 4, 2014 and we consider this decision to be valid since it was taken by the NFF General Assembly and conforms to what has been previously reported to FIFA.

‘’ As a consequence, we will not recognise the outcome of the aforementioned elections and should there still be persons claiming to have been elected and occupying the NFF office by midnight on Monday September 1, we will bring the case to the appropriate FIFA body for sanctions  which may include the suspension of NFF,’’ Valcke’s letter sternly stated.

A suspension of Nigeria will automatic lead to the ban of the national teams from all international engagements, notably the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations which the Super Eagles are set to defend by playing a qualifying match against Congo in Calabar on Saturday, September 6.
But the biggest loser in this battle is Danagogo whose job will be on the line if the deadlock is unresolved, causing Nigeria’s eventual sanction by FIFA.

Danagogo had covertly plotted the removal of Maigari since July 5 and had organised a lobby party led by Amos Adamu that visited FIFA in Brazil to give weigh to the design.
Danagogo, who also doubles as the Chairman National Sports Commission (NSC), queried on July 3, and specifically demanded from Maigari how NFF expended the N150 million monthly subventions from January 2013 to date. The total subventions released by government during the period totalled N2.2billion.

The letter also asked the embattled former football federation president to account for N850 million released by federal government for the preparation of the Super Eagles for the World Cup campaign.
It deemed that the allocation is outside the separate $1.5 million (about N240 million) FIFA gave the federation as grant to prepare the team for the World Cup.

He also sought for money received over time from national team’s sponsors, including Globacom, adidas, Samsung, Guinness among other partners to be accounted for.
In addition to that, Danagogo demanded to know how the NFF how intended to expend the $14million (about N2.2  billion) due from FIFA as Nigeria’s share of advancing to the second round (round of 16 ) of the World Cup.

But after his many attempts to remove Maigari who was impeached by a palace coup, was foiled by FIFA, Danagogo ate humble pie and ordered the former’s reinstatement on July 24 after FIFA rejected the impeachment.
The imposition of Giwa, the proprietor of Giwa FC as the adopted candidate to head the NFF looks strange when in reality he is not popular with the stakeholders.

His unpopularity was reinforced by his rejection by the executive committee by the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA), coaches and club owners.
The Nigerian league matches scheduled for the weekend across the nation, were suspended by the League Management Company (LMC) after the NRA withdrew all referees affiliated to it from the matches.

Former Nigerian international Patrick Pascal condemned the unfolding development entirely, describing it as disgraceful.
‘’ It is a big embarrassment that Nigeria received four warning letters from FIFA under the stewardship of Danagogo as the Sports Minister. He is not a good crisis manager. What is happening now cannot happen in a serious country. We will not learn until they ban us,’’ Pascal said.