HOUSE OF REPS: STEP DOWN GIWA

the House of Representatives Committee on Sports has asked a factional president of the Nigeria Football Federation Mr. Chris Giwa to vacate the NFF offices in Abuja according to the FIFA directive issued to Nigeria on Wednesday.

The Representatives who had held several meetings with different sides of the crisis in the football house through the week said that Giwa had to leave for a lasting solution to be reached. The House of Representatives members met with the Aminu Maigari-led faction of the NFF; the Giwa group of the NFF and the Minister of Sports, Dr. Tammy Danagogo as the problem has paralysed the country’s football.

Nigeriournation learnt that after listening to all sides in the dispute it was concluded that the election which brought in Giwa as the president of the NFF be declared null and void as due process was not followed.

The Reps led by the chairman of the committee, Godfrey Gaiya said they would ask the sports minister to stop Giwa from parading himself as NFF president and ensure he leaves the secretariat. Gaiya has pleaded with all parties to work by the rules and peacefully in the interest of Nigeria football.

On Wednesday, FIFA extended the deadline given Giwa to stop parading himself as NFF president or Nigeria risk being banned to September 8.

But Giwa has stated several times that he was duly elected by the approved members. On Thursday he inaugurated a seven-man committee to run the Nigerian league having sacked the League Management Company last week for suspending the league due to the leadership tussle in Nigeria football.

The tussle led to the boycott of the league by the Nigeria referees body which forced the LMC to suspend the games.

And also on Thursday outgoing president of the NFF, Maigari, announced that elections into the executive committee of the NFF will hold before September 25 after an extra ordinary congress on September 18.

Maigari said, “We are going to hold the election before September 25 and the Extra-Ordinary Congress will hold to ratify the roadmap as requested by FIFA.”

He has also appealed for calm and assured Nigerians that normalcy will soon return to the nation’s football administration and stave off the hanging threat of suspension from the FIFA according to an Africanfootball.com report.

He insisted there was no crisis in the nation’s football administration, pointing out that only five persons have been trying to “cause confusion within the ranks.”

“It is important that we remain calm and don’t take action or make comments that will aggravate the situation,” he said.