Monday
(today) is the deadline given by the world football governing body,
FIFA for Chris Giwa and his co-board members to vacate the offices of
the Nigeria Football Federation. FIFA sent in a letter to Nigeria on
Friday stating that the body would not recognise the purported elections
that brought in Giwa and his officials as the executive committee
members of the NFF.
Giwa, who is backed by the sports
minister Tammy Danagogo, assumed office on Wednesday following the
‘elections’ held on Tuesday in Abuja.
But on Friday FIFA asked Giwa to stop
parading himself as the NFF president. The letter signed by FIFA
Secretary-General, Jerome Valcke gave Giwa and his backers until
midnight of Monday, September 1 to vacate the NFF secretariat.
The letter addressed to NFF General
Secretary, Musa Amadu, stated that if by Tuesday morning order was not
restored to the NFF, Nigeria would face international sanctions.
The letter read, “We understand from the
sequence of events that the general assembly duly convened by the NFF
Executive Committee could not start as planned because some NFF members,
including the president, were being held by security forces for
questioning.
“Finally, we have learnt that the persons
who claim to have been duly elected during the so-called ‘elective
general assembly’ have come to the NFF offices claiming to be the
legitimate president and members of the NFF. It also appears the
Ministry of Sports has recognised them.
“As a consequence, we will not recognise
the outcome of the above mentioned elections and should there still be
persons claiming to have been elected and occupying the NFF offices at
midnight Monday 1 September 2014, we will bring the case to the
appropriate FIFA body for sanctions, which may include suspension of the
NFF.”
When FIFA gave approval for the Tuesday
meeting, it was advised that the general assembly should work out a new
date for the elections which should also hold within two weeks from that
date. It also added that the outgoing president Aminu Maigari should
preside over the meeting. But on Tuesday, Maigari was arrested and
detained by security operatives until the following day along with his
technical committee chairman, Chris Green, and the said elections held –
both actions against the advice of FIFA.
FIFA had suspended Nigeria while the 2014
World Cup was still on in Brazil after Danagogo sacked the NFF board
following a court ruling. The suspension was lifted after the case was
withdrawn from court and the board reinstated.
There were no league matches in Nigeria
this weekend because the Referees Association embarked on a strike to
protest the Giwa takeover of the NFF.
Nigeria is scheduled to face Congo in a 2015 Africa Nations Cup qualifier on Saturday.
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