FIFA in a letter addressed to Nigeria Football Federation Acting President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, frowned at the removal of two state football association chairmen, and urged the Federation to pressure for the removed officials to be reinstated.
The latter, dated July 29 and signed by FIFA Deputy Secretary General, Markus Kattner, also warned against efforts by the government to shift the NFF election fixed for August 21.
The letter reiterated the need for the country’s football governing body to be allowed to manage its affairs without interference from government.
“We have learnt that the Nigerian governmental authorities are meddling in the internal affairs of the NFF and that they might try to interfere with the upcoming elections of teh new NFF board. We refer to the removal of two state chairmen of football associations by the governmental authorities and to the alleged intention to postpone the elections scheduled for 21 August 2010.
Äs stated in previous correspondences, FIFA will not tolerate any governmental interference and we ask you to go strictly by the roadmap leading to the elections in accordance within the NFF Statutes. As such, the removed state chairmen must be reinstalled in their functions and the elections must take place on 21 August 2010 as established by the NFF Executive Committee and formally approved by the NFF Congress on 9th July 2010.
“We stress once more that NFF must manage its affairs independently and with no influence from third parties in compliance with article 13 par. 1 g and article 17 of the FIFA statutes. If these conditions are not met, , the NFF will be sanctioned according to article 13 par. 3 of the FIFA statutes.
“For this reason, we kindly ask you to take all relevant steps with government officials in order to avoid a potential crisis and its adverse consequences on the football activities in Nigeria”, the letter read.
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