Despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that the 2022 NFF elections slated for September must hold as scheduled, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to make a public statement on the matter.
The NFF had earlier fixed its elective congress for September 2022 when the tenure of the current Amaju Pinnick-led board would have expired but recent events suggested that the Pinnick-led board was not keen on holding the elections as scheduled.
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The NFF Executive Committee has been accused of using an existing court order as a reason for its inability to commence the electoral process.
It will be recalled that in 2021, Seigha Obiene, a board member of Nembe City Football Club, sued the NFF for the alleged improper composition of the present board.
Based on his application, the High Court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State issued an exparte order restraining the NFF from holding its general congress.
Efforts to reach the Director of Communications, Mr Ademola Olajire, to know why the NFF is yet to respond to the government’s directive proved abortive as he neither picked nor responded to calls and text messages as at the time of press.
Meanwhile, Daily Trust understands the court case will be withdrawn this Thursday (today) by the appellant to pave the way for the electoral process to commence.
The Chairman, BOT Players Union Harrison Jalla, said the NFF had failed to nip the crisis in the bud but that notwithstanding, the union will withdraw the matter from court.
“There are five statutory bodies that make up the NFF and any of those bodies can make a proposition for amendment of the statutes provided due process is followed.
“What the Players Union did is not unusual. We just wanted some aspects of the statutes amended.
“A responsible leadership will immediately look into the possibilities of trying to get it resolved. We have resolved that we are going to get the matter out of court,” he said.
In the same vein, the Rivers State FA chairman, Barr Chris Green said “This is a family affair but we won’t say we are docile.
“We are here to give support to those put in position to pilot our affairs and when they have a problem it is in our place to solve the problem. We are here to remove the impediment for them.”
