The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Aminu Maigari

  • Pinnick re-elected as NFF President

    Incumbent President of the Nigerian football Federation, NFF, Mr Amaju Pinnick, was on Thursday re-elected for a second term in office to superintend the Football Federation.

    The election which was held at the premises of Katsina State local Government Service Commission in Katsina saw Pinnick polling 34 votes to beat other three contestants to retain his seat.

    His closest rival and former NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Magari polled 8 votes, while the former Secretary of the NFF, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi who also contested for the seat, polled 2 votes. Honorable Chinedu Okoye, a new entrant in the contest, did not gather any vote at the election

    Read Also: Pinnick battles others for top job

    In all, 44 delegates from states’ football federation and other bodies including coaches, referees associations and players’ unions ,participated in the election, which was largely adjudged transparent and peaceful

    The chairman of the Electoral Committee for the election, Muhammed Katu announced the results.

    FIFA representatives, Luca Piazza and Solomon Mudege were among football chiefs who witnessed the election.

    Elections into the other offices such as first Vice President, Chairman of Chairmen and other members of the NFF board were still in progress as at time of filing this report.

     

  • Supreme Court refuses to hears suit seeking to sack Pinnick’s NFF executive

    Orders re-hearing of suit before Federal High Court, Jos

     

    The Supreme Court has refused to hear a suit seeking to sack the Amaju Pinnick-led executive committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

    Instead, the court, in unanimous judgment of a five-man panel, ordered the re-listing of the suit before the Federal High Court in Jos, Plateau State for it to be heard promptly on the merit

    The judgment was on an appeal marked:SC/731/2016 between Yahaya Adama and Obinna Ogba vs. Aminu Maigari and 3 others.

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onoghen, who headed the panel, wrote the lead judgment, which Justice Ejembi Eko read in his absence.

    The Supreme Court, set aside the judgment of the Court of Apeal which said the suit could no longer be heard having earlier been struck out by the Federal High Court, Jos.

    The apex court declined the appellants’ prayer that it invokes its powers under Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to hear and determine the case on the merit.

    It noted that the appellants failed to meet the necessary conditions to warrant the court to invoke it’s powers under Section 22 of its Act to hear a case as a trial court.

    The court also said the conditions were put in place to discourage lawyers from flooding the apex court with requests for trying cases, which is the duty of the trial courts.

    Adamu and Ogba, on September 19, 2014 filed initiated the suit before the Federal High Court, Jos, praying the court to among others, hold that they, along with others elected on August 26, 2014, were members of the legitimate executive committee of the NFF.

    They listed as defendant, the NFF (represented by its President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari and Musa Adamu), the Plateau State Football Association representing the football association in the 36 states of federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Minister of Sports.

    On September 19, 2014, the Federal High Court granted an ex parte order restraining the NFF from conducting its General Assembly.

    Despite the court’s order, the NFF proceeded to conduct the General Assembly where members of the Pinnick-led executive committee were elected on September 20, 2014.

    On September 23, 2014, the Federal High Court, nullified the General Assembly and the elections which produced Pinnick and other members of his executive for being held three days earlier in defiance of a pending suit and the court’s restraining orders.

    Due to a settlement talks said to be being brokered by then then President Goodluck Jonathan, Adama and Ogba, on October 30,2014, applied to withdraw the suit and the court promptly struck it.

    The court then set aside the previous injunctive orders made against the elections of Pinnick-led executive.

    With the talks said to have broken down the plaintiffs subsequently applied for the re-listing of the case, a prayer the court granted.

    The court in granting the prayer also restored all the injunctive orders set aside while earlier striking out the suit.

    But the Maigari-led executive and the Plateau State Football Association representing the other associations in the FCT and other states, appealed the Federal High Court’s ruling at the Court of Appeal in Jos.

    On July 25, 2016, the Court of Appeal delivered its judgment, allowed the appeal and nullified the Federal High Court’s ruling re-listing the case.

    The Court of Appeal also set aside the injuncitve orders which the Federal High Court restored.

    Adama and Ogba later appealed to the Supreme Court, through their lawyer, P.I.N Ikwueto (SAN).

    They the court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which set aside the order of the Federal High Court, re-listing of the case.

    They also urged the apex court to invoke section 22 of the Supreme Court Act by taking over the case and decide it on merit

    The respondents, represented by Festus Keyamo (SAN), objected to the appeal and urged the court to dismiss it.

  • FIFA President, Blatter, mourns late Ntiero Effiom

    FIFA President, Blatter, mourns late Ntiero Effiom

    President of world football –governing body, FIFA,  Sepp Blatter has expressed his deepest sympathy to NFF President,  Aminu Maigari, over the death of former Super Falcons’Head Coach,  Ntiero Effiom.

    In a letter addressed personally to  Maigari, Blatter noted that the late Ntiero Effiom was “an outstanding coach and will be remembered for his various accomplishments and the contributions he made to the women’s game in Nigeria.

    “Allow me on behalf of FIFA and the worldwide family of football, to extend my deepest condolences to the football community of Nigeria, and most importantly to his family, friends and loved ones.

    “We hope that in some way, our words of support may help bring a little bit of peace and solace in this time of sadness.”

  • Minister stops Maigari from office

    Minister stops Maigari from office

    The Controversial Sports Minister, Tamuno Danagogo, has again stopped the Nigeria Football Federation president, Aminu Maigari, from office.

    World football governing body has said Maigari and his secretary-general Musa Amadu must resume work this week after the federation’s office would have been vacated by Chris Giwa and his group, who claimed to have won a recent election.

    Amadu resumed work on Monday, while Maigari returned to his desk Tuesday.

    But Danagogo, whose poor handling of the impasse bedeviling Nigerian football has been condemned in several quarters, stirred more controversy on Tuesday when he said Maigari should not have returned to the Glass House.

    FIFA has asked Maigari to convene an executive committee meeting to set a date for the body’s general assembly as soon as possible.

    The global body has equally warned the country will be banned till its next congress in May 2015 should there be any hindrance to the NFF elections planned for this month.

    “I’m not aware that Maigari or whoever has resumed office. The secretary general Musa Amadu who I’m aware resumed office on Monday told me that he has been able to discharge his duties without any problem,” africanFootball.com  quoted  Danagogo as saying to journalists on Tuesday.

    “As at this morning (Tuesday) when Amadu spoke to me, he didn’t tell me any other person had reported to office.

    “I will not rely on hearsay until I get report from persons who are meant to brief me about that.

    “Before now, we advised all parties, Maigari group, Giwa group, or persons involved in the entire crisis to stay aside pending when issues are sorted out.”

    He claimed his directive was to avoid a fight between the groups.

  • Reps summon security chiefs over Maigari’s detention

    Reps summon security chiefs over Maigari’s detention

    Nigeria’s top security chiefs have been asked by the House of Representatives to explain why Nigeria Football Federation president, Aminu Maigari was detained without any charges brought against him.

    Maigari’s detention stopped him from presiding over the NFF general assembly on Tuesday, africanFootball.com reports.

    However, the NFF president has said he would not to take any legal action for his unlawful arrest, saying God will remain his refuge.

    Several football stakeholders in Nigeria spoke at a Friday public hearing called by the House of Representatives to address the crisis.

    The chairman of the NFF technical committee, Chris Green, gave a graphic account of their harrowing experience at the anti-robbery squad cells in Abuja, where he and Maigari were kept on Tuesday.

    “It was a most dehumanising ordeal,” said Green, whose narration caused several of those attending the hearing to weep.

    Chairman of Nigeria Coaches’ Association, Bitrus Bewarang, equally produced a Plateau State White paper which indicted Chris Giwa.

    He closed his presentation by warning this revelation would put his life in danger.

  • Maigari, Green released

    Maigari, Green released

    The detained Nigeria Football Federation president, Aminu Maigari, was released on Wednesday along with fellow executive committee member, Chris Green, an aide told africanFootball.com

    “Maigari has been released by the security operatives. He was released in the morning by the special anti-robbery squad after he was handed to them by the Directorate of State Security Service.

    “No charges were pressed against him, neither was he or Green questioned on anything. It was clearly to prevent them from attending the Tuesday general assembly, which FIFA insisted should be presided by Maigari,” an aide of the NFF boss told africanFootball.com.

    It was also gathered that the NFF president was detained on orders of the controversial former Rivers State police commissioner, Joseph Mbu, who is now an Assistant Inspector General of Police.

    Incidentally, Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo, who was a former commissioner in Rivers State, personally came to the DSS office on Tuesday to pick the General Secretary, Musa Amadu, for what later was termed “an elective congress,” which produced Chris Giwa as new NFF president.

    Giwa moved into the NFF office Wednesday morning and thereafter addressed some staff, assuring them of improved welfare in his tenure as NFF president.

    FIFA is expected to rule on the unfolding drama in Nigeria soon.

  • Uncertainty surrounds NFF congress

    Uncertainty surrounds NFF congress

    It is clear on Tuesday afternoon that the much publicized Nigeria Football Federation congress slated for Chida Hotel, Abuja, will no longer hold following the arrest of NFF president, Aminu Maigari and two other principal officials of the federation by operatives of the State Security Service.

    Maigari’s loyalists who had earlier clashed with loyalists of Sports Minister, Tamuno Danagogo and NFF vice president, Mike Umeh, at the hotel, were detained for demanding the release of Maigari and Chris Green, the NFF technical committee chairman.

    The Secretary of Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria, Comrade Austin Popo, who spoke to our correspondent on telephone, said the congress member were detained for asking for the NFF officials’ release.

    “They told us that we have no business in their office. The SSS operatives insisted that since they don’t have business at Chida Hotel, they will remain in their office, pending when they decided to go back to the hotel for the congress without Maigari and Green,” Popo said.

  • FIFA seeks explanation for Maigari’s impeachment

    FIFA seeks explanation for Maigari’s impeachment

    World Soccer governing body, FIFA has asked the Nigeria Football Federation for full details of the circumstances and process leading to the removal of Aminu Maigari as president, kickOffNigeria.com reports.

    This comes on the heels of plans to move the elections into the board following complaints of disenfranchisement by aspirants.

    Maigari was impeached at an executive committee meeting last month, but the process was clouded by a member of the executive committee claiming his signature was forged, and FIFA has now stepped in to demand an explanation.

    A Congress scheduled to ratify Maigari’s impeachment was called off due to unforeseen circumstances.

    A day later, 30 of the 46 voting members of Congress issued a press statement distancing themselves from the impeachment process.

    The NFF executive committee is now expected to meet on Thursday morning with one item on the agenda being to call a Congress that would move the elections from August 26.

    Prospective candidates for election into the board had complained that they were unable to collect nomination forms, let alone submit them by Monday’s deadline because the electoral committee was hoarding the forms while making themselves scarce.

    The committee could also be reconstituted in the wake of these allegations.

  • Triumph of due process

    Triumph of due process

    • That is what FIFA’s lifting of its suspension on Nigeria is 

    Just as well FIFA, the global football governing body, on July  18 lifted the ban it imposed on Nigeria, for attempting to torpedo the Aminu Maigari-led Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), despite the country’s knowledge of the provisions of Article 12 of the FIFA Statutes.

    This latest Nigerian comeuppance might be in football. But the attempt to pull down a legally constituted body is an unsavoury metaphor for the overwhelming executive lawlessness in the local polity. The big difference here was that FIFA was there to insist on the sanctity of its own laws; and took effective action to defend and preserve it.

    On the local plane, however, it is arch-guardians of the law that do not think twice before subverting it for immediate political — or even partisan — expediency. It is the Achilles heel of Nigerian delicate democracy — if what is ongoing could be so called, especially when the sanctity of laws is the subject.

    Just as the attempted dissolution of the Maigari-led NFF Board is a piquant metaphor for executive lawlessness, the sudden hero-turned-villain odyssey of the board is another metaphor for the quicksand transition from heroism to villainy, that is well and truly Nigerian.

    The Maigari board won the FIFA U-17 World Cup, took a pack of near-rookies to South Africa to win the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), qualified Nigeria for the Brazil World Cup, all in 2013; and made a respectable third placing in the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in the same South Africa in 2014.

    Yet, it took perhaps a change of minister — and, of course, brouhaha over money in Brazil — to demonise the same hitherto high flying board, to merit instant dissolution, even if what, in the public space, are nothing but allegations, with no guilt proven in a court of competent jurisdiction.

    This line of argument does not, in any way, justify or tolerate sleaze, if any case of such is proven. If the Maigari board is guilty of sleaze, by all means let the hammer fall.

    But no serious nation tries its best NFF board for many seasons on the basis of allegations; and on the emotive basis of such allegations, go ahead to find it guilty, dissolve the board, and threaten its members with prosecution.

    In serious climes, prosecution ought to come first, solid case proved, conviction safe in the bag, before dissolution follows. Indeed, even before that process runs its course, the guilty party would have honourably quit.

    That brings the matter to the FIFA intervention and comeuppance. It is tribute to Nigeria’s penchant for impunity that the National Sports Commission (NSC) would feel FIFA is obliged to wave its rules, accept its NFF roasting as manifest goodness and put the Maigari board to the sword — even if Nigeria is only one of the 209 FIFA member-countries; and the other 208 members are expected to play by FIFA rules! It is good that FIFA, with no less devastation, has woken the NSC up from its reverie.

    There is, of course, the emotive argument that since NSC funds NFF, it has a right of life and death over it. But the little discomfort is that NSC freely subscribed to the FIFA statutes, the moment its proxy, NFF, opted to join the FIFA family. Besides, NSC does not exist in the FIFA radar. So, if you are no member of a club, how can you, in all good conscience, badger the laws of that club and expect to have your way?

    If NSC has a strong case against the Maigari NFF, let it marshal its case; and present such before the NFF congress. If the evidence is sound and the case is overwhelming, the congress would do the needful, without disrupting an already unstable football governing environment.

    Let this be the last time the Nigerian government would embarrass Nigeria in FIFA court only to back down. Such all-muscle-no-brain tactics contribute nothing to the progress of the game, or earn Nigeria the respect it deserves in the global football community.

  • Ousted board shared mouth-watering amounts

    Ousted board shared mouth-watering amounts

    • Top guns got $100,000
    • Other board members pocketed $50,000

    Information available to SportingLife suggest that the sacked Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president,Alhaji Aminu Maigari and his executive committee members got mouth-watering amounts from the $3.28m World Cup apperance fees that was sent to the Nigerian team to Brazil 2014 World Cup by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Earlier reports had chronicled how the Eagles stars received staggering sums with most players of the national team smiling home with about $130,000 after they refused to train two days before their second round game against France.

    However,it has now emerged that apart from the players,top brass of the NFF benefitted from the largesse which FIFA normally gives to all the 32 countries that qualified for the mundial.

    According to SportingLife source,sums ranging from $100,000 to $50,000 were also shared to all the executive committee members on the wee hours of the same day Nigeria lost to France at the World Cup.

    Before the event that led to the Eagles boycotting training,the NFF had pleaded with the Eagles to wait till after FIFA releases the largesse before they get their appearance fees.

    The players insisted and got their appearance fees but it was never reported that NFF executive committee members also shared from the money.