The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Chris Giwa

  • High court suspends League over Giwa FC

  • NFF crisis: Supreme Court begins hearing on Giwa’s suit September 9

    NFF crisis: Supreme Court begins hearing on Giwa’s suit September 9

    The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, on Tuesday disclosed that a case instituted against the federation by Chris Giwa will begin on September 9 at the Supreme Court.

    Giwa has been locked in a tussle for the NFF leadership since 2014, africanFootball.com reports.

    The chairman of Giwa Football Club has argued he was duly elected NFF president in August 2014 and his election should be upheld based on the laws of the land.

    His case at the Appeal Court was thrown out and he has now taken the matter to the country’s highest court.

    “We have been served, we have a case on September 9, just three weeks before a big World Cup qualifier in Zambia and anything can happen,” africanFootball.com quoted Pinnick as saying in a YouTube interview.

    The NFF president lamented that the instability in the country football polity has affected quest by the federation to attract private sector sponsorship.

    “It’s almost impossible to thrive under instability,” he complained.

    “This is purely destructive. For some people, if we cannot get it, let us destroy it.”

  • Reps urge Pinnick, Giwa to resolve crisis amicably

    Reps urge Pinnick, Giwa to resolve crisis amicably

    The House of Representatives on Thursday urged the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick and his challenger, Chris Giwa, to reach a compromise on the lingering leadership crisis rocking the country football.

    Both factions appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Sports on Thursday.

    The resolutions reached  at the meeting have not been made public  because both men met the committee behind closed doors.

    But there were speculations that Pinnick and Giwa have agreed to resolve  the matter amicably.

    The Chairman of the committee, Goni Bukar, confirmed that the meeting will continue next Tuesday at the House chambers, where the duo are expected to reach a compromise.

    “What was discussed was not made public as only Giwa, Pinnick and the committee sat and discussed at the meeting. But they have been advised to collaborate and are expected to reach a compromise next week,” a National Assembly source told africanFootball.com.

     

  • Giwa arrested at NFF headquarters

    Giwa arrested at NFF headquarters

    The contest for the leadership of the Nigerian football Federation (NFF) continued on Friday as Amb. Chris Giwa and his faction took over the federation’s headquarters in Abuja.

    This happened after a bailiff had served a court judgment from the Federal High Court Jos on the NFF general secretary, Goal reports.

    Giwa walked into the Zone 7 premises of the NFF at about 4:00pm despite the presence of a police van placed there to keep him and his faction out of the building.

    He spent about 30 minutes in the building and granted interviews to journalists as well as trying to take charge of administrative duties before a detachment of policemen asked him to leave the premises.

    He was escorted by policemen who led him to the Divisional Headquarters, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.

     

  • Court sacks Pinnick as NFF chairman

    Court sacks Pinnick as NFF chairman

    A Federal high court sitting in Jos Friday granted the prayers of Yahaya Adama and Senator Obinna Ogba, to relist the case which among other things had sought to nullify the Warri General Assembly and the subsequent elective congress that turned in Amaju Pinnick as President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

    Justice Musa Haruna Kurya in delivering his ruling on the matter went ahead to also sustain all the previous orders of the court, effectively making Ambassador Chris Giwa the Head of the federation until the final determination of the suit.

    By the orders of the court Friday, the Minister of Sports is compelled to recognize the Mr. Giwa Led Board of the NFF as the recognized board by law.

    The order also bars anybody from interfering with the duties and functions of the NFF board under the leadership of Chris Giwa.

    The court, by ruling, has effectively set aside all the proceedings and decisions of the Warri Extra Ordinary meeting of the 20th September, 2014 and the Elective Congress of 30th September, 2014 which elected Amaju Pinnick as President of the NFF.

    However, Amaju Pinnick vowed to appeal against the high court judgement.

    Speaking shortly after the ruling of the court, counsel to Pinnick, Barrister Damon Dashe told newsmen that his clients will certainly appeal the decisions of the court.

    On his part Counsel to Yahaya Adama and Senator Obinna Ogba, Barrister Habila Azard Said his clients have been vindicated and that “they can now settle down and resume all their functions because that is all we have been fighting for.”

    The Case has been adjourned to the 30th of May for hearing of the substantive matter.

  • Giwa threatens return as NFF President

    Another round of confusion seems to be in the offing or Nigerian football as the Chris Giwa-led ‘board’ of the NFF have stated that they will be resuming at the Glass House this week, ‘to fashion our plans and programs to reposition our football and get us back on track’.

    This, the Giwa faction claims, is coming on the heels of the Amaju Pinnick led NFF’s failure to set up an arbitration panel to hear the cases and petitions against the conduct of the September 30, 2014 elections that brought about the Pinnick board.

    After holding a meeting last Saturday in Abuja, the Giwa faction has resolved to resume operations at the secretariat of the Nigeria Football Federation, the Glass House, on Thursday, January 15, 2015.

    Below is the communiqué issued by the Chris Giwa led faction after their meeting last weekend:

    The Board of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) under the leadership of Ambassador Chris Giwa met in a brief emergency meeting on Saturday morning in Abuja, resolved as follows:

    1. We express our appreciation to His Excellency, the President & Commander–In-Chief of Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan  (GCFR) for his fatherly role in creating room for resolving the crises that have engulfed the Nigerian Football family. His unrivalled interest in repositioning football in Nigeria is known to Nigerians both at home and abroad.

    2. We acknowledge that a lot of resources have been committed to Football administration at different levels in the country and as such every patriotic Nigerian should be interested in what goes on in the Glass House, Abuja.

    3. Nigerians will recall the previous issues that led to the last crisis which necessitated Mr President to personally intervene. He advised the factions to take immediate steps to amicably settle all the issues. This consequently led to our withdrawal of the matter we instituted in the court of law, just to allow for peaceful resolution to the crisis in the football family.

    4. Some persons approached the Elections Appeal committee leading to two sets of decisions emanating from the Appeals Committee which further caused confusion and compounded the problem.

    5. Some persons approached FIFA in respect of the two sets of decision for direction and FIFA replied on 18th December, 2014 stating without equivocation that they lack jurisdiction to hear the matter as it was purely an internal matter within the confines of the NFF and advised internal mechanisms which exist in the NFF Statute in resolving the logjam be employed.

    6. Consequent upon this, the persons approached the NFF secretariat requesting for the creation of an Arbitration Tribunal set out under Articles 68 and 69 of the 2010 NFF statutes, which is one of such internal mechanism to address their grievances.

    7. After much dilly-dallying, the factional board led by Mr Amaju Pinnick met among other things and rejected the request to fester their factional interest.

    8. With this show of recklessness and crass violation of the NFF statutes, it is without any iota of doubt that the Amaju Pinnick factional board does not want peaceful resolution to the issues.

    9. Having exhausted all available internal mechanisms for amicable settlement of the logjam, our board have resolved that we shall hold our regular board meeting on the 15th January, 2015 at the Glass House to fashion our plans and programmes to reposition our football and get us back on track.

    10. We wish to thank fellow Nigerians for the patience, prayers and support for justice, equity and fairplay.

  • FIFA warns Nigeria against leadership tussle

    FIFA warns Nigeria against leadership tussle

    FIFA on Thursday said it would ban Nigeria if the newly elected executive committee of the Nigeria Football Federation is not allowed to function.

    There have been media reports that a group led by the controversial Chris Giwa, who claimed to have been elected NFF president on August 26 will “resume work in Abuja on Thursday.”

    “We now expect the NFF and its new leadership to carry out its activities without any hindrance in order to avoid having to again refer the case to the appropriate FIFA bodies for an automatic suspension as stated in our previous correspondence,” africanFootball.com quoted the world soccer governing body as saying in a letter signed by its general secretary, Jerome Valke.

    The letter reads: “We would like to congratulate the members of the new board on their election and are confident they are committed to continuing the development of football in Nigeria.”

    FIFA also commended the NFF for the successful completion of the executive committee elections on Tuesday with a special mention for NFF general secretary Musa Amadu.

    “We would also take this opportunity to praise the NFF and especially you (Amadu) on what had been achieved in recent weeks despite the various difficulties,” FIFA stated.

    On Wednesday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter sent a letter of congratulations to the new NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, saying that he (Blatter) is looking forward to meeting and supporting him and his new board towards ensuring stable development of football in the country.

  • NFF leadership tussle shameful – Kanu

    NFF leadership tussle shameful – Kanu

    Two-time African Footballer of the Year, Nwankwo Kanu, has said those behind the leadership tussle rocking Nigeria ought to be ashamed of themselves.

    Chris Giwa has insisted he was voted as the new Nigeria Football Federation’s president and will not vacate the federation’s office despite a looming FIFA ban on the country.

    However, FIFA has maintained it do not recognise Giwa as president.

    “All those involved in this crisis have to be ashamed of themselves because they are really killing football in Nigeria,” africanFootball.com quoted Kanu as saying on the crisis rocking the country’s football.

    “There is no peace. Nobody understands what’s going on and the earlier this problem is solved, the better.”

    Some observers have even blamed the crisis for the Super Eagles 2-3 loss to Congo in Calabar.

    “The boys concentration was affected by the crisis as much as we do not wish to admit this,” said Eagles official Emmanuel Attah.

  • Giwa takes case to CAS

    Giwa takes case to CAS

    The self-acclaimed president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Chris Giwa, has taken his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, africanFootball.com reports.

    In a notice of appeal, he is asking CAS to order FIFA not to ban Nigeria  until the appeal against the non-recognition of his “election” by FIFA is heard.

    However, CAS is yet to reply to this notice.

    Giwa’s last-ditch effort, africanFootball.com gathered, will hit the rocks as FIFA has the right to intervene in the electoral process of  its members.

    The world soccer governing body had earlier in the week warned that if Giwa and other purportedly elected officials of the NFF fail to vacate the Glass House by Monday, Nigeria will be suspended from international football.

     

  • EFCC quizzes Chris Giwa

    EFCC quizzes Chris Giwa

    The factional president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Chris Giwa, has been quizzed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, africanFootball.com reports.

    Giwa was whisked away from his Abuja home on Friday by EFCC operatives to answer questions on the banking transactions involving one of his associates.

    According to africanFootball.com, the associate’s banking transactions between January and June this year were put at 300,000 naira, but between June and August, the transactions had skyrocketed to 250 million naira.

    EFCC has now ordered 19 other persons who had transferred cash through this account to appear before it on Monday.

    The list included an ex-international, who was inaugurated on a six-man panel by Giwa to run the Nigeria premier league till the end of the season.