The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nff

  • NFF to sweep away corrupt officers

    Acting president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mike Umeh has exclusively told supersport.com that he will lead the fight to rid Nigerian football of “all corrupt officers.”

    Erstwhile president of the NFF, Aminu Maigari was on Thursday impeached “on grounds of financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration.”

    Umeh, who took the reins following Maigari’s fall from grace says the move to rid the Glass House of “individuals of questionable character is ongoing as we look to repair the damage done to Nigerian football.”

    “We want to assure Nigerians that we will not relent in adopting due process in showing corrupt officers of the NFF the way out. I can state through this medium without fear or favour that the procedure of kicking out individuals of questionable character is ongoing as we look to repair the damage done to Nigerian football.

    “That is my immediate mandate. We are not small boys. We know what to do,” he told supersport.com on Thursday.

    Umeh will preside over the affairs of the NFF, pending the composition of the new NFF Executive Committee after the elections of Tuesday, 26th August, 2014.

  • Imenger hails Maigari’s impeachment

    Imenger hails Maigari’s impeachment

    The General Manager of Lobi Stars Football Club, Barnabas Imenger, on Friday said Aminu Maigari’s impeachment on Thursday as president of Nigeria Football Federation was good for Nigerian football.

    Imenger told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that Nigerian football would turn a new face with the removal of corrupt people from football administration.

    “This is good for Nigerian football, because all corrupt and bad football managers should be flushed out of Nigerian football.

    “If all the allegations against him are true, then there is no hope for him to be reinstated.

    “I will also say that the impeachment should not only involve him (Maigari), but also all the entire members of the board.

    “This will act as a deterrent to all future president of the Federation.

    “We all know that Nigerian football is suffering, and there is the need for a total reform in conformity to global trends so that we can move ahead,’’ the former Super Eagles striker told NAN.

  • NFF to ‘weed out’ corrupt officers

    NFF to ‘weed out’ corrupt officers

    Acting president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mike Umeh, has said he will lead the fight to rid Nigerian football of “all corrupt officers.”

    Erstwhile president of the Federation, Aminu Maigari was on Thursday impeached “on grounds of financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration.”

    Umeh, who took the reins following Maigari’s impeachment, said move to rid the Glass House of “individuals of questionable character is ongoing as we look to repair the damage done to Nigerian football.”

    “We want to assure Nigerians that we will not relent in adopting due process in showing corrupt officers of the NFF the way out.

    “I can state through this medium without fear or favour that the procedure of kicking out individuals of questionable character is ongoing as we look to repair the damage done to Nigerian football.

    “That is my immediate mandate. We are not small boys. We know what to do,” he told supersport.com on Thursday.

    Umeh will preside over the affairs of the NFF, pending the composition of the new executive committee of the Federation after August 26 elections.

  • NFF chief Maigari impeached

    NFF chief Maigari impeached

    The President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Aminu Maigari, was on Thursday impeached by the Federation’s executive committee members.

    The members took the decision during Thursday’s executive committee meeting in Abuja, kickOffNigeria.com reports.

    Maigari was accused of “uncalled-for secrecy” surrounding all financial dealings of the Federation and failure to call meeting of the executive committee for the past eight months, during which so many weighty decisions on Nigeria football had been taken by a small cabal within the board.

    Consequently, in a motion for impeachment moved by Shehu Adamu and seconded by Deji Tinubu, the committee passed a vote of no confidence on the NFF president.

    A communiqué at the end of the meeting stated that “the committee approved the immediate dismissal of Alhaji Aminu Maigari, from the NFF Executive Committee on grounds of financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration.”

    The body’s First Vice President, Mike Umeh, was appointed Acting President, to preside over the affairs of the Federation till the August 26 elections.

     

  • NFF not well constituted —Club owners

    NFF not well constituted —Club owners

    The Club Owners Association of Nigeria has declared that the present Board of the NFF is not well constituted and did not adhere strictly to the statutes of the football federation.

    According to the Acting Chairman of Association, Isaac Dalandi, “the Club Owners have observed that the genesis of the several crises rocking Nigeria football over the years, have been our inability to strongly adhere, follow, and protect the statutes which is the FIFA recognised and approved rule book for the general administration and management of football across the world”.

    Danlandi spoke at the meeting held between the club owners and the Minister of Sports  Tammy Danagogo to fashion a possible way out of the present logjam that evolved the country’s football in recent times.

    The club owners said that the present problems are borne out of lack of respect for the statues, obviously for political and selfish reasons.

    “This has caused a lot of distrust amongst the stakeholders, there by leading to the several litigations in the conventional courts of which FIFA frowns at”.

    He appealed to the Minister to use his office to ensure that all stakeholders abide by the provisions of the statutes of football as sanctioned by FIFA,while the FIFA standard electoral code is adhered strictly to,in the general conduct of elections into the various boards of the federation and affiliated leagues.

    They asked the Minister to urgently address the issue of the present NFF board as it is today is not properly constituted as there is no second Vice President, that the premier league board is completely absent, and the clubs have been disenfranchised from voting in Federations elections and congress decisions.

    The Minister further revealed that he has the mandate of the President to transform and reform the country’s sporting sector, especially football, and would not stop at nothing to ensure that it is carried to the latter.

    The Minister, who doubles as the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, said when he came into office, that his first assignment was to intervene in the purported suspension of Nembe City and Giwa FC.

  • 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.

  • FIFA lifts Nigeria’s suspension

    FIFA lifts Nigeria’s suspension

    Football world governing body, FIFA, on Friday lifted the suspension placed on the country for government interference, Goal reports.

    “We have noted that the court proceedings and order preventing the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, the NFF Executive Committee members and the NFF Congress from running the affairs of Nigerian football that prompted the suspension have been withdrawn.

    “As statutory order has been reinstated at the NFF and the legitimate bodies reinstalled, FIFA has decided to lift the suspension as of today, Friday 18 July 2014.

    “The lifting of the suspension means that all rights of the NFF as a FIFA member as defined in article 12 of the FIFA Statutes are reinstated,” Goal quoted FIFA as saying in a release on Friday.

    In its reaction, the NFF said it will commence “arrangements to ensure that the U-20 women national team, Falconets, travel to Moncton, Canada next week for a final training camp ahead of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup taking place in the same country, and for the Golden Eaglets to fly to Democratic Republic of Congo for a 2015 African U-17 Championship qualifier on Sunday, July 27.”

  • NFF to decide on Keshi – Minister

    NFF to decide on Keshi – Minister

    Nigeria’s sports minister Tammy Danagogo has said only the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) can decide whether or not to give coach Stephen Keshi a new deal.

    Keshi’s contract ended with the recent World Cup in Brazil, where Nigeria reached the last 16 this month.

    “My role (as regards Keshi’s contract) will be advisory. It will be the NFF and the technical committee which will decide on Keshi,” Danagogo said on a radio programme monitored in Abuja Thursday.

    The Super Eagles will resume action with the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers in September.

    AfricanFootball.com had previously reported that ‘Big Boss’ Keshi had demanded for double his five million Naira-a-month salary.

    He also wanted his salaries paid upfront to avoid delays and that he should be allowed to pick his staff.

    This was when he met with the country’s President Goodluck Jonathan on arrival from Brazil 2014.

    The 52-year-old Keshi has also been linked with the vacant coaching post of South Africa. of South Africa.

  • FIFA suspends Nigeria

    FIFA suspends Nigeria

    The FIFA Emergency Committee on Wednesday suspended the Nigeria Football Federation with immediate effect, on account of government’s interference.

    A statement on FIFA’s website said the decision follows a letter sent by the world soccer governing body to NFF last Friday in which it expressed great concern at the latest development in Nigerian football.

    With the suspension Nigerian teams and officials would be barred from international tournaments and meetings until normalcy returns to the Glass House.

    The statement recalled that the NFF was served with court proceedings and consequently an order preventing the president of the Federation, the executive committee members and the body’s Congress from running the affairs of Nigerian football was granted by a High Court in Jos, Plateau State, last Thursday.

    Article 13, par. 1 and article 17, par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes oblige member associations to manage their affairs independently and with no influence from third parties.

    The court order compelled the Minister of Sports, Tamuno Danagogo, to appoint a senior member of the civil service to manage the Federation until the matter was heard in court, without giving any date for such a hearing.

     FIFA has set a July 15 deadline for Nigeria to resolve the problem or the country’s team would be excluded from the Women’s Under-20 World Cup starting August 5 in Canada.

    But the NFF elective congress has been tentatively fixed for August 26.

    “The suspension will be lifted once the court actions have been withdrawn and the properly elected NFF Executive Committee, the NFF general assembly and the NFF administration are able to work without any interference in their affairs,” FIFA said.

     

  • NFF: Nigeria safe from FIFA hammer – Minister

    NFF: Nigeria safe from FIFA hammer – Minister

    The Minister of Sports, Tamuno Danagogo, on Wednesday assured that Nigeria is not at risk of the world football ruling body, FIFA’s hammer over the crisis that engulfed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

    Apart from a court order, some members of the NFF board removed its Chairman, Aminu Maigari from office. FIFA had threatened to sanction Nigeria if the government was behind the crisis in NFF.

    Speaking with State House correspondents, the minister said the government did not unduly interfere in the issue as a legitimate NFF Congress was responsible for Maigari’s ouster.

    According to him, the NFF crisis was fuelled by moves to stop Maigari from manipulating and succeeding himself in the forthcoming NFF executive committee elections billed to hold in the next few weeks.

    He said: “Nigeria is safe, I can tell you that. What FIFA wants is for the right things to be done and there should be a high level of independence in what is happening. So far, if you look at what has happened, I think government has been very fair, government has done everything possible not to unduly interfere.

    “As a government, we have constitutional duty to maintain law and order. When factions in football family begin to dispute, we have a duty to see that we don’t allow them kill themselves, we don’t allow them destroy the buildings where they are operating. Beyond that, we have not done anything. What we have done, is to see that law and order is maintained.

    “Firstly, you must understand that the first thing that happened as soon as we returned from Brazil, was the old NFF, that is the Maigari-led NFF on the 3rd of July, wrote to me, informing me that there is a court order saying that they are not the legitimate executive council of the NFF and that a civil servant has been appointed or directed to take over and then urged me to intervene to maintain law and order. And what we did was to ensure that there is a law and order.

    “And of course, the group of FA chairmen and stakeholders, who also didn’t want the Maigari government to continue, called their congress and the congress passed a vote of no confidence on that exco. At the beginning, FIFA thought maybe it was a government action, a court action, but we have gone far beyond that. We are talking about a legitimate Congress of NFF, of the football family in the whole country meeting and passing a vote of no confidence. That is not government action. It is strictly a decision of a majority of football stakeholders in the country.

    He went on: “Ordinarily, the tenure of the Maigari led exco has almost come to an end, may be by July or August. And it is a routine, even in our national politics, that once we get to election season, there is always a dispute between parties who are interested.”