It is a raw fact that all is not well or not going as expected in the football circle of this country and this is directly connected with the type of the people that cruelly organized and appointed themselves as the drivers and movers of the Nigeria Football Federation.
We all know that the most popular game in the world is losing its popularity in Nigeria and this is due to the way and manner that those in charge that imposed themselves as leaders have no business to be there. But sadly, they are there not because they genuinely love the game but to enrich themselves.
Remembered that it was the 36 States’ Football Association chairmen including Abuja that gang up and changed the NFF Statutes which saw them as bulk of the stakeholders out of the 44 persons that made the NFF Congress.
They made themselves to come together after every four years and elect the 12-man executive committee that will administer the game in the country of over 200 million people.
Not satisfied with that uncivilized decision, three members of the players’ union sued the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) demanding among several other things for equal representation of the major stakeholders at the NFF Congress.
The three members of the player’s union are Harrison Jalla, Rumson Baribote and Austin Popo while the defendants are the NFF, NFF President Amaju Pinnick and the then Sports Minister, Sunday Dare.
The plaintiffs pick holes in the 37 State Football Association Chairmen domination of the congress. They see it as a calculative attempt to edge out other major stakeholders like the players’ union, coaches, the leagues and referees who were allocated only one representation each in the congress.
That was why the applicants demanded the September 2022 NFF Elections not be conducted without proper amendments of the 2010 NFF Statutes,
Thus, the applicants went to court and wanted it to declare the composition of the NFF Congress as no longer fashionable and undemocratic.
Ex-players’ union described that skewed representation as “most undemocratic” and even conflicting to the spirit of the 2010 NFF Statutes and produced the following as their observation and urged for redress which the former NFF President, Amaju Pinnick and his gang ignored.
The plaintiffs want the court to stop NFF from using the Congress as then constituted for the September 2022 elections since the Statutes is unlawful, if not amended.
They described the composition, in which one body has 37 members and others of one each as most undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of even the Statutes itself and also democratic principles.
The applicant also described the declaration ouster clause Article 69 of 2010 NFF Statutes that ousted the jurisdiction of the court, established under the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria for the settlement of disputes in the NFF, is wrongful, unconstitutional and therefore null and void.
They also among other things called for an Order of Mandamus of the defendants jointly and severally amended the 2010 NFF Statutes to ensure democratic and equitable representation of all members and independent groups that constitute the NFF Congress.
The applicant sought for an Order of injunction restraining the defendants, their agents and cronies how so ever called from preparing and conducting the September 2022 of the NFF Executive Committee slated for 2022 without taking proper procedure for amendment of the NFF Statutes as requested by the claimants particularly the composition of the Congress and Executive Committee, which is the board.
But Pinnick Amaju and his gang produced dubious and fraudulently fake court orders on the 29th of September 2022 which gave them the mandate and go ahead to conduct the purported illegal NFF election of September 30th in Benin City which saw Gusau and his team as NFF leaders.
Not satisfied with the content of the fake order which the Pinnick and his gang produced, the PFAN again went back to the court of appeal which after proceedings established its stands.
The Court of Appeal ultimately and instantly sacked the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, President, Ibrahim Gusau and his entire Board members over the illegal conduct of the September 30, 2022 NFF elective Congress in Benin City, Edo State.
The Court of Appeal sacked the NFF Board by setting aside and striking out all dubious orders obtained by deceit on the 29th of September 2022 to conduct the purported NFF illegal election of September 30th in Benin City.
As I said before, I am sure that every true stakeholder and right football loving individual in this country is not happy with the way and manner the game is being handled by the crooks called managers.
This is because football as the most played and most followed game in the country needs to grow more than what we think but unfortunately the reverse is the case as the game is bastardized and poorly managed.
This is why there is no private participation in our football in this country as we see in other places like Europe and even our sister African countries.
That is why the game of football is more developed in Ghana, Cote D’ivoire, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa to mention a few.
The failure of the NFF to do the right thing and develop our football was what led to our present predicaments. Our football is left in the hands of state governments who entrusted it in the hands of their cronies who have no genuine interest and development for the game but what they will get.
More than 98% of clubs in the various leagues are government owned. And where we have few that exist, the NFF used to do everything possible to frustrate them out of the system. Chris Giwa, Samson Jaja and Ifanyi Uba are the few I can remember as a good example.
And until these people are chased out of the system there is no way we will see any private participation in our leagues as no sensible individual or group will invest or sink his/her or their hard earned resources in the sector that is submerged in a serious mess.
Look at the way our local football spectators turned their back to our local leagues for the European TV soccer matches. Our stadiums are always empty due to the way and manner our leagues and competitions are managed.
The absence of what our football spectators want is nonappearance in our local leagues. As one does not have to recruit good and quality players with a well experienced technical crew to win matches.
All you need to do to win your games and top league table or win a trophy as I said it before is to bribe referees and the officers at the top. That is why our clubs that win or get crowned as champions or winners are knocked out in the early stage of any CAF competitions.
Our local leagues are no more attractive to Nigerians likewise other places and that explains why it is not televised like that of Kenya, Zambia, South Africa etc.
These and many other negative indicators made me and many others see the appeal court decision as the savior of our football game.
I see the decision of the court as a welcome development because it is going to give us the opportunity of producing the best brains to pilot our round leather game in the country.
The sacking of Gusau’s board will allow the expansion of the NFF congress from 44 people to above 100 or even more which will give more people the chance to contribute to the development of the game.
Expanding the congress will allow or field the right and genuine stakeholders to lead the board which will develop our fledgling soccer.
For sure if the expansion is effected, it will accommodate more and other relevant stakeholders which will ensure proportional representation for the good of the game.
I remembered that the present minister of sports once asserted that football’s economic, social and cultural value to Nigeria and its citizens means that whatever needs to be done for the development of the game should be undertaken seriously in the interest of the nation.
“NFF’s Congress should be such that it is proportionally representative enough of all interests for the good of the game,” the minister added.
The minister then directed that the NFF should initiate and conclude all expected amendments from adoption through to ratification and approval within the next one year and send the amended documents to FIFA.
“NFF should submit the action plan leading to the final amended statute with definite timelines to the Office of the Minister of Sports Development,” Senator Enoh stated. “As we need to make progress and bring this to a positive conclusion,” the minister concluded.
Honestly, the minister did very well and at the right time. And as I stated then, I see wisdom in his orders and directives to the NFF on the expansion of its congress.
Because it is what many of us have been crying and calling for long because we see and fault the present arrangement where only few people dictate the destiny of our football in the country.
As it is now only few people numbering 44 which include the 37 state/FCT FA chairmen were in charge whereas the real stakeholders NPFL, NNL and NWLO have one representation while women league, referees, coaches and players’ union also have one each.
As I stated before, I see the 44 people serving as the congress members of the NFF as inadequate if we compare that with the huge population figure of the country.
We want the congress to be expanded to 111 members or even more which will see all the 37 state/FCT Football Association chairman, 20 Nigeria Professional Football League clubs, 12 Nigeria National League, 12 Nigeria Nationwide League 1 and 12 Nigeria Women League clubs.
Others to be in the congress will be 6 Nigeria Referees Association, 6 Nigeria Coaches Association and 6 Players Union members. Even during the Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima era, the congress was over 100 people, why should we reduce it this low? I don’t see any reason why the number of the congress should be trimmed to this very small number.
I am happy the present minister of sports saw the inadequacy of the present formula or arrangement where the state’s Football Association chairmen hijacked and made themselves Alfas and Omegas of the whole arrangement.
It is when we enlarge our congress that we will be able to elect the right and genuine people who will lead our fledgling soccer and transform it to the best among African countries.
At present all is not well with our football as our teams don’t play well in club competitions in the African continent and our referees are not included in any CAF or FIFA organized competitions due to the way and manner they handled our local leagues.
It is only in this country that people with no clubs are parading themselves as NFF board members. They don’t have any stake or business in the federation. They are there just milking the federation. The real stakeholders were relegated to the background or as observers while people who have no stake occupy the driver’s seats.
My only distress with the minister’s formula is the absence of sports writers which I hope will be addressed in good time. Sports writers are catalysts to sports development not in this country alone but world over.
A former member of Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Arbitration Committee, who was a Presidential aspirant in the 2022 NFF election, said he withdrew from the exercise to avoid the risk of contempt of court after a directive from the then Minister of Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare, that the election be suspended, was ignored by the NFF electoral committee.
So we should come out and celebrate the Appeal Court judgement and stand firm behind it to save the game. The sacked NFF officials have no plans for the development of football in the country. All they are after are the foreign trips which gave them a colossal amount of foreign currency.