The house of football in Nigeria, that is the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), is presently divided and indications are strong that it will take time for peace to return to the house.
Aminu Maigari
At the moment, there seems to be no love lost in the leadership of the NFF and the Congress of the federation which comprises the chairmen of state football associations and other relevant stakeholders.
Sacked President of the NFF, Aminu Maigari, may have been impeached by the Congress of the NFF that dissolved his administration, but there is more to the impeachment than what was perceived in football circles.
This is indeed a strange development because even as the federation is not new to crises, this one involves the NFF and members of the Congress that worked assiduously to get into office.
It is also an open secret that the congressmen did not stop at getting the executive committee in place but also stood by it in times of trouble.
It is on record that since the sacked executive committee of the NFF came on board, it has faced not less than 45 court cases.
Even as it had to deal with so many court cases that posed serious threat to its survival, the NFF exco led by Maigari concentrated on the task of bringing Nigerian football back on track. After failing, in the past, to qualify for some of the international competitions like the Olympic Games and the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the NFF was able to qualify the country for all major championships this year.
The Super Eagles has since cleared the path to more achievements with the resounding victory in the 2013 AFCON in South Africa.
It is pertinent to say that the success of the Super Eagles did not come on a platter of gold, as the NFF had to contend with so many forces that almost rocked the boat.
The Congress, while dissolving Maigari’s administration, listed the many perceived sins of the administration that led to their action.
The Congress accused the Maigari administration of shortchanging grassroots development by failure to regularly avail state football associations of annual grant.
He was also accused of abuse of NFF statutes in its constitution of NFF Electoral Committee, by altering the list of persons approved by the Congress at the 2013 General Assembly in Warri, Delta State, and inaugurating a different committee.
Most of the FA chairmen are not happy with Maigari because, for three years now, he has not paid their subvention, which is money from FIFA for development of football at the state level.
The Congress also heaped the blame of the bonus crisis that rocked the Super Eagles camp during the ongoing World Cup at the doorstep of the Maigari administration.
It bemoaned the unfortunate incident of the international embarrassment caused Nigeria at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, by failure of the Maigari-led NFF to fully and firmly resolve issues of finance with the Super Eagles ahead of the championship, thereby blaming him for the crisis.
And while the Congress listed Maigari’s many sins as factors that contributed to his ouster, President-General of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC), Rafiu Ladipo, said Maigari, rather than been ousted, deserves commendation.
“Maigari deserves tremendous praise and commendation for the successes that have been recorded by the national teams in the past few years.
“His humility, team spirit, sobriety, administrative acumen and ever-ready listening ear have played a huge role in the accomplishments.
“As far as those of us in the Supporters Club are concerned, the recent successes of our national teams would not have been possible without the excellent leadership qualities and listening ear of Maigari.
“Every Nigerian football fan and Nigerians of goodwill everywhere will continue to be grateful to his administration for returning Nigerian football to strong reckoning in the international sphere,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is not clear whether the ‘three wise men’ that went to meet top officials of FIFA on the development were able to convince world football governing body on the decisions taken.
The ‘three wise men’ comprises former FIFA and CAF executive member, Dr. Amos Adamu; Director in the Sports Ministry, Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba; and the Minister of Sports, Dr. Tanmuno Danagogo.
