…says career of upcoming footballers are under threat
Following the directive from Minister of Youth and Sport, Solomon Dalung, that the Nigeria Football Federation should comply with the Supreme Court judgment of April 27, 2018, which sacked Amaju Pinnick-led board, the President of National Association of Nigerian Footballers, Larry Kubeinje, has raised the alarm over the development, saying the action will surely lead to a lengthy ban of Nigeria from the Federation of International Football Association’s activities.
Speaking exclusively to The Point, the former Flash Flamingoes of Benin star said the recent development was unfortunate, and added with a tinge of regret that the football career of the country’s upcoming players would be under threat with the recent development.
The Supreme Court had upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court, setting aside the election into the executive committee of the NFF held on September 30, 2014.
According to the NANF boss, the obvious implication of all these is that if any attempt is made to recognise Chris Giwa and derecognise Amaju Pinnick and his board, FIFA will definitely impose a lengthy ban on Nigeria from all football competitions locally and internationally and that will spell doom for Nigerian
football.
“It is unfortunate that all these are coming up now Nigerian football is trying to gain prominence. But my take on the matter is simple!
“First, it was clear that the Supreme Court was not aware that Nigeria Football Federation is in existence because the only football ruling body that is recongised by the law of the country is the Nigeria Football Association.
“I feel both Chris Giwa and Amaju Pinnick are just swimming in an ocean of illegality.
“If government did not want Pinnick, they should have waited patiently for his tenure to come to an end next month and use their machinery to ease him out of power.
“I can recall that when the tenures of Alh. Ibrahim Galadima and Alh. Aminu Maigari as NFF chairmen respectively came to an end, some stakeholders of Nigerian football who never wanted them back in office, came together and used government machinery to ease them off. I think the same measure ought to have been taken in Pinnick’s case instead of inviting FIFA’s wrath.
“Pinnick’s tenure is almost over, so why the rush?
“Frankly, both Giwa and Amaju are not recognised by law to be at the helm of affairs in the country’s football since NFF is not recognised by law. What government recognizes is NFA. Period!” Kubeinje stated.
Speaking further on the development, Kubeinje said FIFA has consistently maintained that the matter has been taken to the Court of Sport Arbitration in Switzerland by the same individuals and Giwa lost, so I expected that caution should have been taken to ease Pinnick off at the eleventh hour.
“The implication of these actions is that our national teams will be denied the opportunity of featuring in FIFA-organised tournaments.
“Aside a possible lengthy ban which may come from FIFA, numerous Nigeria’s upcoming footballers’ career will be jeopardized which will be sad for our football development,” he
added.
Earlier, the solicitor to Pinnick, Festus Keyamo, had opened up on the decision of the Supreme Court, saying a possible ban against Nigeria by FIFA is in the offing if the order sacking Pinnick’s board is executed.
“FIFA is only bound by the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and does not entertain or tolerate decisions by local courts in footballing nations
worldwide.
“Hence, FIFA has since upheld the decision of the Court of Arbitration on this matter and recognised the NFF board led by Amaju Pinnick.
“Nigeria has a duty to comply with that decision. In addition, for the indiscretion of those individuals like Chris Giwa to approach the local courts, FIFA has since imposed a worldwide ban on them from all footballing activities,” said
Keyamo.
From the foregoing, the immediate casualties of any possible FIFA ban would be the Falconets who have qualified and are scheduled to participate in the Under-20 Female World Cup this month; the final phases of the AFCON qualifiers for the Super Eagles scheduled for August/September this year and the Super Falcons defending their title in December in Ghana this year.
In addition, no Nigerian club-side would be allowed to participate in the continental championships and the future of all Nigerian players based in Nigeria would be in jeopardy, as no Nigerian player would be allowed to be sold or transferred to any club anywhere in the
world.
Meanwhile, Giwa, on July 2, invaded the Glass House of the NFF in Abuja with some members of his board and took control of the body’s headquarters.
Giwa claimed that he is the rightfully elected president of the NFF, but stakeholders of Nigerian football are already divided in their views on the issue, as some urged Pinnick to respect the court orders, while others insisted that football matters should not be taken to the court of law except the CAS.
