BY BEN MEMULETIWON
The Crest is in possession of indisputable facts on the real reason why the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, railroaded Ahmad Ahmad, President of the Confederation of African Football, CAF, to watch the Super Eagles engage the Simba of Congo DR in Monday’s international friendly.
The match, last home engagement of the senior national team, preparatory to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, was played in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. It yielded a 1-1 draw.
However, tongues started wagging even before the encounter as to why the NFF had to spend scarce resources to bring the CAF President to Port Harcourt willy-nilly.
Checks by The Crest revealed that after the Supreme Court sacked the Pinnick Amaju led-NFF, its bigwigs had been working tirelessly to tighten their grip on the Federation and remain in office. And when all else had failed, the body resorted to dragging the CAF President to Nigeria as a last public relations stunt designed to impress club owners and NFF board members that the group was still in power.
The Crest can also exclusive report that Amaju, who seems not to fully understand the ramifications and implications of the April 27, 2018 landmark judgement by the Supreme Court, had made frantic efforts to appeal to the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, and the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami to intervene.
But the fear of President Muhammadu Buhari marked the beginning of wisdom for the duo as they rebuffed the pressure on the grounds that the President, being a stickler for the rule of law and separation of powers, will never condone anyone breaching that sacred constitutional provision.
Sources told The Crest in Port Harcourt that the chairman of the League Management Company, LMC, Mallam Shehu Dikko, last week, led a team of NFF stalwarts to Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna State Governor, appealing to him to help them talk to the President to save their job. But they met a stone wall. The Governor reportedly told them, matter-of-factly, that he would never touch the idea with a long pole. Like the AGF, the governor also cited the rule of law.
Having failed both ways, Pinnick and his group flew the CAF boss to Port Harcourt to watch the Super Eagles/Simba match as a face-saving public relations resort. Football buffs have described that particular act as a show of desperation by a drowning man hanging to a raft.
The question on lips of Nigerian football enthusiasts is: Has the CAF President not yet heard, or was he not sufficiently interested in Nigeria football to know that Pinnick is no longer NFF President, by virtue of the Supreme Court verdict? If he was in the know, why, then, did he choose to fraternise with illegality?
In any case, could Ahmad Ahmad’s presence in Nigeria have made any difference? How far could his presence in Port Harcourt go in legitimising the ongoing illegality? The answer to these is a definite ‘NO’. Rather than have any meaningful impact, it would yield a backlash for Ahmad who, hitherto, has enjoyed overwhelming support for ousting the old order in African football, and breathing new life into football administration in the continent.
Lagos lawyer, Ralph Akintan, believes that Pinnick’s desperate struggle to convince President Buhari and Nigerians to jettison the Supreme Court judgement is like pouring water on the back of a duck. An exercise in futility.
“Ahmad should be reminded that FIFA, under the leadership of Gianni Infantino respects the laws of member countries and Africa must key in quickly to save the continent from impending chaos,” Akintan told The Crest.
Meanwhile, as if to confirm The Crest investigation, Barrister Solomon Dalung, Minister of Youth and Sports, has embargoed any attempt by the NFF to organise any election this year. The Minister made the remark in Port Harcourt after the 1-1 draw by the Super Eagles against visiting Simba of DR Congo at the Adokiye Amesiemeka stadium.
The Minister noted that the Federal Government has invested so much towards the Eagles’ qualification and achieving a respectable World Cup result than to allow any distraction at this crucial point when the focus of every participating nation is Russia.
Dalung stressed that a call for purchase of forms and setting up of a so-called electoral committee at this time was a distraction to the team’s preparation.
“The NFF should put everything concerning elections and electoral committees on hold,”Dalung said, “and concentrate on the World Cup preparation which is more important to the country.
“The country has invested so much right from the campaign for a ticket till date, so, we cannot afford any distractions in the name of elections.”
The Super Eagles kick off their World Cup campaign against Croatia on June 16, 2018, in Kaliningrad.
