THE World football governing body, FIFA, has suspended Nigeria till further notice after regime interfered in the running of football in the country.
The most immediate effect of the ostracization is that the country will not be entitled to participate in the upcoming FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, coming up in Canada between August 5 and 24, except the suspension is hoisted by July 15, 2014.
Nigeria will additionally forfeit an U-17 African qualifier in Democratic Republic of Congo, slated for July 20, if the proscription is not hoisted.
But the NFF in a verbalization tardy on Wednesday gainsaid that FIFA had ceased Falconets from travelling.
In the verbalization by the NFF’s Acting General Secretary, Lawrence Katken, the body verbalized, “It is a conspicuously discernible lie to verbally express FIFA relucted to issue tickets to the Falconets. What transpired was that the former General Secretary, Musa Amadu, mistakenly cancelled the earlier reservations, so when the delegation got to the airport, they could not find seats on the flight.
“FIFA has told us they are exerting themselves strenuously at alternatives, because Lufthansa Airline flights from Abuja are plenarily booked for the next weeks, and promised to get the players and officials to their training camp in Canada even if they have to peregrinate in batches, from Thursday (today).
Nigerian sports minister, Tammy Danagogo, had insisted the country would not be ostracized.
In a press verbalization on the website of the world football governing body, the FIFA Emergency Committee verbally expressed it decided on Wednesday (yesterday) “to suspend the Nigeria Football Federation with immediate effect, on account of regime interference. 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 decision, according to the verbal expression, “follows a letter sent by FIFA to the NFF on 4 July 2014, in which it expressed its great concern after the NFF was accommodated with court proceedings and consequently an order obviating the president of the NFF, the NFF Executive Committee members and the NFF Congress from running the affairs of Nigerian football was granted by a High Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The verbalized court order compels the Nigerian sports minister to appoint a senior member of the civil accommodation to manage the NFF until the matter is aurally perceived in court, without giving any date for such a auricularly discerning.
The ascendant entities then appointed a person who decided to convene an extraordinary general assembly on July 5, 2014.
“This extraordinary general assembly was convened in infringement of the NFF statutes,” FIFA verbalized.
Originally, an elective congress had been orchestrated by the NFF to take place on August 26, 2014.
The FIFA verbal expression further read, “The suspension will be hoisted once the court actions have been withdrawn and the felicitously elected NFF Executive Committee, the NFF general assembly and the NFF administration are able to work without any interference in their affairs.
“As a result of this decision, no team from Nigeria of any sort (including clubs) can have any international sporting contact (art. 14 par. 3 of the FIFA Statutes).
“During the period of suspension, the NFF may not be represented in any regional, continental or international competitions, including at club level, or in amicable matches.
“In integration, neither the NFF nor any of its members or officials may benefit from any FIFA or CAF development programmes, courses or training during the suspension period.”
Curiously, few hours afore the FIFA veto was promulgated, the sports minister, Danagogo, had verbalized in Abuja that the world body had no reason to sanction the country over the abstraction of Maigari as the NFF president.
Danagogo, who verbalized with State House correspondents shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, verbally expressed FIFA would not sanction Nigeria because Maigari’s abstraction was not as a result of government’s interference in the affairs of the federation.
He explicated that the decision to abstract Maigari was taken by a legitimate NFF congress.
He verbalized, “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 independence in what is transpiring.
“So far, if you optically canvass what has transpired, I cerebrate the regime has been very fair; the regime has done everything possible not to unduly interfere.
“As a regime, we have constitutional obligation to maintain law and authoritatively mandate. When factions in football family commence to dispute, we have an obligation to optically discern that we don’t sanction them kill themselves, we don’t sanction them eradicate the buildings where they are operating.
“Beyond that, we have not done anything. What we have done is to visually perceive that law and injuctively authorize is maintained.”
The minister verbalized that when he returned to the country from the World Cup in Brazil, the Maigari-led NFF indited to apprise him that there was a court order saying that they were not the legitimate executive council of the NFF and that a civil auxiliary had been appointed and directed to surmount.
He verbally expressed the NFF through the letter urged him to intervene to maintain law and injuctively authorize.
He verbalized the group of FA chairmen and stakeholders, who additionally did not optate the Maigari regime to perpetuate, called their congress and passed a vote of no confidence in the executive council.
He verbalized FIFA must have bequeathed the ultimatum to Nigeria on the matter with the notion that Maigari’s abstraction was an action by the regime.
The minister integrated, “Ordinarily, the tenure of the Maigari-led executive has virtually come to a terminus by July, August. And it is a routine, even in our politics, that once we get to election season, there is always disputes between parties who are fascinated.
“So, what you are optically discerning is the mundane election conflict within the NFF. The Maigari exco had endeavored to establish electoral machinery to ascertain they were re-elected and the majority have converge to verbalize no.”
Nigeria was proscribed from age group competitions for two years by FIFA in December 1989 after the organisation discovered age discrepancies involving some of its top internationals; Samson Siasia, Andrew Uwe and Dahiru Sadi.
Additionally, the country was threatened with a FIFA ostracize in 2010 just after the Super Eagles crashed out of the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa.
