By Mark Baber
September 1 – Following the farcical events of last week, FIFA have rejected the controversial ‘election’ of Chris Giwa (pictured) as the new president of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and warned that Nigeria could be banned by Tuesday if he does not vacate the post by midnight tonight.
On Friday, FIFA issued a statement that they did not recognise the election of Giwa on Tuesday, saying: “We will not recognise the outcome of the above mentioned elections and should there still be persons claiming to have been elected and occupying the NFF offices at midnight on Monday 1 September 2014, we will bring the case to the appropriate FIFA body for sanctions, which may include the suspension of the NFF.”
FIFA also stated in a letter to the NFF dated August 28 that it accepted the decision of the majority congress held on Tuesday evening where 39 of its 44 members resolved for executive committee elections in Nigeria to now take place on 4 September.
The events of last Tuesday occurred as NFF president Aminu Maigari, who had been scheduled to chair an NFF meeting to confirm the September 4 election date, was placed under arrest and Sports Minister and Chairman National Sports Commission (NSC), Tammy Danagogo appeared to take action to ensure the election of Chris Giwa.
To underline the seriousness of the crisis, the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) directed its members not to take charge of matches “until sanity is restored,” leading to the cancellation of all football fixtures this weekend.
If Chris Giwa and his faction do not stand down, Nigeria’s defence of the Africa Cup of Nations – with upcoming qualifiers against Congo (on September 6) and South Africa is in grave danger. Nigeria could also be banned from the Africa U-17 Championship and not be eligible to defend the FIFA U-17 World Cup they won last year.
However, Giwa himself seemed to be sanguine about the threat saying, “We will present our position to FIFA by Monday morning and they will be convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that we adopted the correct statutes before organising the election.
“We call on Nigerians not to panic. The NFF is not intimidated and we do not expect any sanction because we have done the appropriate thing.
“There is absolutely nothing to fear. Our response is ready. FIFA will receive the position of the Federation and will be convinced that elections have, indeed, taken place.”
For his part, Tammy Danagogo responded to the imminent catastrophe by suggesting FIFA should come to Nigeria and see things for themselves saying, “We expected FIFA to send their people to Nigeria so that we can all see, sit down and resolve this issue. Prior to the election, I met with both parties and we all agreed on what to do.
“My expectation is that FIFA will send their people, let both parties come and I will be there for us to discuss on way out.”
Danagogo insisted there was no question of government interference as “It was the General Assembly of NFF that decided that elective congress would take place on August 26, 2014. The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body and had resolved at their meeting in Warri that elections would take place on August 26, 2014.”
On Saturday, a spokesperson for Danagogo, said the arrest of Maigari (who has subsequently been released) was nothing to do with the NFF election but was in connection with the fire had gutted the NFF headquarters on August 20, which police are still investigating.
As Giwa and Danagogo apparently both have their heads buried firmly in the sand, sports journalists have been variously responding with attacks on Danagogo for having “displayed such level of immaturity in the handling of state affairs,” appealing for Danagogo to prevail upon Giwa to step down and suggesting the Nigerian president step in to help resolve the issue.
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