By Mark Baber
January 21 – A meeting called by Minister of Youth and Sports Solomaan Dalung, aimed at resolving the ongoing dispute between rival claimants to the position of Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick and Chris Giwa ended in stalemate and came close to descending into fisticuffs according to witnesses.
The meeting, held on Wednesday at the National Stadium Package B
was called to settle the leadership crisis. Giwa continues to maintain that the September, 2014 election which put Pinnick in office was faulty. However, Pinnick enjoyed solid support from FIFA’s former General Secretary Jerome Valcke who prevented the Nigerian courts deciding the matter in Giwa’s favour.
According to live tweets of the meeting by Nneka Ikem, media assistant to the Sports Minister, as well as the reports of journalists outside the room who could hear the raised voices, Pinnick and Giwa nearly came to blows when Pinnick shouted at his rival “You are a bastard’.
The Sports Minister quickly stepped in to calm the situation, asking Pinnick to withdraw his statement, telling him that as a leader he was not supposed to use foul language.
Pinnick then apologised to Giwa saying: “I am very sorry Mr Giwa. I don’t know what got over me. I am ashamed of my actions. Please forgive me.”
It is not recorded if Giwa accepted the apology, but both side’s lawyers made legal submissions regarding the legitimacy of NFF elections, of FIFA’s “interference” in NFF affairs and the practical effect of CAS rulings on the dispute.
Unsurprisingly, the meeting ended without a resolution to the legitimacy crisis – although Dalung did manage to secure a commitment to another meeting next Wednesday and the sports minister gave a positive spin to the encounter, saying: “I have the will power and the political power to resolve the issue and I am optimistic that this issue will be resolved. We have decided to hear from them because this is a democracy, if we were in a military dictatorship I may have just decreed and asked one party to step down.”
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