By Mark Baber
September 5 – Whilst a faction of the Nigeria’s football hierarchy has acted immediately to implement FIFA’s directive to restore Aminu Maigari to presidency of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Chris Giwa remains adamant he is the legitimate President and that, mindless of what they may say, FIFA will not ban the country.
The NFF congress, which had been scheduled to elect a new Executive Committee and President on Thursday, instead followed FIFA’s directive in restoring Maigari and his board, giving them the responsibility to organise the new elections.
However, Chris Giwa, inaugurating a board to manage the Nigeria Premier Football League and a committee to look into the role of the leadership of the Nigeria Football Referees Association and the League management Company in last weekend’s boycott and suspension of the Premier League, was clearly in no mood to step down.
“We are not the enemies of football,” he said. “All we want is for football to move forward in the country. FIFA is a friendly association and will not ban Nigeria. We are praying that God will not allow that to happen. For the letter that came in yesterday, I want to plead with Nigerians to be calm. I am sure that FIFA will not ban Nigeria. I want to repeat it again that I am very sure that Nigeria will not be suspended. And very soon, the enemies of football in Nigeria will be exposed.”
In other Nigerian news, the Super Eagles continue to prepare for Saturday’s clash with Congo, but the NFF has reported their opponents to CAF for failing to disclose their travel plans, amidst reports the Congolese squad will be checked for Ebola virus before being let into the country.
NFF’s Head of International, Bola Oyeyode, told local media. “We are surprised at the attitude of the Congolese FA. They have kept silence all along, refusing to give us details of their travel plans, only for them to be requesting visa-on-arrival for their advance party which they stated would arrive in Nigeria on Wednesday.”
“They gave no details of which persons constitute the advance party and no passport details. In any event, we have written to CAF to say we cannot arrange visa-on-arrival for them as we have no details, and moreover, there is an Embassy of Nigeria in Brazzaville. They should secure their visas before coming to Nigeria.”
It remains to be seen if there is any movement today or over the weekend, but if Giwa can not be persuaded to back down, and FIFA moves ahead with their promised automatic ban, the Nigerian team’s efforts against Congo may prove to be in vain.
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