Yesterday’s charade in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, cannot stand. How long will the NFF, driven by State Football Association chairmen, continue to go on a frolic of their own?
We thank the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, for his brilliant speech.
Nigerian football is a critical national asset, and those who have held it in the past by hook and crook should understand that that era is over.
The FA chairmen who went to Bayelsa to manipulate their one-member congress, allocate votes, and enlarge congress while retaining their control should know that the game is over.
As critical stakeholders, we will not allow our football to be run in this old-fashioned way any longer. We shall challenge you in the public square until the federal government fully intervenes.
The NFF cannot take our football down the same route as in the last 12 years, during which we missed out on two World Cups back-to-back.
Yet, these same individuals have the effrontery to continue on the same path instead of apologizing and resigning en masse from the NFF Board. You have failed Nigerians, and we will not allow this trend to continue.
If necessary, we shall apply self-help if the relevant government agencies fail to act to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
The Court of Appeal has spoken: the election of September 30, 2022, was set aside. These charlatans cannot continue to ruin Nigerian football in lawlessness. This is a group so comfortable in failure, so settled in mediocrity, and so unbothered about growth.
None of these cosmetic amendments move us; we shall remain in the trenches until Nigerian football is salvaged.
Nigerian football deserves to be in the best hands—hands that can encourage the federal government and the private sector, and save Nigerians from the continued trauma of poor performance by our national teams due to incompetent leadership and corruption-infested administration.
The decisions taken in Bayelsa are of no consequence and cannot stand.
By now, a serious government should have dissolved the Gusau-led board and proceeded with its prosecution, including that of the previous board.
The NFF electoral process is sub judice, and we shall follow the judicial process to its logical conclusion.
Prince Harrison Jalla
Chairman
Advocacy for Nigeria Football Reform Concepts
