Nigeria: The NFF is Defiant – Yola

Leadership (Abuja)

Ishaku Kigbu

24 June 2011

Abba Yola is not new to tackling topical issues regarding sports administration an development in Nigeria, in this interview he opened up on the thinking of government and effort at resolving the crisis with football administration. Ishaku kigbu was there, excerpts

Outcome of series of between the NFF and NSC.

The meeting was held in order to find a lasting solution to the problem of Nigerian football which we believe is crisis laden. Unfortunately some people do not see it that way. We have issues that are before the Nigerian law. There are judgments in law courts annulling one thing or the other saying that we did not do things rightly. But some people went ahead and did things that the court said no to. Now some interested Nigerians and stakeholders have come out to challenge those things that were done in defiance to court orders. The National Sports Commission has no hand in all these. What we are trying to do is to ensure that the crisis is resolved amicably in such a way that we do not incur the wrath of FIFA.

Unfortunately the issues are beyond what we can say can be resolved easily because it is not a matter of give and take. But a matter of doing what is right. As long as you have a faulty foundation no matter how long it takes the structure will not stand a test of time. People are unnecessarily over heating the situation. The situation is very clear, we need to come back and look at what we have done that is wrong, ratify it, rectify it and put it in proper shape so that we can move forward. The more we leave this matter unattended to, the more crises will come along the line.

The NSC is not interested in this crisis. It is not joining issues with anybody, siding or fighting anybody but performing its statutory function of being the supervising agency of the NFF. The Nigeria Football Association is a parastatal under the NSC. No one can deny that fact. It is just like other ministries that have parastatal, so we must be seen to be concerned with what is happening in NFA or NFF or whatever it is called. That is why the DG intervened to get matters resolved and we are still trying to ensure that all these matters are resolved within and amicably in such a way that we do not incur the wrath of anybody or go against the laws of Nigeria. Nobody will want to go against the law of this country. The law courts are there and if they adjudicate on something everybody in Nigeria is bound to obey their order or judgment no matter how harsh they are because that is the issue of rule of law. So we cannot be seen to run away from the fact that we must first of all do what is right at home. Once we do what is right at home I doubt much if anybody outside will now come and tell us you have to do otherwise. Internally, let us sit down and do what is right.

On the NFF blackmailing the NSC.

The NSC is not biased. The NSC is only playing its statutory role of being a mediator. The NSC did not ask NANF or the stakeholders to go to court. The NSC is never part of that thing. The NSC is only trying to resolve the matter and I have attended series of meetings between the NSC and NANF even before we got to where we are today. We resolved this matter not once and not twice involving even the executive members of the supports club. We cued them into all these long time ago so that we can have peace in Nigerian football. But unfortunately, some people said no we do not want that kind of peace, we just have to do things the way we have been doing and others are saying no, you cannot and you have to be among the global trend because a situation that has arisen is that you do not exist. And if you do not exist, what do we do to make sure that we do the right thing?

The NSC then said okay let us come and broker peace and somewhere along the line, the police invited both the Aminu Maigari led NFA and of course the other stakeholders, the Harrison Jalla, Tenebe and Gara- Gombe groups. They were invited by the police to come and explain in a statement in respect to a court judgment in which the Jalla group was saying that the police should go and enforce because it has not been vacated by either that court or a superior one. So they were invited to come and state their own case. So we just jumped into it. We were never invited. The DG NSC was not invited but then if the police had been allowed to go and seal the NFA off as provided for by that court judgment the situation would have been different.

So the DG said let us go and make sure that at least we ask for time and settle the matter amicably. It is not even out of court settlement now because no one is in court yet but what the police are saying is to enforce a court judgment which is still valid and not being challenged by anybody. That was where the NSC came in to ask for time to go and settle the matter. Before we knew it Aminu Maigari and nine others went to court to restrain the Inspector General of Police from effecting the court order which we feel should not have been since we are still talking and the police has also given us a window to go and settle amicably and get back to them. But by going to the court they are making things difficult for settlement. We don’t have any camp and we are not on the side of anybody rather we are trying to make sure that we provide that kind of leadership that any ministry will give to its parastatal.

Outcome of Ekeji’s meeting with Toro group.

They met and the communiqué they issued at the end of the day was that the NFA and the Aminu Maigari led NFF should be given enough time to sort the matter out and report back to them. But the issue is that we have gone beyond that kind of talk. What we are in is beyond that situation. We are talking about legal matters. Once there are legal angles to a matter you must first address the legality or otherwise of that issue.

The other group are not saying give us this and we will give you this. No they are trying to say that there is a judgment and we want in enforced for the betterment of Nigerian football. We are not the police neither are we the ones to execute the court judgment or vacate it. The idea is that we must go back to the drawing board and see if there is anything we have done wrong and make right so that Nigeria football can move forward. Nigeria football is bigger than any individual no matter who you think you are because we are talking about a country and not an individual. Unfortunately we have shot ourselves in the foot a long time ago. That 2006 statutes of the NFA that was adopted and ratified was really wrong. It took us 100 years backwards. Our major problem now is that people have been doctored to believe that they are responsible to international organisation which is even more powerful than their own country.

They have been doctored to believe that the moment you request for xyz they will say no, it is wrong we will report you to FIFA because you are interfering with football administration. There so many windows in FIFA statutes for us to work with. It is not something that is a straight jacket that you must do this and that. It is an affiliated body. Affiliation has its own limits, but first and foremost it is the country first. Whatever you do you have to think of your country first. Unfortunately it is only in this country that you will find a Nigeria with a Nigerian passport fly to Zurich and sit down with a white man and tell him I have come to report Nigeria as a country and my government. Every matter they take to FIFA they say it is government interference please ban and punish Nigeria. You can see how bad it is to us in sports business.

For example of recent we sent a letter to the NFF asking them to please convene an emergency congress meeting, but they came back with a 3-page reply to the DG telling him he cannot ask them to convene a congress and that the congress can only be convened at the instance of the congress themselves or the executive committee of the NFF. They even went further to say we are advising you to withdraw this letter otherwise it will be misinterpreted by FIFA and CAF.

Simple grammar from your own boss asking the chairman of a parastatal to do something and you are threatening him and sending back the letter saying it is against the NFF, FIFA and CAF statutes and signed by the chairman of a parastatal. You can imagine a parastatal looking at a DG in the eye and threaten him with FIFA. So you can see the level we have degenerated into believing that we are responsible to a foreign body. Again an NFA official went to court and swore to an affidavit to challenge government’s instruction that they should not be probed or account for money they spent saying they are accountable to FIFA not Nigerian government. This is an organization that goes to the National Assembly to defend an appropriation bill and its budget the way the DG NSC and NIS director also defend theirs. They do that yet someone is saying they are not accountable to Nigerian government.

Last year the National Assembly approved almost N6b to the NFA for its activities, the same thing this year and through the NSC direct to the NFA yet they are saying we cannot ask them to tell us how they spend the money. These are tax payers and government money that you must account for. But they believe that there is another authority and power somewhere that they are accountable to. This is not grant in aid but appropriation which means that government will still ask you to explain. The orientation in NFA is that they have a master elsewhere. Unless this changes we will be having a lot of problems. In their statutes they said government gives them revenue instead of appropriation.

The organization which NFA is affiliated to must know that football is run 100% by government. Nigerian government must be recognized in whatever statutes NFA or NFF has. The contribution of the government must be acknowledged with a special recognition. Once the congress ratifies that FIFA will now know that it is Nigerian government that is pumping money into football and must have a say in its administration. But it is hidden from FIFA. I challenge anyone from 2000 to date to show me where the NFF told FIFA that Nigerian government appropriates money for football.

Regardless of the crisis the teams will lack nothing and they have not lacked anything and they are doing well. It is mischievous to say the crisis is affecting football on the pitch. NSC’s Position.

We are putting together everything administratively and legally. The final slot will be the trip to FIFA by our people to sit down with the legal department of FIFA and tell them this are the challenges we have with our football administration, please advise us on how to do xyz because these issues are not about give and take but legal. If you have a solution give us, but we will not compromise on the rule of law. We will tell them Nigerian courts have taken a decision and no human being either in or outside Nigeria will disregard a court judgment or matter that has to do with our day to day activity, that is the position of the NSC.

All the sectors to be touched have been touched. We have a whole file on this issue from the office of the Attorney General, advice from the stakeholders and will finally cue in FIFA so that we do not offend them. People must be prepared to make sacrifices.

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