Photo Credit: FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Photo by Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP
FIFA, CAF Yet to Decide NFF’s Future, Set to Visit Nigeria

World football governing body, FIFA, says it has not yet taken a decision on the future of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) following the mass resignation of its leadership.

In a letter addressed to the NFF Deputy General Secretary, Emmanuel Ikpeme, on Monday, FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said they are still assessing the legal, governance, administrative and electoral implications of the crisis within the NFF.

The crisis followed the resignation of NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and other Executive Committee members on Thursday, August 27. Their exit came amid scrutiny over the poor performance of Nigeria’s national teams, including the failure of the senior men’s and women’s teams to qualify for their respective World Cups.

The resignations also came just days before the scheduled September 27 NFF elections, after the National Sports Commission (NSC) moved to implement President Bola Tinubu’s directive to address the “repeated failures” in Nigerian football.

A Nigerian delegation led by NSC Chairman Shehu Dikko had met with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and other officials at the FIFA House in Zurich on September 1 to discuss the situation.

FIFA’s Chief Member Associations Officer, Elkhan Mammadov, said the bodies had received several communications from stakeholders in Nigeria but have not reached any conclusion.

“We refer to the various communications recently received by FIFA and CAF concerning developments within the Nigeria Football Federation… FIFA and CAF are currently assessing the legal, governance, administrative and electoral implications arising from the current circumstances within the NFF,” the letter stated.

FIFA added that no determination has been made yet on next steps and that the plan to set up a normalisation committee is on hold.

Meanwhile, FIFA addressed Ikpeme as Deputy General Secretary — despite his endorsement by the NSC as Acting General Secretary — and named him as the primary contact between NFF, FIFA and CAF for now.

The body also ordered the suspension of the planned September 27 elections, saying the decision does not validate the current situation but is necessary to allow for proper assessment.

As part of next steps, FIFA and CAF delegations will visit Abuja to meet with the NFF, members of Congress, electoral bodies and the NSC to better understand the issues before making any recommendations.
Source: Punch Newspapers –