Erstwhile and embattled former president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi, has again written a letter to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan over his unlawful impeachment from office exactly four years ago and demand the immediate removal of Alhaji Aminu Maigari from office as the boss of Nigerian football.
According to him, Maigari and his board are illegally occupying the position after vacating his impeachment in 2011 and declaring him innocent of any wrongdoings while in office between 2006 and 2010.
In the letter to Mr. President dated 2nd May, 2014, a copy which was made available to our correspondent yesterday, Lulu demanded among other things that NFF must tell Nigerians why they vacated his impeachment while EFCC had arraigned him in court, why did the Electoral Committee discontinue the main electoral process when he was being returned unopposed and was not convicted, that NSC/NFF should account for the N2.8b, he left behind at the time of his impeachment, and the PTF should present to the public the statement of account of over N1b they realized from funds raised for the Africa Nations Cup and World Cup in 2010, because none was remitted to his NFF led board.
“Mr. President, I had written severally, with the last being an open letter to you dated 28/08/2012, primarily to convey the high level of injustice meted unto my NFF led board and to show how our four years tenure was abruptly terminated under circumstances that we consider as unjust and heavily beclouded by deliberate falsehood and blackmail which were aimed at frustrating our selfless, sincere and committed efforts to reposition Nigerian football and reclaim our rightful place of glory among the soccer nations of the world.
“Your Excellency, the purpose of this letter is, therefore, to humbly continue to use this only available medium to state in clear terms our own perspective of the circumstances under which we were undemocratically and unlawfully pushed out of office and unjustifiably vilified, intimidated, arrested, detained and charged to court. As a true democrat and humanist, we are sure that your Excellency will be interested in hearing our own side of the story which bears footprints of our courageous vision, patriotism, commitment and dedication that, in ordinary circumstances, should be encouraged and supported. Indeed, at the height of our persecution and even up till now, all our efforts to have an official opportunity to present our case to Your Excellency were thwarted.
“Your Excellency, the NSC and PTF had their ways and finally mobilized all the available apparatus and powers at their disposal to get us out of the way. Consequently our impeachment was contrived and we were removed from office in the most brazen manner and without regards to due process and the statutes of NFF and FIFA. Indeed, one Mr. Ray Nnaji, who had earlier been expelled for anti-NFF/FIFA activities was used to spearhead the campaign. He wrote a petition which the EFCC used to swoop on us at the NFF and subsequently without due process detained, charged and arraigned us in court,” Lulu lamented.He said that the charges leveled against them in court by EFCC were centered on the purchase/procurement of two (2) Marcopolo buses, hiring of an aircraft at a rate lower than the normal price and, conspired to book a cheap, substandard and unbefitting Hampshire Hotel for the Super Eagles team in South Africa 2010 World Cup Finals.
”Your Excellency, it should, however, be noted that in the pursuit of justice we followed due process in accordance with FIFA/NFF statutes by formally challenging all these allegations and illegalities up to the level of the International Court of Arbitration on Sports (CAS) in Zurich. We only withdrew this case in February 2011, because NFF had vacated its impeachment against us on 28/12/2010 and this was consequently followed by the intervention of CAF president, (Dr. Isa Hayatou). Also, relatedly and most importantly, we had to exhibit maturity and patriotism in the application of our vision of using the power of football to better the Nigeria society, by avoiding to over-heat the polity of the politically tensed nation which was preparing for its general election in April 2011, just less than 2 months away then.
“In conclusion, Mr. President, it is obvious that because of our love and patriotism for our dear country we followed due process and rule of law as contained in the statutes to file a case with CAS, but withdrew following intervention of CAF President after NFF vacation of impeachment vide extract and I quote “The congress resolved that the decision of 09/07/2010 concerning impeached Alh. Sani Lulu Abdullahi, Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam and Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi be vacated in the spirit of reconciliation. Similarly, congress resolved that all members of the football family having any football matter pending in ordinary court, should proceed to withdraw same in the spirit of sportsmanship, while imploring the executive committee to open up a channel of communication in resolving such disputes including the matter in CAS with former members of its Executive Committee,” he said.
He said the NFF has refused to implement the above decisions as they relate to him and his colleagues despite withdrawal of litigation from CAS.
