Fire guts Football Federation complex

By Gbenga Jolaosho
Abuja

Head office of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Abuja was yesterday morning engulfed in flames even as the embattled Aminu Maigari-led board  is to fully settle down to work.
The offices of General Secretary Musa Amadu and the NFF chief accountant were razed down with several vital documents on expenditures and other dealings said to have been lost in the process.
The NFF headquarters, located at Wuse Zone 7, shares the same premises with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
A staff in the headquarters, popularly called Glass House, told Blueprint that the fire first started through an electrical fault in the chief accountant’s office but soon spread to the general secretary’s office.
A senior federal fire service chief, Mr. Imo Eyo, who led his team to the football house to battle the inferno, described the damage as “huge” but said, “There is no immediate indication of foul play.”
“We suspect a circuit fault to have led to the fire but a proper enquiry will be carried out by the authorities,” he added.
NFF Technical Director, Emmanuel Ikpeme, equally disclosed that the blaze caused a colossal damage.
He said: “We thought it was something that could be contained by the fire extinguisher but before we knew it, the fire spread to the General-Secretary’s office and from there, there couldn’t be any control.”
Ikpeme added: “It’s very sad, more so that Nigerians know that we have been having some challenges in the Nigerian Football Federation.
“When we thought it was all over only for us to come this morning and experience this kind of thing. It’s a very serious matter.
“You can imagine, most of the NFF’s sensitive and important documents of the NFF are in the Secretary-General’s office and for the fire to destroy the accountant’s office is very sad. It’s a setback for the NFF.”
The NFF scribe, Musa Amadu, in his reaction, cautioned against “attributing the fire incident to any sabotage before a thorough investigation is conducted on it.”
An insider, who spoke to Blueprint on condition of remaining anonymous, however, said he highly suspected a foul play.
“I’m sure that they deliberately set the house on fire in order to clean up all the embezzlements and corrupt practices that have taken place, knowing that EFCC will soon swing into action immediately the NFF August 26 elections are conducted and new board sworn in.
“Tell me, why did the fire affect mainly the office of the Chief Accountant and that of the SG, where important documents are kept, and not other places? I’m sure your guess is as good as mine,” the source concluded.
The NFF has been in crisis for several months with its embattled president, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, just returning to office on Monday this week following the intervention and directives of the  Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA).
The NFF Executive Committee had earlier in July sacked Maigari over allegations of financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration, but was however reinstated because FIFA said that correct procedure had not been followed.
FIFA directed that Maigari should be returned to finish his term which he started in 2000 and then oversee the NFF general elections scheduled for the end of August.
Meanwhile, this latest setback will be one in a long line of unprecedented events unfolding in Nigerian football since the end of the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil.
And already on borders end is the NFF vice president, Mike Umeh, who has distanced himself from the reinstated Maigari board, insisting the president was legally impeached and therefore has no legal basis to parade himself as the de facto head of the Federation.