Fixes new election for Aug 26
After few days of dillydally and speculations, the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday dismissed Alhaji Aminu Magairi as its president and appointed his vice, Chief Mike Okeke Umeh, as acting president pending the time new election is conducted.
The four-year reign of Maigari was brought to an abrupt end after he was found guilty of alleged financial misappropriation, misapplication, and maladministration.
Effiong Johnson, who broke the news to the media, said the sack of the former NFF boss was based on Article 35 of the NFF Statues, and after and a motion was moved by a member of the board, Shehu Adamu, , during the Executive Committee meeting held at the NFF Headquarters in Abuja.
In attendance at the executive committee included aside from Maigari, Chief Emeka Inyama; Mrs Dilichukwu Onyedinma; Alh. Ahmad Muazu Kawu; Chief Effiong Johnson; Barr. Christopher Green; Hon. Shehu Adamu; Alh. Muazu Suleyman; Mr. Ayodeji Tinubu; Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed ‘Fresh’; Chief Felix Anyansi-Agwu; Hon. Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande and the secretary, Musa Amadu.
It could be recalled that prior to yesterday’s meeting, effort had been made to sack the entire NFF board when a Jos-based Federal High Court ruled that Maigairi and his members should stop parading themselves as executives of the nation’s soccer governing body, but the ruling was later vacated following the threat of the FIFA to ban Nigeria from all its competitions.
Blueprint Sport, however, reliably gathered that up till wee hours of Wednesday the former NFF boss made frantic attempts to save his job but all his entreaties to his members came to naught as their minds were made to boot him out due to weighty offences he had committed.
According to a source, “Following a motion moved by one of the board members, eight voted in support of Maigari’s dismissal, while five voted against it after we have thoroughly reviewed activities surrounding our football in the last eight months.
However, in the communiqué of the meeting which was signed and later released by the NFF media officer, Ademola Olajire also revealed that parts of the offences of the former NFF boss was “his and failure to call meeting of the executive committee for the past eight months, during which so many weighty decisions on Nigerian football was taken by a small cabal within the board.”
Meanwhile, the committee, as parts of its resolutions, mandated the 1st vice president, Chief Umeh as acting president, to preside over the affairs of the federation, pending the composition of the new NFF executive committee after the elections of Tuesday, August 26, 2014.
The NFF board also expressed deep and very sincere appreciation to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his massive and continued support to the national teams, while commending the world football governing bodies, FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for their keen interest in the development of Nigerian football and pledged that the country would continue to abide by their statues.
