Ministry of Sports – No teeth to bite

Nigerian Football Federation (NFF)

I am writing this on Thursday night. I have just read the press release by the Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.

By the way, the NFF is a parastatal of the Federal Government of Nigeria, funded mostly by the Government, supervised by the Ministry of Sports and surviving on the benevolence of the government.

The news is that the elections for the board of Nigeria Football Federation went on yesterday courtesy of a Civil Court decision. It is a great relief.

However, as you read this on Saturday morning, the fallout and reality of this new state of affairs will be that the members of the ‘failed’ Executive Committee whose tenure has expired, would return as ‘elected’ members of a new board. The country will have to endure another four years or more of the same of the immediate past. As you read this, most of them will be grinning from ear to ear, celebrating their ‘victory’ over the people and government of Nigeria.

The realities on the ground., however, are indisputable. Dangerous precedence has been set.

A sports board disregards the ‘instructions’ of the President of the country who, in his wisdom, had advised that the constitution of the Federation that needed some tinkering with, be amended before new elections are conducted. This step would have allowed genuinely disenfranchised and ostracised members to be re-admitted, peace restored, and a new leadership elected from a wider pool of members to run the federation.

Everyone is in agreement that amendments to the constitution needed to be done. The issue was whether should it precede the elections, or be done after the elections. To do it after would mean returning to the country’s vomit.

Unfor