Federation elective congress that produced Chris Giwa as illegal and
ordered his board to leave office by Monday
Fifa has rejected the Chris Giwa led excutive board of the Nigeria
Football Federation and ordered the group to vacate office on or
before midnight, Monday September 1.
Giwa was declared the president of the country's apex football body on
Tuesday at an elective congress held at Chida Hotel, Abuja where he
defeated former NFF Vice President Mike Umeh.
In a letter signed by Jérôme Valcke and addressed to NFF General
Secretary, Musa Amadu and dated August 29, the world football
governing body declared the election congress that produced Giwa as
unacceptable, based on its recieved correspondence.
Fifa highlighted the implications should Giwa continue to parade
himself as the NFF President, stressing that the governing body will
seek no other option than presenting Nigeria's case before its
executive committee for sanction.
The body further declared the congress held at Bentley Hotel as valid
while that of Chida Hotel as not acceptable as it contradicted the
earlier proposed agenda for a non-elective congress.
"We refer to the enclosed reports we have received from members of the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Association of Professional
Footballers of Nigeria, as well as to information relayed by the media
with regard to the events linked to the general assembly of the NFF on
26 August 2014," the statement read.
"We understand from the sequence of events that the general assembly
duly convened by the NFF Executive Committee could not start as
planned because some NFF members, including the president, were being
held by security forces for questioning.
"We also note that, despite these absences, some members decided to
hold an impromptu 'elective general assembly' while the delegates were
supposed to be deciding on a new roadmap leading to elections for a
new NFF Executive Committee.
"According to the enclosed reports, 39 out of 44 of the delegates then
resolved to hold an ad-hoc general assembly during which they decided
that elections would be organised for 4 September 2014 and elected new
members to the electoral committees.
"Finally, we have learnt that the persons who claim to have been
elected during the so-called 'elective general assembly' have come to
the NFF offices claiming to be the legitimate president and members of
the NFF. It also appears that the Ministry of Sports has recognised
them.
"As stated previously, FIFA deems the general assembly to be the
highest decision-making body of any football association and that its
decisions are consequently binding, provided that these comply with
the member association's own statutes.
"According to the facts reported to us, it appears that the vast
majority of the NFF members decided to set the elections for 4
September 2014 and we consider this decision to be valid since it was
taken by the highest decision-making body (the NFF general assembly)
and conforms to what has been previously reported to FIFA.
"As a consequence, we will not recognise the outcome of the
abovementioned elections and should there still be persons claiming to
have been elected and occupying the NFF offices at midnight on Monday
1 September 2014, we will bring the case to the appropriate FIFA body
for sanctions, which may include the suspension of the NFF.
"We ask you to inform all parties concerned accordingly and we thank
you in advance for keeping us informed of any developments in the
situation. In particular, we would like you to confirm that the date
of 4 September 2014 will be met because the timing seems very short,"
it concluded.
No comments:
Post a Comment