Dare, Pinnick battle over 2022 NFF elections

An English novelist and critic, George Orwell once said “to survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself”. This same scenario is presently playing out as there appears to be no love lost between the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare and the president of the Nigeria Football Federation […]

An English novelist and critic, George Orwell once said “to survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself”. This same scenario is presently playing out as there appears to be no love lost between the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare and the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Melvin Pinnick who are fighting dirty following the former’s stand on the 2022 NFF elections.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government through the Minister of Youths and Sports Development had ordered the Executive Committee of the NFF led by Pinnick to ensure that the 2022 NFF elections are held as scheduled.

This order became necessary following ‘disturbing signals’ that the incumbent NFF president, Pinnick, is subtly working for tenure elongation to enable him realise his third term ambition.

In the letter, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the NFF to immediately commence the process that will lead to holding new elections into its Executive Committee at the expiration of the current administration in September.

The President also directed that the instrument of football administration in the country, the NFF Statutes be amended to include other stakeholders, who had hitherto been disenfranchised, or denied equal representation in the Federation’s congress.

The letter reinforced the Federal Government’s support for football development in the country, urging the leadership of the NFF to ensure that the amended statute reflects national yearnings, aspirations and peculiarities of Nigeria as a sovereign nation whilst aligning with the principles and objectives of football as set by the world soccer governing body, FIFA.

Following the Presidential directive, a group that calls itself the Concerned Congress Members of the Nigeria Football Federation and the Professional Football Players Association of Nigeria PFAN/Project 2022 Task Force met recently at the Reno Hotel in Abuja to discuss how to  vacate the lawsuit filed by Seigha Obiene under the case number FHC/YNG/CS/133/2021, which Pinnick is said to be using to justify his refusal to convene the much desired General Congress that will pave the way for the elections to be held.

The Concerned Congress Members and the players union stated in the unsigned Communiqué that the plaintiff had agreed to withdraw the lawsuit from court to make space for the elective congress in September.

Responding to the outcome of the meeting by the Concerned Congress members, Pinnick said the Annual General Assembly will be held once the court serves the NFF lawyers notice permitting the federation to do so.

“As I speak, we are making arrangements to hold the Annual General Assembly once the court communicates to our attorney the Notice of Discontinuance of the two cases that have been delaying the convocation of the Congress,” he said.

It was in the course of waiting for the January 2022 Bayelsa High Court Order to be formally vacated by the plaintiff that a punchy editorial written by The Punch newspaper surfaced to stir the hornet’s nest.

In the scathing editorial of The Punch on July 5, which many believed was influenced by the embattled NFF president, President Muhammadu Buhari and his minister of sports, Sunday Dare, were heavily criticised and accused of messing around with Nigerian football.

Obviously unhappy with the content of The Punch editorial, the Ministry of Youths and Sports also returned fire as the social media immediately buzzed with stories which emanated to inform Nigerians that Pinnick had dared and insulted Mr President and the minister of sports.

It was within the same period that the NFF president was reminded that in the past two years, he had illegally collected nearly N3 billion from the federal government in the name of Nigeria Football Association (NFA), the body recognised by law but spent as money as Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) which is unknown to law.

Keen followers of the face-off between the minister of sports and the NFF president were quick to conclude that the reports didn’t come out from any other source than the sports ministry.

Whether or not it was the sports minister who was using his surrogates to unleash the heavy allegations against Pinnick, the accusations appeared effective as the NFF president was portrayed as one who was becoming arrogant and disrespectful to President Buhari.

Consequently, there was panic in the camp of Pinnick who was left with no choice than to quickly exonerate himself. In a strongly worded press statement released by the Media department of the NFF, he expressed shock at a report in a section of the media, which claimed that he had attacked Buhari and Dare over a perceived aspiration for a third term as President of the NFF.

 “In a report apparently syndicated but poorly-articulated and highly unprofessional, the FIFA Council Member was alleged to be on a “spending spree” in the media to “tarnish the image of the Minister and also undermine Mr President’s authority to speak about Nigerian football,” without any instance given or any quote attributed to Mr Pinnick.

“This is a clear case of a dirty campaign. I have never given any interview or motivated any media person to write anything about the President’s directives or to insult the Honourable Minister.

“As I speak, we are making arrangements to hold the Annual General Assembly once the court communicates to our attorney the Notice of Discontinuance of the two cases that have been delaying the convocation of the Congress.

“I could have kept quiet over this kind of silly campaign but it is important to put the record straight and also, I have the highest regards for the person of His Excellency, President Buhari, the Government and its institutions. This is a hatchet job, and such can always happen in political times. The campaigners have failed woefully,” he said.

Definitely, these are definitely not the best of times for the NFF president who appears to have reneged on the earlier denunciation of his third term ambition.

Of course, the former chairman of Delta State Football Association and Chairman of Delta State Sports Commission, sees the minister of sports as a major stumbling block in the path of his vaulting ambition.

However, even before the ongoing media war between the two gladiators, a legal luminary and football administrator, Barrister Paul Edeh had told Trust Sports that Dare only carried out his supervisory role without infringing on any article in the NFF statutes.

“Well, I believe the Minister acted within his prerogative as the head of all sports related matters in Nigeria in directing the NFF president to follow the provisions of the NFF Statutes and FIFA rules and nothing more.

“His letter urged the NFF president to conduct elections in line with the provisions of the Statutes which brought him into office.  How can this be interference? He was only reminding the NFF president to do his duty.

 In the same vein, a former Secretary General of the then NFA, Dr. Tijani Yusuf, expressed disappointment in those who have perceived the recent government order on the NFF as interference.

According to Yusuf, he who pays the piper must be allowed to dictate the tune, adding that rather than condemn the government, every genuine football stakeholder should applaud it for waking the NFF up from its slumber.

“It is not interference. It is sad that when it comes to this matter, they call it interference. But when it comes to money matters, it is not interference. This is very ridiculous, very ridiculous. This is negative thinking,” he said.

Although he is yet to grant another interview to counter his earlier decision to jettison his third term ambition, there are signs that the Warri-born member of the FIFA Executive Committee is quietly working to remain as president of the NFF.

Therefore, in the coming weeks, the ongoing media war between the two camps is going to be fiercer as the forces against Pinnick continue to mount pressure on him to leave at the expiration of his present tenure.