NBy Demola Atobaba, Ado-Ekiti
The Nigeria Football Federation has opted to immediately set up Normalization Committees for temporary administration of the Football Associations of Akwa Ibom, Nasarawa, Kogi and Kaduna States.
This followed flagrant disregard of directives from the NFF by the said State FAs not to proceed with conduct of their elections as a result of court injunctions and petitions, in varying cases, and various shades of irregularities in the processes leading to the so-called elections.
Ali Muhammad Abubakar, NFF’s Head of Member Associations, explained: “Normalization Committees will be set up for Akwa Ibom, Nasarawa, Kogi and Kaduna States. All four States have failed to uphold the Statutes and the electoral code in their processes. Article 85 of the FIFA-approved NFF Statutes, under Unforeseen Contingencies and Force Majeure clearly stipulates that ‘the Executive Committee shall have the final decision on any matters not provided for in the Statutes or in cases of force majeure’.
“However, the NFF has decided to uphold the decision of the Edo State FA to pass a vote of no confidence on its chairman, Mr. Rowland Abu, and to have the vice chairman in the role of Ag. Chairman. He has been told to lead the charting of a roadmap to the conduct of free, fair and credible local football councils’ elections and subsequently, the FA executive committee elections.”
TopNewsng gathered that a monitoring committee set up by the NFF will be in Jos on Monday, 12 June 2023 to assess the current situation in the Plateau State Football Association, and subsequently take a decision on the swirling controversies in the FA’s situation.
A normalization committee was approved for Akwa Ibom State because elections were conducted in contravention of a court injunction, and subsequent advice by the NFF not to go ahead. The tenure of the executive committee had since elapsed on 23 May.
With regards to Nasarawa State, so-called elections were conducted into the FA executive committee without first conducting elections into the local football councils, and the identities of delegates were shrouded in secrecy. The tenure of the FA board had since expired on 27 May. The situation in Kogi State was similar, with the tenure of the Kogi State FA executive committee having expired on 28 May.
As for Kaduna State, the tenure of the board expired on 31 May without elections, either into the local football councils (which were dissolved nearly four years ago) or the State FA.
