FIFA, World football governing body, has given Nigeria a seven-day ultimatum to set its football house in order or be banned.
Amaju Pinnick and Chris Giwa who have been in and out of courts have continued to lay claim to the top job of running fooball in the country, a situation that has destabilised football in the country.
In a statement on Tuesday, FIFA gave Federal government up to Monday, 20 August 2018 to hand over the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) offices to the legitimate NFF executive committee under President Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who was duly elected on 30 September 2014, failure which the NFF will be suspended with immediate effect for contravening art. 14 par. 1 i) and art. 19, as well as art. 14 par. 1 a) of the FIFA Statutes.
It also went ahead to explain that should Nigeria fail to comply, the Super Falconets currently participating in the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in France will not be affected as the competition is already underway.
The statement read: “In line with art. 16 par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes, the Bureau of the FIFA Council decided that if by Monday, 20 August 2018, at 12:00 (CET), the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) offices are not handed back to the legitimate NFF executive committee under President Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who was duly elected on 30 September 2014, the NFF will be suspended with immediate effect for contravening art. 14 par. 1 i) and art. 19, as well as art. 14 par. 1 a) of the FIFA Statutes.
The suspension would be lifted only once the NFF, under President Amaju Melvin Pinnick and General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, confirms that it has been given back effective control of the NFF and its offices.
“Furthermore, the Bureau decided that if the suspension of the NFF takes effect, the Nigerian team currently competing in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup France 2018 will still be allowed to continue to participate in the tournament on an exceptional basis given that the tournament is underway.”
