Fifa Gives Nigeria Ultimatum

FIFA has directed the Nigerian government to "cancel" its decision to suspend its national team from international competitions for two years or face a possible sanction.

This follows a decision by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to suspend the national team from participating in international competition for two years following their poor showing at the World Cup in South Africa.

FIFA spokesperson Nicolas Maingot told reporters on Friday that a letter had been sent to the Nigerian government calling on them to withdraw the decision until Monday, when a FIFA delegation is scheduled to visit that country for mediation efforts.

He said a delegation will be sent to Nigeria to mediate on the conflict between government and the national football association.

"I can confirm that FIFA has sent a letter to the government of Nigeria to cancel the decision to suspend their national team until Monday when a FIFA delegation visits the country. Failure to do that may lead to the suspension of NFA (Nigerian Football Association)," Maingot said.

Does FIFA know how much the Nigerian government spends (wastes) on football annually? Does it know that the NFA refuses to democratise its operations?

FIFA hid behind its fingers, refusing to admit that Decree 101 that ran Nigerian football from 1992 and still exists as a Nigerian law was interference. In summary, this law says the Minister of Sports has the final say in administration of football in Nigeria.

It might just be the law that the Minister of Sports could rest on in effecting the changes that the Federal Government want in Nigeria football. FIFA lived with this law for 18 years and cannot suddenly reject it.

Concerned Nigerians cried to FIFA about this. The same Sepp Joseph Blatter, whether as Secretary-General or FIFA President knew about Decree 101. What did he do then?

Talks of FIFA banning Nigeria or expelling it from football have been on the lips of corrupt, incompetent and lazy football administrators whose only response to charges that they should lead the country through better standards has been to wave the FIFA ban as if this country cannot survive without football.

Would FIFA say it has not received complaints that the State Football Associations in Nigeria are not elected but appointed contrary to Article 21 (5) of the NFA Statutes.

According to Article 21 (5), “State Executive Committee: a) Each State Football Association shall be composed of twelve (12) persons, four (4) elected from each senatorial district made up as follows: Chairman, 2 Vice Chairmen, 9 Ordinary Members b) All the above officers shall be elected at the Annual General Assembly of the State Football Association”.
No State meets these criteria as State FAs are appointed, not elected, and do not reflect the geo-political and democratic opportunities of the NFA Statutes. The NFA Board which FIFA recognises, apparently based on the Statutes, is inherently illegal. Complaints to FIFA about these matters are ignored, probably an indication of the opaque way FIFA operates.

Corruption and a huge does of incompetence have ruined Nigerian football. FIFA encouraged the ruination of Nigerian football over the years by refusing to pay attention to the complaints that flowed regularly into its offices in Zurich. Its concern over Nigeria, in this instance, is that a proper investigation of the comatose state of the game in Nigeria would indict FIFA.

Right from the cases of over-aged players that NFA officials promote, to the scandals of thefts and undemocratic tendencies, FIFA would issue warnings that government was interfering.

By our laws, the Nigerian government can ask the NFA to account for public money it spends. FIFA calls this interference. The $8 million earned for qualifying for the World Cup is not NFA’s money, it belongs to Nigerians who expect that the NFA should account for it. FIFA also sees this as interference.

Nigeria's football federation (NFF) Sunday overhauled its leadership and apologized for the poor state of its national team in a last-minute bid to reverse a directive suspending it from international matches.