President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick
yesterday said the sole ambition of Chris Giwa and his group is to
destroy Nigerian football by getting Nigeria banned by world
football governing body, FIFA.
Pinnick who spoke in his office in Abuja regretted the reported
effort of Giwa and his group to forcefully take over the secretariat
of the football house last Friday.
According to the NFF boss, the action of the group who are laying claim to the leadership of the NFF just a day after a peace meeting with members of the House of Representatives on Sports, only shows how desperate they are for power.
He said the NFF under him will not do anything that is not legally binding adding that after subscribing to FIFA in 1960, she must have to respect the rules and regulations of the body.
“Let me say that what these people are doing is a major distraction. What they attempted to do is a misnomer because what they are parading does not even give them the power to come and forcefully take over the secretariat That action is very destructive and must not be condoned. We don’t want to go against FIFA Statutes but even at that we have taken an appeal
in a Nigerian civil court and I know that when you appeal, any issue at the lower court seizes to have life.
“Their aim is to destroy our football and prevent Nigeria from
qualifying for the 2018 world cup. I am sure while Nigerians were
happy that the Super Eagles defeated Mali and Luxemburg in the
friendly matches, they were not happy.”
Pinnick who was emphatic in his speech further warned that even
as he is still committed to the peace meeting called by the House Committee, added that he even accepted to be in that meeting because of the respect he has for the lawmakers because Giwa is already serving a ban.
“The House Committee in their wisdom called us to a meeting,
we spoke and I preach the gospel of Rule of Law. The House
gave us a timeline of 10 days to come out with what they think
should be the way forward but just the next day Giwa and his
group were to forcefully take over.
“I am not supposed to sit with Giwa in a football meeting
because he is under a ban. I don’t have the power to unban him,
the issue must go back to the Congress who may either pardon
him, reduce or even extend the ban. We were elected to serve for
a four year term which will end on September 30, 2018 and
nothing will change that and we will remain in office till then.”
Giwa and his group were reported to have stormed the NFF last
Friday, an action Pinnick described as an affront to all well
meaning Nigerians trying to make peace in the nation’s football.
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