Buhari Did Not Ask Pinnick To Take Over NFF...Minister of Youth and Sports

Buhari Did Not Ask Pinnick To Take Over NFF'...... Minister of Youth And Sports By Admin The crisis in the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation has taken another dimension as the Minister for Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung has denied widespread claims that president Muhammadu Buhari had given directives for the Amaju Pinnick to resume office as president of the NFF. The Pinnick board had taken over the Glass House on Monday the 23rd, and a statement by the board’s spokesperson, Ademola Olajire had thanked president Buhari for his ‘directive that has ensured a peaceful resolution of a long –drawn leadership tussle in the football body’. And in the same week, a letter dated July 20,, 2018, and signed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami had asked Dalung to ‘refrain from making further public statements’ on the matter, citing a ‘directive’ from President Buhari. However, in his own correspondence to Malami, Dalung questioned if such directives had actually come from Nigeria’s Commander-In-Chief. The letter, dated July 24th, 2018 and seen by FCNaija, reads in part: “Mr. President always communicates with me directly and has no reason for recourse to sending a directive to me on a subject that is under my purview through a fellow minister. “Mr. President is a strong advocate and uncompromising adherent to the rule of law and therefore would not issue a directive that would clearly be at variance with his well-known position on this.” In the same letter, Dalung went further to insist the latest letter from Malami is a ‘flagrant contradiction’ of the previous letters he has received from the AGF on the same matter. “The letter, especially the advice to parties to maintain the status quo ante, is also a flagrant contradiction of your last two letters to my Ministry on the crisis in the NFF and court orders on the matter,” another part of the letter reads. The legal tussle between Chris Giwa and Amaju Pinnick over who the authentic president of the NFF is has since reached the Supreme Court, with the apex judicial body affirming the orders of the High Court granting recognition to Giwa while nullifying Pinnick’s emergence, pending when the motion on notice is determined