NFF: Metamorphosing From A Federation To A Deadly Secret Cult

NFF; METAMORPHOSING FROM A FOOTBALL FEDERATION TO A DEADLY SECRET CULT By Niyi Busari ....Men have sold their conscience for poridge .... Pinnick has reduced members to dummies ..... What is fishing? We are about to take you on a ride, a ride that could throw you overboard. A ride that could end up revealing some of the dirtiest but most devilish happenings in Nigeria football. The present NFF board under Amaju Melvin Pinnick came into office on September 30, 2014. On that list of elected board members are eight northerners and four from the south west. Add the current NFF president Amaju Pinnick, then you have three from South South and two from the East to complete a list of 15 members of the current NFF executive committee. We really do not want to bore you with details that's is why we have refused to dwell on the fact that four members of the present executive committee were not elected, infact, they were carefully selected to further fortify a football dynasty gradually being put together by the former chairman of Delta state football commission, Amaju Pinnick. The four appointees are, Shehu Dikko; chairman of the league management company, Aisha Falode; chairperson of the Nigeria women's football league, Chidi Okenwa; chairman of the Nigeria National League and Mohammed Alkali; chairman of the Nationwide league, are gradually becoming kingpins of the Amaju Pinnick cabal. Among the four Aisha Falode is the only light weight after she was swept aside following her rather infamous role in the Issa Hayatou Vs Ahmad Ahmad CAF contest where she gave her loyalty to Hayatou and lost the better part of Pinnick's heart. Ever since then, she has been ridiculed and insulted in the line of duty. Only recently, she was reduced to vice chairman of the women's league committee, a position reserved for only executive committee members. How about that for a slap on the cheek? She has since taken that in her stride and have learnt to live on with it. Others like Shehu Dikko, Chidi Okenwa and Alkali have grown in limbs and bounds to command respect and fear among their contemporaries in the board based, largely on their growing influence and afluence. LMC chairman Shehu is the most powerful. Dikko who was stopped on controversial circumstances from participating in the September 30, 2014 election on the ground that he was a card carrying APC member has since swallowed his bitterness to become one of Pinnick's most trusted allies. They have formed a formidable partnership and are always together executing all the major deals in Nigeria football. Only recently, they tidied up sponsorship deals with AITEO, COCA COLA AND NIGERIA BREWERIES running into over eight billion Naira but questions remains as to why the monies from these contracts are going into a private account run by financial derivatives instead of the federation account, being that the NFF is a federal agency. What this means is that monies received from other sources apart from government doesn't undergo government scruitiny, which therefore goes against the idea behind the setting up of the TSA by government. Added to this, Pinnick and the gang are expecting no less than 12.5 million dollars which totals up to over 4billion Naira from FIFA. This amount is to cover preparation and participation of the Super Eagles at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. As if that is not enough, a proposal from the sports ministry is presently on the table of president Muhammadu Buhari, requesting for about 3.5billion Naira from the federal government to prosecute the 2018 World Cup starting June this year in Russia. Hopefully after the 2018 world cup in Russia, Pinnick and his board members should have no less than 2billion Naira as left over cash to share. Aware of the huge windfall ahead, greediness is gradually setting in as Pinnick and his kitchen cabinet have masterminded a game plan called the ELIMINATION BY SUBSTITUTION strategy. This strategy has since consumed it's first casualty, in Rivers state FA chairman Barrister Christopher Green who has been reduced to a passenger in a bus he laboured so hard to fill at takeoff. Green is the chief scapegoat, he has lost his place among Pinnick's key disciples but he is not one that will go down without a fight. He has surrendered himself for questioning and scruitiny by the anti graft agencies in Nigeria and as at the last count, Amaju Pinnick's files loaded with various allegations ranging from financial misappropriation, high level corruption and many more have littered offices of two anti graft agencies in Nigeria. Green is not relenting. He has vowed to fight on and he is daily recruiting sympathizers to his cause within and outside the board to ensure they fight Pinnick and the cabal to a standstill The height of the ridicule came when Green was removed as chairman of the NFF technical and development committee only recently because he refused to succumb to pressure to appoint Pinnick's anointed as coaches of the various National teams. Ahmed Yusuf Fresh who was assistant to Green soon took over and has bowed to the request of his masters with the recent appointment of six Hausa Muslims as chief coaches of the various youth teams. When the news of these appointments first leaked, Fresh was quick to deny the story, describing it as a figment of the imagination of a few jobless persons but as much as he tried to deny the list, the real truth has now sneaked out. It has been revealed that the list released recently is the official list, approved and signed by the NFF president who later ordered for it's withdrawal after the chairman senate committee on sports Obinna Ogba verbally attacked him over his refusal to include one of his recommended candidates on the list. Infact Ogba has threatened to stand as witness against Pinnick at the anti graft agencies where members are daily investigating allegations against the NFF boss. Scared after that telephone conversation, Pinnick immediately ordered Fresh to withdraw the list from circulation. This was what prompted that emergency interview with scorenigeria.com, an online publication. Despite that quick remedy, Ogba is still sad and has vowed to fight Pinnick with his last blood. As at the last count, the list of pinnick's adversaries is increasing by the day. A group consisting of three former NFF presidents, three former general secretaries of the football house and some disgruntled stakeholders met in Lagos to draw up strategies aimed at dislodging him as president of the football house. The plan if successful, will scuttle Pinnick's dream of leading Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. There is another plan orchestratrated by members of his executive committee and some unfavoured congress members to pass a vote of no confidence on him while the third plan is to throw Nigeria football into crisis with litigations littering the courts and leaving everyone in deep confusion. Whichever among these three strategies is employed, leaves us with one obvious reality which is, that the next few months leading to the World cup are showing serious signs of a bleak and uncertain future for Nigeria football. Who will survive the impending tsunami, only time will tell.