NFF Officials Will Be In Jail Soon - Okoye

NFF Officials Will Be In Jail Soon - Okoye By Boluwaji Tosin Swedish retired referee, Chinedu Okoye, has said that some of the Nigeria Football Federation top officials will end up in jail by the time investigations into their alleged embezzlement and diversion of funds are concluded, BSN Sports reports. Okoye who stated this in an exclusive interview with BSN Sports correspondent on Friday, accused the Nigeria National League, NNL, officials of diverting funds generated from sales of the league slots into their private pockets. Mr Okoye who is the proprietor of Bimo FC based in Lafia, Nasarawa State, said the case of corruption against the management of the NNL is already before the Senate Committee on Sports adding that they have been invited but failed to honour the invitation. "When I reported the case to the Senate Committee on Sports, they invited them (NFF officials) but they said they were in Asaba for Super Eagles match." "So, we hope the Senate Committee will call the two parties and hear from both sides. By the time this is investigated, I know some of the NFF officials will end up in jail while some will be forced to retire from football." Explaining why the NFF officials are involved, Okoye said that despite several petitions written to the Ethics Committee of the NFF on match fixing, the committee has neither replied nor investigated the matter, adding that members of the NFF board are part of the fraud. "It's only in Nigeria that four people that called themselves cabals will create what they called slots, sell them and for 12.5 million naira for eight clubs and share the money among themselves and the NNL as well as the NFF are not saying anything." He insisted to follow the case headlong and if Senate Committee on Sports fail him, he is determined to take the case to FIFA. "We all know that football doesn't end here, if I didn't get a desirable judgement from the Senate Committee on Sports, then we will take the case to FIFA in Switzerland."