Current NFF crisis inimical to growth, says Laloko

Former Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Kashimawo Laloko, has described Friday’s verdict by a Jos High Court nullifying Amaju Pinnick’s 2014 election as NFF president as capable of burying the nation’s football.

A group, led by Chris Giwa-led, whose earlier case was thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last year, was on Friday pronounced the rightful administrators of Nigerian football based on a polls purportedly conducted shortly after the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, Laloko said he wondered why such a case should be brought back at a period when the nation was still smarting from the inability of the Super Eagles to qualify for the Gabon 2017 African Nations Cup.

“Why would a decision like that be taken at a period when all seems not to be well with our football? The same Giwa held series of meetings and later agreed to allow the Amaju-led NFF to continue in office so that the country’s football can move forward. Now his decision to get a court verdict on what we had put behind us before, will make more difficult the country’s football, which is already in pieces.

“The same Giwa knows that no civil court is allowed to entertain football matters. If FIFA is saying that the election that brought in the Amaju Pinnick-led presidency is acceptable, so why would anybody think differently?” he queried.

Reacting to belief in some quarters that Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, is the one backing the Giwa group, the former Gambia coach, said: “I do not think that the Sports Minister would do a thing like that. At least, I remember that when the minister came on board, he tried to settle the rift between the two factions.