Ousted NFF committee chairman’s, Pinnick’s face-off deepens

In what appears a fruitless battle, a member of one of the standing committees dissolved by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on November 3 is staging a fight against the federation’s president, Amaju Pinnick over the ‘juicy’ position.

The NFF Executive Committee dissolved its standing committees, including the Development and Technical Committee, Finance, Internal Audit, Organising Committee, Legal, Referees, Committee on Women’s football, Youth football committee, Futsal and Beach soccer committee, Media and Publicity Committee among others.

The NFF had since named chairmen and vice chairmen for the various committees with a promise to fill the remaining positions soon.

The Guardianlearnt yesterday that one of the ousted chairmen, who hails from the South-south region (names withheld), is staging a war against Pinnick with a declaration never to relent until he is reinstated to his former position.

A source close to the NFF secretariat told The Guardian yesterday that the man has written series of ‘flippant’ petitions against the NFF boss with the aim of arm-twisting Pinnick to reinstate him to his previous ‘juicy’ committee.

“We know him for his antics and petition writing against fellow board members,” one NFF top official told The Guardian yesterday. “He has been working against the NFF in various ways and he was part of the reasons the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the last African Nations Cup in Gabon. He was even lucky to have stayed so long as a committee chairman in that committee.”

Contacted yesterday, NFF President, Pinnick refused to speak on the alleged battle, but he said the decision to dissolve the standing committees was done in the interest of Nigerian football.

“Our major focus for now is how to give the Super Eagles good preparation for the World Cup in Russia next year, and I expect all football-loving Nigerians to think in that direction instead of looking for a way to foment trouble within the football family. I will always do my best to make Nigerian football a big brand in the world,” Pinnick stated.