I’ve Been Too Lenient With My Critics – NFF Boss

PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, may have resorted to a fire-for-fire approach against his critics following his declaration Friday that he had been too lenient with those who derive joy in heating up the football polity, calling him names and crying wolf where there is none.

  “The time has come for me to take legal action against some of these people because I have no skeleton in my cupboard. There are so many armchair critics seeking undue relevance in our football circle and we have to deal with them squarely,” Pinnick told The Guardian Friday.

  In particular, the NFF boss is angry over an online article titled: ‘The taxi driver who eats cheap football money’ in which he was labelled as (Pinnickgate).

  According to the report by www.gongnews.net, an Abuja based online publication, the NFF boss was portrayed as someone wasting public fund in the name of re-packaging Nigerian football.

  “This is getting too much. I read the online publication in which one Tunde Adelakun is said to be arranging foreign trips for me. The publication even tagged the capacity building, which the NFF is organising for the referees in London as a scandal (Pinnickgate).

   “The report said the visit by Nigerian referees to London was fixed by Adelakun, which is not true. I have instructed my legal team to take immediate action. The writer had been using his online publication to fabricate stories against me since I assumed office,” Pinnick said.

  In the online publication, it was reported that Adelakun sold the idea to Pinnick to leave his job schedule and take on the job schedule of the Super Eagles coaches scouting for Nigerians with foreign blood with their club managers.

  “Adelakun had to organise Amaju Pinnick to go on photo shoot with prominent English Premier League coaches, which the Nigerian media are helping to splash on their platforms. While the man is smiling to the banks having taken two sets of referees to a London suburb on private visits masqueraded as training tours, he took the NFF on tour of EPL coaches and club houses,” the report said.

  But Pinnick described the report as untrue. He buttressed his claim with an invitation letter from the English FA dated December 30, addressed to the British High Commission, Abuja. In the letter signed by the Head of International Relations English FA, Jane Bateman, the FA invited delegation of referees nominated by the NFF for a capacity-building and educational visit to London.