The committee to elect new officers into the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may be dissolved, if the latest move by the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN) sees the light of day.

The NFF election is fixed for September 30 in Benin City, Edo State, but PFAN wants the chairman of the electoral committee, A.A Malik (SAN) to resign, alleging that he is a personal lawyer and friend to NFF President, Amaju Pinnick.

In a letter titled ‘The Farce In NFF Electoral Committee,’ signed by the Deputy General Secretary PFAN/Secretary Project 2022 Task Force, Comrade Edema Fuludu, the footballers body said: “The PFAN Project 2022 Task Force has uncovered the concept of ‘I will not interfere but I will intervene’ and therefore asks the chairman of the NFF Electoral Committee, A.A Malik (SAN), to resign his appointment forthwith, as a managing partner, as well as Head of Oil and Gas and Dispute Resolution teams in the law firm of Alegeh & Co.”

According to Fuludu, who is a member of the Super Eagles squad that won the African Cup of Nations at Tunisia ’94, Austin Alegeh (SAN), who is a founding partner of Alegeh and Co., is a personal lawyer and friend to Pinnick.

“Secondly, one Barrister Robinson Ariyo, a member of the NFF electoral committee, is a lawyer to the Warri Traditional Council and Amaju Pinnick’s brother. Both of them should resign on the grounds of conflict of interest.

“This is unethical and therefore unacceptable. They have 72 hours from the date of this publication to do so or the Task Force will petition the appropriate authorities, (1) FIFA, (2) NFF Congress, (3) Minister of Sports and (4) The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA),” Fuludu stated. Efforts to speak with Malik and Ariyo on the issue were unsuccessful yesterday.

MEANWHILE, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has acknowledged receipt of a notification filed by a Kano-based Nigerian sports writer, Abdulgafar Oladimeji, seeking to file a dispute against the NFF.

Oladimeji’s lawyer, Yusuf Abdulsalam of Bright Attorneys, wrote in a letter to CAS, dated August 15, 2022, that his client “is desirous of challenging and consequently causing the reversal of the decision of the NFF to choose the Nigerian representative in the CAF Confederation Cup 2022/2023 through a means that clearly violates the laid down procedure for the selection of such a representative.

The letter added: “We have been briefed that NFF’s action has visibly caused a disruption in an ongoing competition, which was supposed to culminate in the selection of the Nigerian representatives.±”

“We were also briefed that NFF’s action has equally caused disharmony in the football circle in Nigeria, the same way it has caused disillusion among football fans and sports writers.

“We submit this notification to CAS as an obligation before the main dispute could be heard.

“We, therefore, seek CAS leave for our client to proceed with the action. CAS secretariat replied days after, acknowledging “your below email of August 15, 2022 and the attached letter of the same date, and understand that you are writing with respect to potentially filing a case at CAS. I also note in this regard that you have requested access to the CAS E-filing Platform in order to file your case.”

The court informed him of the need to initiate an appeal arbitral proceeding, inclusive of “the complete statement of appeal and other sundry requirements.”