The House of Representatives on Tuesday blamed the Minister for Youth and Sports, Barr Solomon Dalung for the raging crisis engulfing the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
The House Committee on Sports could not comprehend why the Minister continues to stoke the fires of disunity despite the clear stand of world football governing body, FIFA, the highest sports arbitration body in the world – Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS, and stakeholders in Nigerian football who have all continued to recognise the Amaju Pinnick-led board as the bonafide football authority in the land.
During an interactive session in Abuja, Dalung stunned the lawmakers by continuously asking the Pinnick board to accommodate some members of the Chris Giwa group in their Executive Committee.
Vanguard reports that the lawmakers were scandalised when Dalung submitted that Pinnick should have admitted at least four members of the Giwa group into his board, a process that could only happen through election during congress.
Honourable Asabe Vilita Bashir, representing Gwoza/Chibok Federal Constituency from Borno State told Dalung to his face that his plan to coerce into an elected body those who didn’t win election was tantamount to promoting corruption.
She wondered why the minister would be making a case for an elected body to accommodate those who did not win election, arguing that any such coercion was tantamount to corruption which the APC abhors. Also, members of the Goni Bukar-led House Committee saw the minister’s partisanship and sympathy for Chris Giwa as fueling the recent leadership crisis in Nigerian football.
Deputy Chairman of House Committee on Sports, Rep Anayo Nnebe toed the line of his colleagues.
“As far as I am concerned, NFF is led by Pinnick, he is the authentic president of the football ruling body.”
The House Committee threatened sanctions if the minister persisted with actions that could derail the development of sports in the country.
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