FIFA relaxes noose on Nigeria, says Adamu
By Kunle Solaja
THE cloud appears to be clearing over the problem the Nigeria FA is having with the world soccer regulating body, FIFA. Nigeria may escape the hang-man's noose after all. Amos Adamu, the Nigerian member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), said he had started a mediatory role which had seen him dialoguing with FIFA officials and the key officials of the Nigerian FA.
He is most likely to meet today with the Nigerian Minister of Sports, Musa Mohammed, a retired army colonel. Adamu said the problem the Nigerian FA was having with FIFA was such a simple one that mishandling of it made the issue to be blown out of proportion.
He said he had on behalf of CAF played such mediatory role in Kenya and that he was due to travel to Ethiopia and Zimbabwe on similar assignment.
"What the FIFA simply wants is that NFA's rule must be in line with FIFA's statutes.
"In simple term, the secretary general must be appointed by the board and must be accountable to the NFA board only.
"I explained and showed to the FIFA Secretary General, Urs Linsi, the letter of appointment issued to Taiwo Ogunjobi", said Adamu who heads the seven-man CAF's standing committee on ethics and fair play.
Ogunjobi's original letter of appointment was signed by Brig-General Dominic Oneya (rtd), who was the last NFA chairman just before the present board. "That solves the problem a long way since it was the board of the NFA that appointed Ogunjobi".
But along the line, Ogunjobi reportedly attempted to get the ministry of sports to absorb him as a member of staff and hence tilted towards the ministry in carrying out his day-to-day activities.
Surprisingly, the ministry was not keen on absorbing Ogunjobi. The initial set-back which the embattled secretary general had now appears to be his saving grace.
The sports minister who had planned to dissolve the NFA board and get the secretariat reorganised may get his fingers burnt as his actions run contrary to the words and spirit of Article 7 paragraph 1 and 2 of FIFA's Statutes and Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes.
Adamu was emphatic that FIFA's hammer will certainly descend on Nigeria should such action be taken.
FIFA, according to its statutes states that "the executive body of an association shall be appointed only by means of election within that association. The statutes of an association shall provide for an election procedure that guarantees complete independence of the electorate.
"The Federation (FIFA) shall not recognise the executive body of an association, even on an interim basis, if it has not been appointed in accordance with paragraph 1 above"
Further, should the sports ministry dissolve the NFA, such dissolution would not be recognised by FIFA. The relevant section of Article 7 reads: "Any decision taken by an outside body to suspend an association's executive shall not be binding on the federation."
On the contentious Decree 101 which most Nigerians are apprehensive of, Adamu said that all that was needed was for the National Assembly to abrogate the decree and nothing more.
"It is not the business of the National Assembly to enact laws for the NFA. Just like other associations in the country such as the NBA, the NMA and even SWAN formulate their own laws, the NFA members should be able to seat and formulate their laws", said Adamu.
He pointed out that Decree 101 of 1992 which was an amalgam of the decrees 10 and 11 of 1990 might have been ideal for the period it was enacted, "it is no longer ideal for the present dispensation".
"Even CAF is constantly reviewing its statutes and a new one was adopted this year. This is to bring the CAF laws to be in line with that of FIFA.
"The national associations are expected to do the same. When the Greek FA statutes were found to be defective, FIFA threatened and the Greeks quickly made amendments.
"So the FIFA stance is therefore not peculiar to Nigeria", added Adamu.
But Nigeria and indeed most African countries have a peculiar situation whereby football thrives mainly from government funding.
Adamu said that such situations are noted and that FIFA is not saying that governments should not fund football, but they should not control the day-to-day administration. The FA can render account to the government on financial transactions and that they may even indirectly influence those to get on board with unseen hands.
Such have been done before in the composition of the NFA through pseudo elections.
|
