FIFA to ban Nigeria Sept 8

. Eagles AFCON ticket in jeopardy
. Insists on Maigari as President

World soccer ruling body, FIFA yesterday declared that Nigeria would be suspended indefinitely from all its activities if by Monday, 8 September, 2014 the Giwa-led board of the NFF remains in the Glass House.

FIFA’s decision came on the heels of an emergency committee meeting held in Zurich early this week, where the Nigerian football crisis was discussed.

FIFA in a letter emailed to NFF scribe, Musa Amadu stated that Nigeria will be suspended with immediate effect should there still be persons pretending to have been elected to NFF positions on 26 August, 2014 and occupying their offices on Monday, 8 September, 2014 at 08.00 (Central European Time).

The decision followed events linked to the NFF general assembly held on 26 August 2014. While the said general assembly was duly convened by the NFF Executive Committee to adopt a new road map leading to the NFF elections, some members proceeded to hold elections in the absence of the NFF president, who was being held by security forces for questioning.

In a letter sent on 29 August 2014, FIFA confirmed that it would not recognize the results of the aforementioned elections and that the matter would be brought to the respective FIFA bodies should there still be persons claiming to have been elected and occupying the NFF offices at midnight on 1 September 2014. On expiry of the deadline, some people were still claiming to have been elected and were occupying the NFF premises.

Given the current circumstances, the FIFA Emergency Committee decided to set a new deadline of 8 September 2014 at 08.00 CET. Should the new deadline not be respected, the NFF will be automatically suspended.

The FIFA letter yesterday stated in part: “Until the board claiming to be elected vacates the premises of the NFF and the NFF General Secretary is able to perform his work without interference. The NFF Executive Committee as it was composed on 25 August 2014, meaning under the presidency of Aminu Maigari, should then convene as soon as possible a first extraordinary general assembly to elect the members of the electoral committee and a second extraordinary general assembly in the shortest time possible allowed by law to proceed with the elections of new NFF office-bearers.”

Given the current situation, the Super Eagles campaign for the AFCON 2015 qualifying series seems in jeopardy, unless the FIFA directive is adhered to. The Super Eagles head to South Africa on Monday for the encounter against the Bafana Bafana in Johannesburg on September 10.