18th August, 2014
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, returned to the Secretariat of the NFF on Monday and pledged to work together with the entire Nigerian football family ahead of the coming elections into the NFF Executive Committee.
“There is no victor and no vanquished. We must all come together in the interest of the game. We are all adults and we must have differences, but I am happy that those differences are now in the past and we are now of the same accord,” Maigari said as he settled into his chair.
Maigari was on Thursday last week restored to office by the world football governing body, FIFA, after weeks of uncertainty at the Glass House, during which his members of Executive Committee said they had impeached him based on sundry allegations.
Last Friday, the Minister of Sports and Chairman, National Sports Commission, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, asked Maigari to go back to office, and the 58 –year old former school teacher arrived at the NFF Secretariat before noon on Monday.
He met Chief Mike Umeh, Shehu Adamu and Mr. Ayodeji Tinubu, some of his board members, in the office, and after hours of deliberation, Chairman of the NFF Media and Publicity Committee, Chief Emeka Inyama, disclosed that the board had come together once more and that the interest of Nigerian football had prevailed.
“We are one big family, as we have always been. There were disagreements and misunderstanding for a number of weeks, but FIFA has cleared the air and the government has weighed in on the side of FIFA.
“In the interest of the game in Nigeria, we have all resolved to bury our differences and rather work towards evolving a roadmap for the coming elections. There will be a meeting of the Executive Committee on Tuesday, 19 August,” Inyama said.
What is most likely to be on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is the issue of Super Eagles’ Head Coach, as the minutes tick speedily toward the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches.