Time has come for change of FCT FA leadership – Group

A change of leadership at the FCT Football Association (FA) is highly needed now in order to restore football glory to the territory, a group announced on Tuesday in Abuja.

The group which tagged itself “Movement for change in FCT FA’’ said through its Coordinator, Chuks Ijeomah, that much rot has set into football at all levels in the FCT.

“It is unbelievable, yet it is a fact that much development has not been seen in the football sector in the territory for some time now. Now, we need to stem that tide.

“We need to take FCT football back to the days when we had as chairman the likes of Sani Lulu Abdullahi, who went on to become the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), and Emmanuel Attah.

“Then, we went far and football activities thrived in the FCT, our administrators grew in number, coaches and players increased and brought back laurels.

“However, in the past eight years we have had a leadership which has not brought about any form of development,’’ Ijeomah who is popularly known as “Gaddhafi’’ told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

He lamented the fact that football in the FCT even went to the lowest level of not having the national team matches played in Abuja again.

“It became so bad that apart from not having local football matches in the Area Council headquarters such as Bwari, Kuje, Kwali and Abaji, not even the national teams are playing here in Abuja.

“And it is not the job of the NFF to push for this (national team matches being played in Abuja) but that of the FCT FA.

“That is what previous administrations did, and that is what the present administration should have done,’’ Ijeomah said.

Ijeomah, who was Coordinator of the Golden Eaglets team to the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in South Korea, said the upcoming FCT FA elections present an opportunity for change.

“We have begun a search for new leaders because we as stakeholders cannot continue to fold our hands and allow things to go worse.

“We know what used to obtain here before, in the days of Lulu, Attah and Ben Agarry as FCT FA Chairmen, and that is what has made many people to stay and play football here or invest our time and resources,’’ he said.

“We need to have a change of guard. The incumbent, Musa Talle, as well as the like of Godwin Bamigboye who is another aspirant to the position, do not appeal to us.

“The incumbent, who was there as First Vice-Chairman for six years and has had eight years as Chairman, does not have the capability and cannot make the needed impact.

“He does not deserve a return, and I feel it is not right for him to be allowed to continue,” he said.

Ijeomah said Mohammed Abba Mouktar, the Chairman and owner of FC Heart of Abuja, deserves a shot at the office in view of his pedigree and achievements.

“Abba Mouktar is somebody we are laying our hopes on for now, because we know that he can do it with all he has done in the football world.

“He has been part of football development in the FCT for the past 22 years, helping with the growth of the game at all levels. He is even qualified in all ramifications and has paid his dues,” he said.