IBIDAPO-OBE, ONYEDINMA, INYAMA PART 2

There is more confusion coming into the annals of Nigerian football. I want to state clearly that the John Ola-Mafo Appeals Committee did not read the NFF Statutes upon which she based her decisions quashing the election of Emeka Inyama and Dilichukwu Onyedinma. They have only brought new levels of confusion into the fray.

CONFUSION NUMBER 1:

The verdict delivered by the former Commissioner for Sports in Ondo State, John Ola Mafo, as head of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Appeals Committee, which states that the decision of the appeals committee is final is to me a bold misnomer. Where will the NFF under the leaderships of Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Lulu and Aminu Maigari have gotten their own rules?

Inyama and Onyedinma can call for the setting up of an arbitration tribunal to review the verdict  of the Ola-Mafo Committee. That is why the Professor Ibidapo-Obe Committee that destroyed Davidson Owumi’s election becomes important.

CONFUSION NUMBER 2:

See Article 17 of the Election Guideline and Article 12 of the NFF Electoral Code. According to the Article 17, “All appeals must be heard and concluded within seven days of the filing of the appeal.”

Ola-Mafo’s committee sat 25 days after the receipt of the petition by the secretariat of the NFF, thereby sitting contrary to clear guidelines. Methinks this anomaly has a backlash.

CONFUSION NUMBER 3:

I also went back to read the said Article 33 (3) and (4) of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Statutes cited by the appeal committee.

According to the Article 33 (3), it states that “every candidate for the post of President (of the NFF) must be nominated by his state FA of origin and endorsed by three members of NFF from three other geo-political zones.” This definitely does not and could not have been the issue with the three league elections.
Article 33 (4) states “the first vice-president and the other eight ordinary candidates must be nominated by their state FA of origin and endorsed by two members of NFF from two other geo-political zones.”

How does that concern elections into the league boards? It applies strictly to the 10 NFF executive board members. However, one big error committed by the committee is not reading article 33 (1) in tandem where the 10 executive committee members were specified?