Owumi can return to his job – NFA

*suspends Lulu, Ogunjobi, Uchegbulam

Owumi...sack upturned by NFA

 The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) led by Jarret Tenebe has lifted the sack of the chairman of the Nigeria Professional league, Davidson Owumi, while suspending the troika of Alhaji Sani Lulu, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi and Amanze Uchegbulam from all football matters pending their current criminal trial in court. According to the communiqué at the end of their board meeting which took place in Abuja, the return of Owumi read verbatim: “That all decisions of the illegal Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) under the aegis of Alhaji Aminu Maigari including that of the General Assembly in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state are founded on illegal foundation given the judgment of Justice Okon Abang’s court, and as a result are all illegal, null and void;

The pre-election impeachments of messrs Sani Lulu, Amanze Uchegbulam and Taiwo Ogunjobi as reversed by the Uyo General Assembly was ruled by the meeting to be illegal by virtue of the illegality of the NFF which acted ultra vires and thus, is upheld. They remain impeached;

The statement submitted that the trio of messrs Sani Lulu, Amanze Uchegbulam and Taiwo Ogunjobi are suspended from all matters of football in the country until such a time they are through and cleared from the criminal trial they are presently facing before a competent court of law as being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC);

Other decisions include the affirmation that, “the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) is, remains and shall be known as the ONLY custodian to manage the game in the country legally, by statute and by moral reasons until such a time that fresh, credible, reliable and sensible elections are undertaken in accordance to the Act of parliament that set up the NFA;

They added that, hence, every child in Nigeria, male and female, able and disabled, shall as of right be entitled to be trained in the game to aspire to a wonderful future, full of expectation and professional support to be who they want to be and to make the  administration of the game more open, engaging, democratic and fight corruption at all levels and at all times.

The statement added that, “we observe that the decision involving the appointment of coach Samson Siasia was the decision that the generality of the Nigerian public foisted on the NFF, because they would not have appointed him in the first instance, we shall in due time, affirm the appointments and modify the contracts to make him fully be in control of the senior national team as well as, freely relate with the media unlike the hostile current contract he has;

We call on the National Sports Commission (NSC) to hence stop funding the activities of the illegal NFF since that will contravene the laws of the land;

The NFA board‘s decision include “We shall officially write all financial institutions in the country not to continue to deal with the NFF because by any law of the land, they do not have a legal personality that can sue or be sued and as a result do not qualify to have such banking or other dealings;

They also promised to write to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to investigate all the banks that had dealings with the NFF on how the illegal NFF met the requirements to undertake banking relations since they do not have such legal documents that would have qualified them in the first instance;

According to the communiqué, “We condemn the irresponsible conduct of one of Alhaji Aminu Maigari’s aide, Tunde Aderibigbe, who attacked the person of our First Vice Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Gara-Gombe, at the Nigeria-Argentina match in Abuja on the 1^st June 2011 in Abuja. We have reported the matter to the police and call for a speedy investigation and prosecution of the alleged culprit to serve as deterrence to other dissidents.

They thanked Nigerians who have “increasingly appreciated the just cause for Nigerian football which we represent who are identifying with us and our vision for the game. We are sincerely surprised by the quantity and quality of such persons. We shall not disappoint you all.

Restating their position, they wrote, “this interim committee shall in due course let all Nigerians know the transition programme and set in motion all the committees that shall deliver these tasks to the glory of God, Nigeria and the children whose future has guided our decisions at all times.”