Fashikun drags Blatter, Valcke to FIFA ethics committee

The complained fake signature of Blatter

*Over forged letter

Nigerian journalist, Olajide Fashikun, has officially complained against Messrs Joseph Sepp Blatter and Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s President and Secretary General to FIFA’s Ethics Committee on the alleged forged letter from the world soccer governing body.

Fashikun in his letter dated 3^rd November 2011 petitioned the FIFA ethics committee chairman, Claudio Sulser, to open an inquest into the allegation involving the forging of the signature of Mr. Blatter and the one written by Valcke to confirm the authenticity of the forged document.

According to the former Zamalek SC handball and Nigerian ex-international, “On the 14^th September, 2010, Mr. Joseph Sepp Blatter as the President of FIFA wrote the Nigerian FA {known and called severally as the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF)} congratulating Mr. Aminu Maigari on the victory at the August 2010 controversial election. In the said letter, Mr. Blatter irregularly signed his own signature. This letter was hidden. The NFF pleaded the same in a court of law.”

Blatter's signature on 2010 World Cup doc

He added, “The irregularity on that letter which when I compared it to 18 other documents where he signed on correspondences and agreements since when he was the FIFA Secretary General and when he became FIFA President (three of which I attach herewith), he has been very consistent. The FIFA letter in question has created room for my life to be threatened and legal suits to be used to threaten my person, family and occupation. In view of the following, Mr. Blatter by his conduct in the said letter has portrayed Nigeria and its people as forgers. This is in the light of three other documents which I had investigated in the past and published on allegations that they were forged.”

Sample of Blatter real signature

The former El-Kanemi FC of Maiduguri attacker charged against Blatter saying: “For Mr. Blatter to have deliberately irregularly signed his own signature and misleading my journalistic sense of rationalization, I am injured. My integrity as a professional is at stake. For Mr. Jerome Valcke to have written and signed another letter dated 2^nd November 2011 to cover the initial one signed by Mr. Blatter, I feel opened to greater challenges of my integrity as an investigative reporter. This is in view of the grave ethical breaches by senior FIFA officials who these letters show are not transparent. What is the business of Mr. Jerome Valcke writing the NFF on a letter he did not originate, sign or know its existence or and authenticity.”

Rationalizing his decision, Fashikun submitted, “the matter based on my publications has led to criminal investigation, arrest, detention and bail of the members of the NFF by the Nigeria Police. The report of this Police action is published in several local, regional and international media organizations. My newspaper and blog publications were alleged to have been tendered by officials of the NFF claiming they will be heading to court for libel and defamation of character. That I am not afraid to defend. FIFA and football administration worldwide must be transparent.”

The three-page petition offered “I demand that the Ethics Committee should urgently and thoroughly investigate these issues against Messrs Blatter and Valcke. Their conducts, if found to be true, should lead to their being sent out of FIFA. They do not deserve to remain in office a day longer than necessary. If the Ethics Committee does not carry out this investigation, it will continue to haunt Nigerian football and endanger the future of the kids of this country that look to football as a source of joy and employment. The professionals whose lives radiate around football will also be at a great risk. It is in the best interest for football, Nigerian football that this investigation must be undertaken.”

Report of the fake letter

News of the fake letter

Describing the forged letters in question, he wrote: “My age-long investigations has shown clearly the crooked English language used in the fake letters complained against unlike the seamless and business-minded nature of letters originating from the FIFA headquarters. In essence, one marked difference I want the Ethics Committee to take notice of is the construction of the language of the FIFA letters generated wherever.”

His submission was tailed at the fact that, “the offences that Dr. Amos Adamu, Bin Hamman, Jack Warner, Slim Aloulou etc were alleged to have committed for which they were slammed with various punishment terms are, in my own candid opinion, not as grievous as this, which has meant that FIFA is an organization that involves in destroying Nigerian football and several cases of forgeries and signature and document facsimilisation.”

The letter Fashikun complained against is dated 14^th September, 2010 alleged to have been written to congratulate the Aminu Maigari board after the controversial election of August 2010, which was a subject of a court decision.