by Mark Bassey
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has been suspended by the world football governing body FIFA, for government interference.
A statement published on FIFA’s website on Wednesday, confirmed that its Emergency Committee reached the verdict because of a breach of its Statutes, as it concerns a member association independently running their affairs.
The statement stated that: “The suspension will be lifted once the properly elected NFF executive committee, the NFF general assembly and the NFF administration are able to work without any interference in their affairs.”
Last week, the Aminu Maigari-led board were sacked by a court that sat in Plateau and a NFF congress which confirmed his dismissal were warned by FIFA, but the NFF chose to go ahead and risk FIFA’s wrath.
The ruling class are dealing insult on our collective intelligence. They lead the way in organized stupidity and expect not just us Nigerians but also the international community to buy into their culture of impunity.
Now those who must pay the price are our young talents. The one step recorded in the last two years in our football, must now take four steps back.
Do you notice the pattern?
Step 1: The government gets a warning and/or threat of consequence regarding an issue.
Step 2: The warning is ignored
Step 3: The threat is followed through.
Step 4 Government responds to the consequence or ignore it where possible.
Examples: Boko, ASUU, Doctors, Polytechnics and now FIFA
Niger