ABUJA – Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo on Tuesday called on all parties involved in actions which led to Nigeria’s July 9 ban by FIFA to do the needful to ensure a reversal.
In a statement in Abuja by Patrick Omorodion, the Minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Danagogo made reference to Victor Baribote and those he called “the two rivaling factions of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA).
“Following the order of the Jos High Court against the NFA, the threat of FIFA to suspend Nigeria and the outcome of the fact-finding team sent to interface with FIFA, there is the need to act and ensure that there is no suspension,’’ it said.
The court order of July 2 had precipitated a chain of actions which had culminated in FIFA placing a temporary ban on Nigeria.
The suit was instituted by Ruth Baribote of Nembe City FC of Yenagoa, wife of Victor Baribote, a former NFA Second Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the then Nigeria Premier League (NPL).
Nembe City and Giwa FC of Jos were just before the commencement of the 2013/2014 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season suspended from participating in the competition.
The suspension was later reversed after some court orders and out-of-court settlement.
The Minister assured the plaintiffs in court, as well as “the aggrieved factions in the NFA’’ that government would stop at nothing to ensure that Nigeria was not suspended.
“Government will also stop at nothing to ensure that the NFA is thoroughly sanitised and the complaints of unbridled corruption and highhandedness by the NFA leadership is addressed,’’ the statement said.
It stated that Danagogo also said government would immediately set in motion machinery to ensure that the parties were persuaded to withdraw the case and the suspension was lifted [eap_ad_1] “Government will also encourage the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) to quickly activate the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS).
“This is necessary because the unending circle of disputes, court cases and FIFA suspension threats is caused by the fact that aggrieved parties in the NFA have nowhere to resort to for redress.
“FIFA has said it does not countenance with our national and municipal courts and there is no active Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS).
“This leaves aggrieved parties at the mercy of the NFA leadership who are the complainants, judge and jury against any member of the NFA who complains against any form of corruption and highhandedness.
“As such, cases are visited with bans and other forms of punishment contrary to the dictates of fair hearing and justice,’’ the statement said.
The NFF had earlier banned for 10 years Victor Baribote, and for 15 years Taiwo Ogunjobi, a former member of its board also.
The statement further quoted the minister as assuring that all the allegations of unbridled corruption over the years in the NFF would be thoroughly looked into and culprits brought to book.
“This is in view of the fact that FIFA also agrees that it abhors corruption, and we shall employ every machinery of government to ensure this.
“We want to assure Nigerians that the sole motive of government is to promote the game of football and ensure that sanity prevails in the management of government resources deployed for the promotion of sports.
“We believe that, at the end of the day, our sports in general and the game of football in particular will come out better and stronger.
“We therefore thank the Nigerian populace, the media, the football stakeholders and, indeed, the teeming sports lovers for their support and patience while this dispute persists,’’ the statement added.(NAN)[eap_ad_4]
