Abuja – Godfrey Gaiya, Chairman of JZ United Football Club, on Monday said the decision of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on the governing boards of the country’s lower leagues was unfair.
Gaiya told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the decision to appoint independent members onto the three leagues’ governing boards was retrogressive and inimical to football growth.
“The statutes of the NFF was clear on how to select members of governing boards for the leagues,’’ he said.
NAN recalls that NFF’s ad hoc committee on restructuring the leagues had submitted that the federation would appoint some of the members of the leagues’ governing boards.
Gaiya said such appointments meant taking the league and football as a whole in Nigeria many steps backwards.
He said it was ironical that it was the same NFF that was asserting its autonomy at its own level that was now dabbling into what was happening in the leagues.
“Everywhere in the world, football is supposed to be a democratic enterprise where you open your doors for people to elect people to govern them.
“The Nationwide League One (NLO) board is an independent board made up of club owners. So, for the NFF to appoint independent members onto that board it means we are going back to the era of imposition.
“The NFF is supposed to allow the club owners to select who they think will best take care of their aspirations.
“But when you appoint somebody who may not have the interest of the league at heart, it will be counter-productive,’’ the former member of the House of Representatives said.
Gaiya who was a former Chairman of the House Committee on Sports expressed optimism that his Kafanchan-based clubside would put up a better performance this season.
He said the club’s management was doing all its possible best to make its players comfortable this season.
NAN reports that the NLO 2015/2016 season will kick off on June 4.(NAN)
