Danger looms as cold war between Dalung and NFF deepens News

Navigation: Home / News / News / Danger looms as cold war between Dalung and NFF deepens

Danger looms as cold war between Dalung and NFF deepens

By Victor Enyinnaya, Lagos on August 12, 2016

A former executive committee member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Gara Gombe Ahmed, has observed that the NFF under Amaju Pinnick has in recent times, especially after the visit of FIFA President, Gianni Infantino developed renewed sense of arrogance and disregard for the Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung.

He made the observation recently in an interview, adding that he would, to a large extent, blame the Youths and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung who he described as slow, unserious and indifferent to firmly checkmate the excesses of the NFF and its leadership.

“The minister as far as I know has more than sufficient evidence, reasons and powers to effectively call the leadership of the body to order, but he has failed to do so. If you put the mistakes committed by Barrister Dalung who we all know is coming from a non-sporting background side by side with the ones committed by NFF leadership who claim to be real stake holders and managers of our football, leaders of the apex football governing body by now would have either been on their way to the prison or are already in prison and to put it bluntly at most out of office so that Nigerian football will excel,” he explains.

According to the former Gombe State Football Federation chairman, the executive committee has succeeded in turning the tide of public outrage against the Youths and Sports Minister when the federation deliberately fuelled the U-23 Eagles mix up when they were in the US camp building up for the ongoing Rio Olympic Games.

“Following the raging controversies, accusations and counter accusations that have culminated into deteriorating relationship between the NFF and its supervising minster in the last few months, I am compelled to share my thoughts with Nigerians and my other friends on social media.”

Gombe alleged that majority of the media houses have been on the federation's welfare manifest as they true to type quickly and clearly did not fail to deliver with their usual sentimental reports on the then controversial movement of the U-23 Eagles team to the Rio Games.

“From what has been playing out so far, it is either NFF will consume the minister or he will consume NFF. It is however, my strong belief that Barrister Dalung has a more formidable platform, authority and in more vintage zone to enforce proper supervision on NFF than the apex football governing body has against him. Fact is, Amaju renewed his usual disobedience to the minister after FIFA President’s visit,” he insists.

He claims the NFF as far as he knows has majority of the media, FIFA and perhaps some gullible Nigerians as backers, otherwise how would one explain or imagine our back to back absence in AFCON, U-20 ouster by Sudan, the Olisehgate, the Dankarogate, the Zenith Bankgate, the Stephen Keshi and Shauibu Amodu maltreatment by the Pinnick Amaju’s NFF. The Nike sponsorship scams, all fizzled out in a matter of days and so have been speedily forgotten.

He regrets that it’s rather sad that it was the unfortunate late departure of U-23 Eagles from Atlanta to Rio that dominated traditional media and the social media which entirely placed the supposedly NFF responsibility on the door step of Dalung.

“I must also express my pity for the media team of the Minister and imagine what they have been passing through, their boss is on one planet, they are on the other, and their professional colleagues are on the other divide deceiving the unsuspecting Nigerian sports followers that depend solely on media reports to form their opinion. NFF has deep pocket when it comes to molding opinion against a perceived opponent. We always like to blindly blame and also refuse to look, think deeply and learn but prefer to deceitfully point at the direction where the problems did not start from. We cannot continue this way,” he emphatically says.

•Photo shows Sports Minister Solomon Dalung.

Source Daily Sports

Posted August 12, 2016