The board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) led by Chris Giwa has finally bowed out in line with the FIFA recommendations and the court ruling over his continued stay in office.
FIFA has insisted on the leadership of Amaju Pinnick as the NFF board chairman which Giwa lays claim to, a development that almost led to Nigeria being sanctioned by the world international football body.
It was a moment of reflection for Giwa on the future of football in Nigeria, hence he had no choice than to commend President Muhammadu Buhari and the minister of sports and youth development, Solomon Dalung for sticking to the rule of law and giving him the opportunity to serve in the first place.
Giwa who spoke through his media aide, Victor Iroele Giwa in a statement said: “We want to sincerely thank and commend His Execellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, and the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung for standing by the rule of law, and defence of our constitution at all times.
“This has become necessary in the face of overt pressures, outright lies, falsehood, blackmail, intrigues, propaganda and orchestrated campaign of Calumny against the government, His Execellency President, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR and the Honorable Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung have stood on the path of our constitution and the rule of law.
“We want to appreciate and thank all those, who have stood by the country and its constitution in this whole crisis, and we want to remind everyone, once again, this fight is not about Ambassador Chris Giwa, but about the soul of our football and our constitution. This fight is not about the people of Plateau State and the rest of the country, as some people, have tried mischievously to skew the narrative in that direction.
“We want to restate once again that our constitution is our grand norm, denigrating our Supreme Court under whatever colouration is a big threat to our existence as a people and our democracy. We want to remind the government that we are the legally recognized board of the NFF based on the orders of the Federal High Court sitting in Jos, which was also affirmed by the Supreme Court on April 27,2018.
“It is in the light of these observations that we want to appeal to government through the Honorable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung not to release any funds to the Amaju Pinnick led board purportedly elected on September 30,2014 because the board does not exist in law. Releasing funds to them will amount to an exercise in illegality, which the honorable minister himself being a lawyer should know.”