‘Nothing has changed!’ – Dalung maintains Giwa is NFF president

Despite the reinstatement of the Amaju Pinnick-led board to the secretariat of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Abuja on Monday, Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung insists that nothing has changed in terms of the leadership of the football house.

Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) were at the Glass House on Monday to eject the Chris Giwa-led board, who had taken over leadership exactly three weeks ago following a directive from Dalung asking the Pinnick-led board to comply with the judgement of the Supreme Court.

DSS stormed the offices of the NFF, stating that they were working on instructions from above. But Dalung says President Muhammadu Buhari will not disregard court rulings as it concerns this tussle.

“What happened in the NFF is security excesses, but it will be sorted out,” Dalung said in a statement made available to the media.

“As far as I am concerned, nothing has changed. There is no development after the Supreme Court ruling of April 27, 2018 and the Federal High Court Order of 5th June 2018 because the court has not vacated the order,” the minister said.

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“Those who are presently trying to instigate confusion, using the name of the President must be aware that the President cannot go against the rule of law.

“The order issued by the court has not been vacated and the President cannot vacate a court order because there are clear cut processes of doing that.”

“We want to assure Nigerians that Government is sorting out the grey areas but nobody should drag the name of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria into this.

“The President is an advocate of the rule of law and he cannot be associated with the security excesses of a breach of the rule of law.

“The federal government is urging members of the public to remain calm as it is doing its best to resolve the crises in the Nigeria Football Federation.

“The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has already initiated a process of trying to bring the stakeholders together, to work out a road map out of this quagmire.

“The stakeholders’ meeting billed for Tuesday July 24, 2018 will still go ahead as planned.”

Meanwhile, the Amaju Pinnick-led board are currently occupying the NFF secretariat. It is yet to be known how the tussle, which began back in 2014 and almost cost Nigeria its membership among footballing nations under FIFA, will end.

But FIFA does not recognize the rulings of the ordinary court in football matters, neither does it condone government interference, hence Nigeria may still be banned if this confusion in NFF continues.

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