Vice-Chairman of NFF Organization and Disciplinary Committee, Iyke Leo Igbokwe has warned against anybody from South-South emerging in the forthcoming elections into the League Boards.
Addressing the press in Abuja over the weekend, Igbokwe pointed out that with the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick of the South-South extraction alongside Bar. Chris Green, the issue of having another person from the zone in the board was foreclosed.
“We have an unwritten rule guiding the NFF election that in view of perfecting Article 33 of the NFF statutes, any zone that produces the NFF President can only have one other member in the Executive Board. This rule clearly says that the composition of the Executive Board must be done in line with the provisions of federal character principle of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he said.
He continued; “This agreement was reached in order to make other zones feels that they belong to the Nigerian football family which is the zones’ constitutional right since Nigeria as a country belongs to all zones. The rule was so adhered to by the Aminu Maigari board that the North East Zone produced only one Executive Board member in the president Maigari”.
He cautioned the NFF Congress against tampering with the rules governing elections into the Board.
“The NFF Congress under Article 23 of the NFF statutes has sweeping powers to amend the statutes but it must be in line with the Federal Character. So anything the Congress of the NFF will be doing at the AGM must follow Article 33 of the NFF statutes which respects the federal character provisions.
“With that provision, it is very clear that a zone cannot produce the NFF president, produce another board member and go ahead to produce a board member through the leagues when other zones have only one member. A zone can’t produce the NFF president and still produce the chairperson of one of the leagues. It is not acceptable”.
He was not finished; “Whoever is packaging Aisha Falode for the Nigeria Women Football League Chairperson should know that she cannot do so through South-South Zone because that zone doesn’t have any remaining quota in the NFF Board.
“In these particular elections into the League Boards, we are advising and warning that they should do the right thing and ensure that all the six geo-political zones have a sense of belonging in the football family. We will vehemently oppose anything to the contrary. We cannot allow them bend the rules to favour a particular candidate”.
