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| Keshi: His "mafia" days are back again? |
FIFA has banned Nigeria from all international football activities with immediate effect as a result of interference from the government.
The world football governing body had in a letter dated July 4, 2014 demanded for the immediate reinstatement of the ousted Aminu Maigari-led board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) which was cynically removed by the Minister of Sports, Tamuno Danagogo, in line with a dubious order from a High Court in Jos.
FIFA has disapproved of the appointment of Lawrence Katken as Acting Secretary-General of the Federation, and refused to recognize the emergency extraordinary general meeting which it said was organised contrary to the NFF's statutes, as an elective congress was already due on 26 August 2014.
FIFA insists the ban will only be lifted once the court action is withdrawn, and the elected executive committee members are reinstated.
Many believe the chaos that ensued after Nigeria was knocked out of the ongoing World Cup by France, was in-fact orchestrated by Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi (in conjunction with the Minister of Sports), as a way of ensuring the establishment of an NFF board that would renew his contract on his (Keshi's) terms.
There are reports that Keshi has been promised a whopping agreement in the neighborhood of $1 million/year by the Minister and President Jonathan, hence the basis for hurriedly forcing out one of the most successful tenures in the history of Nigerian football, ably led by the ousted Aminu Maigari.
It remains to be seen what the response will now be to the FIFA ban with continental and global competitions just 11 days away for Nigeria's male and female football teams.
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