NFF Denies Inviting Buhari to Ethiopia Match

20 May 2011

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has rubbished a report that its leadership has invited CPC presidential candidate, Maj-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to the Nations Cup qualifier against Ethiopia played at the National Stadium, Abuja at the end of March.

President of the NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari was stunned that certain elements fabricating all sorts of lies and schemes against the Federation have got busier and more political this time.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigeria Football Federation never invited Maj-General Buhari to the match against Ethiopia as some mischievous fellows are now reporting. That match took place almost two months ago and if there was any truth about this, the mischievous characters should have come out with their talk before now.

“The said presidential aspirant bought his VIP ticket on the open market like any other Nigerian, and sat in the VIP Extension like everyone who had an ordinary VIP ticket. If we had invited him, he would have sat in the State Box and we would have received him on his arrival at the Stadium. Let it be known that when he arrived at the Stadium, we did not even accord him recognition.

“When security reports informed us that he was coming to the stadium, I immediately informed the Honourable Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Professor Taoheed Adedoja about this.

“We have the utmost loyalty to the government of His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, who has done so much to support Nigeria football and support the cause of the youth all along, even while he was the Vice President. The Nigeria Football Federation is hugely indebted to Mr. President for all he has done for Nigeria football.”

Meanwhile, the NFF also Thursday totally dismissed the grounds on which the so-called National Association of Nigerian Footballers intend to set up a parallel football governing body in the country.

NFF’s acting General Secretary, Musa Amadu, who confirmed that the Federation had alerted security agencies against this move that could threaten public order, said the fellows in NANF were building castles in the air.

“It is important that the public gets to understand that these characters merely want to cause public disorder and acrimony. They went to a court of law to say that the NFF elections were not properly conducted, and then voluntarily withdrew the case. Later on, they went back to try to re-list the case, but the court threw out the application and that was that.

“If they wanted, they could have gone ahead and appeal to the Court of Appeal, and then further to the Supreme Court. But they abandoned the legal route and now want to take the law into their own hands. Nigerians must be wary about the real intentions of these individuals.”

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