Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) first vice-president, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, has parried speculation that the Super Eagles might be stopped by FIFA from going to this year’s World Cup on account of the recurring legal dispute in the country’s soccer body’s leadership tussle.
Rather than fret over last week’s decision by the Supreme Court to refer the leadership case instituted by Ambassador Chris Giwa back to the point of its first impact in Jos, a statement from the NFF quoted Akinwunmi as saying there is no cause for alarm.
Akinwunmi, who is also chairman of the NFF’s legal committee also assured football fans that the court case instituted by the owner of Giwa FC of Jos will not make the world governing body, FIFA ban Nigeria from participating at the 2018 World Cup.
He disclosed that the NFF’s lawyers are confidently prepared to argue the case afresh and look forward to finally putting the matter to rest.
Akinwunmi concluded that the NFF will soon prove to the world that Nigerian football can continue to be run in an orderly manner.
The statement reads: “NFF 1st Vice President/Chairman, Legal Committee, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, said the NFF Board appreciated the reasoning of the apex court in refusing the prayers of the appellants, which if granted would have accorded them some kind of legitimacy, against the backdrop of an ongoing administration of Nigerian Football which is at the cusp of taking Nigeria to the world’s greatest football event, the World Cup. “