President-general of Nigerian Football Supporters Club, Dr Rafiu Ladipo has thrown his weight behind the directive by sports minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung, that Melvin Amaju Pinnick and his executive committee members should vacate office at Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Though many football stakeholders and pundits believe the minister’s order would bring a ban on Nigeria from FIFA, Ladipo says he is in support of the order that sacked Pinnick on Monday, because he feels it will bring about needed change in the soccer administration for the country, with attendant better results on the field of play.
Ladipo, who is obviously still aggrieved by apparent neglect by Pinnick and his board during the World Cup, subsequent to their support of a rival faction against him, said the development is welcome for the good of the game in Nigeria.
Despite Nigeria being the first African nation to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, Ladipo refused to give Pinnick’s board any credit, recounting instead that the country could not qualify for all continental youth competitions last year as well as two straight editions of the Africa Cup of Nations.
He opined: “Pinnick’s exit is good for our football, it’s a welcome development. His exit is good riddance to bad rubbish. Four years of Pinnick was motion without movement, no meaningful achievement.
“We failed qualification for AFCON back to back and the current campaign is tottering towards non qualification.
“In the U-17, where we were the defending champions, the Golden Eaglets could qualify. In the U-20, we went to Sudan, defeated them but due to bad administration, we lost 3-4 at home and were ousted.
“In Russia, he gave us only 200 tickets for the Argentina game and that was the reason we were dwarfed by the supporters of Argentina.
“We should not mind the so-called FIFA, let them ban us. It’s time we restructure our football, after the ban, FIFA will reinstate us and the country will be better for it.”
