By Taofeek
Babalola
Mountain of
Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) Football Club head coach Fidelis Ilechukwu has
pleaded with football stakeholders in the country to find a lasting solution to
the leadership crisis rocking the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to avoid
FIFA’s ban, Sportinglife.ng reports.
The World
football governing body, FIFA, has threatened to suspend Nigeria if the current
crisis rocking the NFF is not quickly resolved.
Chris Giwa
had controversially assumed office as NFF President following an ex-parte order
issued to him by the Jos Federal High Court, with a recent Supreme Court ruling
asking the parties to return to the lower court.
With the
apex court’s ruling, Giwa then assumed office, replacing Amaju Pinnick, his
rival in the battle for the control of Nigeria’s football body. Pinnick had
represented the nation’s football leadership at the just-concluded 2018 FIFA
World Cup in Russia.
Bothered by
the developments in the nation’s football leadership, FIFA President Gianni
Infantino recently threatened to ban Nigeria from all FIFA-organised events, if
the confusion persisted without recourse to FIFA statutes.
Infantino
specifically said that FIFA would not condone interference in the
administration of the game, adding that the world body only recognises Pinnick
as the NFF President.
In a chat
with Sportinglife.ng, Ilechukwu said that a FIFA ban will cause a lot of damage
to Nigerian football if the issue is left unresolved.
“For me as a
coach, I am not happy with what is happening. All I want is for the people
involved to make a way to find a lasting peace so that our players will not be
badly affected. Majority of the youths in Nigeria are playing football as a
means of livelihood and if anything happens through a FIFA ban, it will
adversely affect their career,” Ilechukwu said to Sportinglife.ng.
He added: “I
am scared because I know what the FIFA ban means and the damage it will bring to
our football. If FIFA bans Nigeria from football activities, it means we would
not have anything to do again as professionals. It will affect NPFL, NNL,
Nationwide and all the national teams. The situation will not be okay for
Nigerian football as a whole. When two elephants fight, it is the grass that
suffers. So the grass in this context includes coaches, players, referees etc.”
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