A group of concerned State FA Chairmen in Nigeria have asked the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Football Federation to as a matter of urgency convene a General Assembly after the members of the players union who took went to court agreed to vacate the case.
In a letter written to the President of the Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, the State FA Chairmen told him that they had successfully persuaded the plaintiff to discontinue the suit, to which he has agreed to withdraw the suit and has forfeited the interim order of injunction made by Hon. Justice Isa H. Dashen on the 10th day of December, 2021.
Thus, the Chairmen urged the NFF president and his Executive Committee members to convene the delayed assembly within a fortnight of the receipt of their letter, if other otherwise, they will have no choice but to invoke their power to convey the assembly as stated by the Statutes of the Nigerian Football governing body.
Article 29.2 of the Statutes of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), 2010 as amended, provides that “The Executive Committee shall convene an Extraordinary General Assembly if one-fifth of the Members of NFF make such a request in writing. The request shall specify the items for the agenda. An Extraordinary General Assembly shall be held within three months of receipt of the request. If an Extraordinary General Assembly is not convened, the Members who requested it may convene the General Assembly themselves. As a last resort, the Members may request assistance from FIFA.”
Recall that this group of chairmen in a correspondence on the 15th May, 2022 had also notified Pinnick to convene the Annual General Assembly, and in line with the aforementioned provision, this empowers them to compute the time to invoke after the two weeks ultimatum.
They further advised the Pinnick led EXCO of the NFF that “The earlier notice issued for the convening of the 2021 Annual General Assembly before the truncation of the meeting should subsist as period of notice in compliance with the statutes.
The Executive Committee must be ready to present a timetable/timeline for the electoral process to commence and end in September, 2022 to avoid constitutional crisis and for the sake of good order “, they affirmed.
The plaintiff in the interim order of injunction in Suit No: FHC/YNG/CS/133/2021 had written to the Federal High Court, Yenagoa Division to communicate it’s resolve to forgo/forfeit it’s benefits from the interim order of injunction, and further extension in the interest of advancement of football in Nigeria.
As part of the terms of settlement, the plaintiff also conceded that the NFF can proceed with the AGA and must organize elections for the new executives of the NFF, in view of the imminent expiration of the current executives.
The Congress members attached a copy of the terms of settlement as attached to the letter and copied the other 19 Congress members not signatories to this letter, Members of the Executive Committee, the Confederation of African Football, CAF, world football governing authority, FIFA and Nigerian Hon. Minister of of Youths and Sports Development.
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