THERE are palpable signs that Nigeria’s bid to qualify for the next World Cup in Russia may be aborted as embattled Chairman of Giwa FC, Chris Giwa, has concluded plans to drag the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to the Supreme Court, seeking a termination of the Amaju Pinnick-led Executive Committee.
According to our usually authoritative sources, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, Giwa has directed his legal team to file a prayer at the Supreme Court, next week, seeking a dissolution of the NFF board forthwith. If granted by the apex court, the prayer may spell doom for the Super Eagles’ quest to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
We gathered, last night, that Giwa will ask the Supreme Court to restrain Pinnick from parading himself as President of the NFF pending the determination of the case.
If the court grants Giwa’s prayer, FIFA will react and this time, the reaction will be to suspend Nigeria from participating in all football-related activities, which in turn means that the Super Eagles will be stopped from further participation in the on-going qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Pinnick-Giwa
Nigeria lead the famed group of death comprising three former Nations Cup champions, Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia with six maximum points from two matches, four more that their closest rivals, the Indomitable Lions, who they confront next when the World Cup qualifying series resume in August 2017.
But the fear is that Eagles may be banned from continuing the qualification race if the Supreme Court grants Giwa’s latest prayer, a development that will be a big blow to the team that is enjoying a new lease on life under the guidance of Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr.
At a time that Nigeria fans are beginning to believe in the team again, a FIFA ban may come as a pill to bitter to swallow for football followers still seething with rage over failure of Super Eagles to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, starting next January in Gabon.
FIFA’s stance on football disputes being taken to ordinary law court is clear to all and the punishment for such act is suspension and later outright ban. Nigeria has in the last two years, risked being suspended by the apex-football ruling body in the world, whose endurance Nigeria is about to test again with the latest move by Giwa.
The unfortunate thing is that Giwa seems to thrive without any form of restraint coming from the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, who only last week told the Voice of America’s Hausa Service that the World Cup is not important to Nigeria because of rising poverty in the land, corruption in FIFA and the high probability that the Eagles will never win the cup.
It is recalled that FIFA rejected Giwa’s bid to unseat Pinnick as NFF President. Giwa turned to the Federal High Court in Jos to get his wish granted, which attracted a warning from FIFA, who almost banned Nigeria but held back after Giwa withdrew his case in court.
Giwa later took his case against Pinnick’s board to the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, which threw out his prayer because of lack of merit and substance and subsequently endorsed Pinnick’s election as the legitimate President of the NFF.
