An appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all Nigerians: Stop the NFF elections, please! By Segun Odegbami

In the 53 years since then, I played for the country; rose to be Captain of the national team and also of the national contingent to the Olympic Games; administered the game as a member of the board of the Nigerian Football Association and as Chairman of the Governing Council of the National Institute of Sports; single-handedly managed two Nigerian athletes (in a sport outside of football) to win Gold and Silver medals at the Olympic Games; served in several panels, commissions and committees promoting sports and seeking solutions to challenges in Nigerian sports; established an NGO/institution that has been promoting the combination of sports and scholarship; facilitating the migration of Nigerian student/athletes to Colleges and Universities in the USA and in India; and currently serving as head of a new and special unit developing a template and policies for sports diplomacy within Nigeria’s foreign affairs.

In the next few days, I shall be taking documents that are currently used in the administration of Nigerian football to the Nigerian civil courts for interrogation and interpretation, to explain to Nigerians documented facts about the real power and roles of FIFA in our country’s internal football affairs; the status, interpretation, role and place of State Football Associations; the equity in unequal and lopsided representation by members; the place and role of government as the biggest funder of football in the country; the justification for the convoluted, politicized, expensive conduct of ordinary football elections in Nigeria, and so on!

Next month, an election into the board of the Nigerian Football Association will take place.