President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, has sent strong warnings to violators of the NFF Statutes, most especially the Professional Football Association Nigeria (PFAN) following their threats to sue the NFF again.
Pinnick, the outgoing president of the NFF and FIFA Council member warned the players union against taking the football federation to civil courts as they could risk several sanctions including an ‘outright ban from the game”. This is coming after PFAN led by ex-international Tijani Babangida, last week made a threatening statement saying “We are ready to go back to court to stop the congress.” after an alleged exclusion from the 77th NFF Annual General Assembly held in Lagos on Thursday.
“I want to say that enough is enough. We have tolerated these individuals for much longer than necessary. I am leaving the position of NFF Presidency in a few weeks but I am still a Member of the FIFA Council and I can talk about Nigeria Football anywhere. It is time to call the bluff of these persons. Their actions not only malign and defame the NFF; these also de-market the NFF to a certain degree.
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“If the NFF holds a General Assembly, they go to court. If the NFF does not hold, they go to court. Every single day, they want to go to court. It is their right, but it is also the right of the NFF to curtail such excesses.
“FIFA clearly stipulates that football matters are not meant for civil courts, and further infractions by anyone would be met with the stiffest of sanctions, including but not limited to outright ban from the game,” Pinnick said.
Article 69 (1) of the NFF Statutes 2010 stipulates:
“NFF, its members, players, officials and match and player’s agents will not take any dispute to ordinary courts unless specifically provided for in these Statutes and FIFA regulations. Any disagreement shall be submitted to the jurisdiction of FIFA, CAF, WAFU or NFF.
(2) NFF shall have jurisdiction on internal national disputes i.e, disputes between parties belonging to NFF. FIFA shall have jurisdiction on international disputes, i.e, disputes between parties belonging to different Associations and/or Confederations.”
The 77th NFF Annual General Assembly ought to have been held in December 2021 but it was delayed due to an ex-parte injunction from a Federal High Court in Bayelsa State.