EFCC begins investigating NFF president Amaju Pinnick and the members of his executive

ECONOMIC and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials have begun investigating Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick and the members of his executive committee after sports minister Solomon Dalong asked them to stand down.

As things stand, Nigeria is facing the prospect of a Fifa ban after the federal government ordered Mr Pinnick to stand down and respect a Supreme Court ruling that negated his election. At the last NFF congress, Mr Pinnick was voted chairman but his challenger Chris Giwa, refused to accept the result and has been challenging it in court ever since.

Not only has Mr Giwa sought to overturn the verdict of the delegates legally but his faction also organised their own summit, which elected him chairman. Fifa has refused to accept the outcome of the Giwa summit and recognised Amaju Pinnick as the authentic and bonafide NFF chairman.

Last week, the situation took a turn for the worse as the federal government ordered the current NFF board to vacate their offices. Sports minister Dalong, has asked them to leave and he has ordered Chris Giwa who was voted president at the congress not recognised by Fifa to take over the running of football in Nigeria.

Following on from this, the EFCC has decided to investigate Mr Pinnick and three other top board members.  This follows a petition the commission received from a former national team coach James Peters, on May 4, titled Monumental Stealing and Financial Crimes in the Nigerian Football Federation

In the petition, Mr Peters who coached national teams and also served as the NFF technical director for many years, urged the EFCC to carry out a thorough investigation. Among those he asked to be investigated are Mr Pinnick, the general secretary Dr Mohammed Sanusi, the first vice president Barrister Seyi Akinwumi, the second vice president Mallam Shehu Dikko and executive committee member Alhaji Ahmed Yusuf.

Mr Peters also alleged stealing and fraudulent activities by Financial Derivatives, a company cunningly brought into the NFF by Mr Pinnick for the sole purpose of saving money outside the official accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria and diverting same for fraudulent activities.  Similarly, the petition stated that these NFF chieftains have also used the company Mediterranean Sports belonging to Mallam Dikko, who is also the chairman of the League Management Company, a body saddled with the responsibility of running the Elite League, and attracts millions of dollars from the marketing and sponsorship sub-committee of the NFF to collect over 40% of revenues.

In the petition, Mr Peters called for a forensic audit to be carried out to look at all approvals and retirements by the mentioned persons. He alleged too that funds made available by corporate sponsors were never disclosed.