NFF secretary resigns over FIFA grants

The General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Musa Amadu, resigned from his post on Wednesday.

The resignation which was confirmed by the federation on Thursday followed speculations that Amadu and the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, had disagreement over the $3.6m loan obtained from the Federal Government during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The NFF under Aminu Maigari received the sum through the Ministry of Sports to pay Super Eagles players their bonuses pending FIFA’s disbursement of the World Cup grants.

Inside sources in the NFF alleged that there were disagreements internally following conflicting directives from the executive arm of government and the House of Representatives. While the Federal Government had asked for a refund of the cash, the House members directed the NFF to hold back the funds explaining that it was approved by them for the NFF.

Speaking at the NFF budget defence, Chairman of the Committee on Sports, Godfrey Gaiya, said the amount given to the federation to settle the players’ allowances was from service wide vote which does not require a refund.

But Pinnick told The PUNCH that it was not true that he or any other person had any argument with Amadu on any issue.

He said, “I believe that people should just respect Amadu’s decision. He has the right to resign whenever he wants and that’s exactly what happened; there was no disagreement over any issue.”

We could not speak with Amadu as he did not answer his call when our correspondent called.

In Amadu’s letter of resignation dated March 18, 2015 and made available to The PUNCH by the NFF spokesperson, Mr. Ademola Olajire, the 53-year old lawyer said his resignation took immediate effect.

In the letter, he thanked the NFF president, the executive committee and “Everyone at the NFF for the singular honour of serving our great country in this position and wish you and the NFF the very best in the years ahead.”

The NFF Executive Committee accepted the resignation and said it respected Amadu’s decision and wished him success in his future endeavours.

“We greatly appreciate his quality contributions to the development of football in Nigeria. His professionalism, hard work and commitment to his duty helped in no little way in keeping the NFF administration stable and efficient.”

The NFF also announced the appointment, with immediate effect, of Mohammed Sanusi as their new General Secretary.

He resumed at the NFF as Assistant Secretary General (Competitions) in 2007 and was Director of Competitions before his new appointment.