How Assumption, Oversight Caused Nigeria's FIFA Sanctions - NFF Boss, Amaju Pinnick Reveals

...Apologises For Disreputing Nigeria

Agege Pulse Magazine

Yesterday, Agege Pulse regaled the ugly news of how the Technical Committee of the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA read riot act on the Nigeria Football Federation for fielding an ineligible player (Shehu Abdullahi) during the last 2018 World Cup qualifier against Algeria.

The world football governing body stripped Nigeria of the one point they earned from their final 2018 World Cup qualifier against Algeria and subsequently fined NFF 6,000 CHF (about N2,162, 923) for the development.

Now, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, has apologised to Nigerians and fans of the Super Eagles for the sanctions slammed on the country by FIFA.

Pinnick, in several tweets on his handle, @PinnickAmaju, on Wednesday, apologised for the sanctions blaming assumptions and oversight on the part of NFF as rationale behind it.

He said, “Good morning. I’ll start by tendering my wholehearted apology to Nigeria and Nigerians for the Shehu Abdullahi error. It is unforgivable and could have undone months of hard work. As head of the Federation, I take responsibility for this. It happened on my watch.

“While accepting the Federation’s fault here, let me quickly explain how this went by unnoticed. It doesn’t change the fact that we didn’t keep our eyes on the ball and will help us in our planned restructuring of the Technical & Competitions Department.

“Shehu Abdullahi got his first yellow card in our very first preliminary match against Swaziland away. When the draws for the Group Stages were made, the Technical staff made a grave error; assumption.

“To be fair to them, throughout the qualifying series, official match documents didn’t even show that Shehu Abdullahi was on a yellow card. For instance, when we played Cameroon, Mikel, Moses and Balogun were put on notice that they had yellow cards.

“Team meetings were even held about how to handle their cards so they wouldn’t miss crucial games. Shehu Abdullahi was never in the mix. Shehu then recieved a yellow against Zambia in our penultimate game, two years after the Swaziland match.

“Another grave mistake then occurred. Fifa sent an email to the technical officer in charge, that Shehu Abdullahi was suspended for the Algeria match. In a twist of fate, that officer was in hospital, with a severe heart condition, battling for his life.

“The biggest knock to our system is the fact that his official correspondences should have been forwarded to more than one person. It wasn’t. We went into our last match not knowing about Fifa’s notice. Not acceptable, I agree, but these are the facts of the matter.

“On the match day, we were unaware, the match officials were unaware and our opponents were unaware. It was a horrendous error and we at the Federation are truly apologetic. We thank God it did not undue years of hard work.

“It was a lack of due diligence in and by one of our departments and we are ensuring that errors like these never happen again. On behalf of all of us at the @thenff; I apologise, Nigeria. Our focus remains. We will soar higher.”

MFM FC bring Continental football back to Lagos after 13 years ...We will not miss Steven Odey in the continental says MFM Coach,

After 13 years absence of continental club football action in Lagos State, modest Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries FC have rewritten history as they sealed qualification  to the apex club football competition in Africa.

MFM claimed the deserved spot in the next edition of CAF Champions League after defeating Nassarawa United 2-0 in the Match Day 37 game of the NPFL in Lagos courtesy of goals from Okorom Stanley and Tchato Giscard.

The Olukoya Boys beat the imagination of many to do the unthinkable following their victory over the Solid Miners in one of NPFL Matchday 37 fixtures played on Sunday at the Soccer Temple, Agege Stadium.

Nasarawa United started the exciting encounter guns blazing with series of sleek passes but they later surrendered to the resilient of the Lagos-based team after the first five minutes of exchange.

The man of the match, Okorom was the first to make a statement for MFM FC two minutes after the visitors surrendered their dominance when he tested Suraj Ayeleso with a right-footed shot but the Nasarawa United goalkeeper saved his effort.

Olatunbosun Sikiru was brought down near the edge of the visitors’ box and the referee signalled for a free kick in the 12th minute. Okorom scored from the free kick spot following a superb strike that left Nasarawa United defenders in dismay.

The right-back capped his man-of-the-match performance with an assist when he delivered a well tailored cross to Tchato Giscard to head home the second goal in the first minute of the added time. The second half ended with MFM FC maintaining a comfortable 2-0 lead.

MFM FC Coach, Ilechukwu Fidelis in a brief interview said the club would not miss Steven Odey in the continental competition, boasting that MFM FC would develop new poachers, the same way it developed new FC Zurich man. "We are ready for the continental and our boys are ready to make our country proud."