Nigeria once again will escape FIFA suspension after a court case involving a battle for the leadership of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) was withdrawn from the High Court on Thursday.
Dropping the case paves the way for FIFA-backed NFF president Amaju Pinnick and his executive to resume their duties after they had been ousted from office by an interim ruling last Thursday by Justice Ambrose Allagoa, who placed Chris Giwa in charge. Judge Allagoa ruled that the elective congress that brought Pinnick to power on Sept. 30 was invalid but that ruling is no longer being supported by Giwa and has been dropped.
There were also some insinuations that Stephen Keshi, who left his job as national team coach earlier this month could return on the order of President Jonathan. Keshi, who led Nigeria to the African Nations Cup title in 2013, has left his job but the country’s president Goodluck Jonathan is a big fan of Keshi and Nigeria media say he would be delighted if the charismatic “Big Boss” returned.
FIFA wrote to the NFF on Tuesday and placed a deadline of mid-day on Friday (Oct 31) for the court to strike the matter off the roll and for Giwa to relinquish control. Giwa asked for the matter to be withdrawn on Thursday following an intervention from President Jonathan, who met with the warring factions on Tuesday.
He instructed them to find a solution to the crisis that threatened to rule the Super Eagles out of attempting to reach next year’s finals in Morocco to defend the title they won under Keshi in 2013.
