The Nigerian government has announced its recognition of FIFA-backed Amaju Pinnick as the head of the country’s football body in efforts to avert a looming ban from the world football governing authority.
FIFA has warned that it would impose a ban on the West African football powerhouse had it not ended a protracted muddle over the running of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
Pinnick was voted the president of the NFF in 2014, but his long-standing rival Chris Giwa appealed the result and the high court ruled in his favour in June 2018.
Giwa had however been handed a five-year ban by FIFA for alleged breaches of NFF statutes and the FIFA code of ethics in February 2017.
The Nigerian sports minister Solomon Dalung however seemed to back Giwa, even including him in a proposed list of delegates to meet FIFA president Gianni Infantino in Zurich last week, an idea the football body rejected.
In a tweet posted at 1038 GMT, a spokesman for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Nigeria had “already conveyed to FIFA its firm position recognizing Amaju Pinnick-led NFF as the current & only NFF Exco (executive committee).”
The government would work with all stakeholders “to resolve (the) dispute in a timely manner,” he added.
