.Insist Petition to the NFF Was a Legit SOS_
By: Chinedum Ohanusi
As more facts emerged as to why the post bye-election crisis, rocking the Federal Capital Territory Football Association (FCT FA), keeps escalating; two members of the FA board in the eye of the storm have been handed varied suspensions by the Appeals Committee of the FA.
The sanctions, which allows the suspended board members – Babatunde Akintade Bocknor, and Mrs. Ngozi Ezeh-Johnson the rights to appeal; were made public on Thursday morning; just as both contending factions in the face-off, were bracing up to face the Congress, and possibly an arbitration panel to be set up by the NFF, to look into the petions filled against their Chairman, Alhaji Abba Mukthar.
In the same vain, fresh facts have emerged as to why the aggrieved petitioners turned to the NFF; and we have it on good authority that they also penned the petions on behalf of those allegedly removed from the list of voters, on suspicion that they have sympathy for one particular contestant, in the bye-election.
The rancorous bye-election to fill the position of 1st Vice-Chairman, was
eventually won by one Saliu Kolo, who defeated Babatunde Akintade Bucknor to get elected, after he was unable to fulfill the requirement of 50% plus 1 votes, when the initial polls held in Bwari, in June 2022.
“The petition to the NFF was purely a protest against the Chairman, who solely reconstituted the sub-committees, without recourse to other board members; neither did he get the board to ratify the appointments, before he gave them the approval to fly”, Sports Day was told.
On claims that the sub-committees were the Chairman’s call, aimed at restoring sanity after the frosty elections, marred by violence; “it is true that someone was caught with a knife at the election venue, but that was because he was searched, and not because anybody was harassed. He was taken away by the DSS and Police, and released apparently because there was nothing in it.
The contending questions are therefore; if not for some sort of vendetta, and ulterior motives, why is the Chairman fixated at an inquest, and wants to go it alone? Is the inquest intended to do a better job than what the Security Operatives who released the man caught with a knife after his arrest, did.
According to our source, “the election in Abaji was a continuation of the one that returned Abba Mukthar in June 2022. But a new set of guidelines surfaced, and was kicked against by Bucknor at the FA Appeals Committee level and won, before he was cleared to run.
“So those saying the NFF does not have the jurisdiction to wade into the matter, are those who do not want abnormalities that characterized the election to be addressed. When has the FA acquired the powers to investigate such a matter; when the Police brought to help keep the peace, already dispensed of it”.
Summarily, we found that the petition to the NFF was purely on the Chairman, subverting the statutes by not consulting the board in the formation of the sub-committees; and the use of other clandestine tactics to stop one of the candidates from achieving his ambition of being the No. 2 FA Boss in the nation’s capital.
“I doubt if anyone is afraid of facing the FCT FA congress, but going to the NFF was to ensure that the right thing is done, so that tranquility can return to FCT football”; asserts our source who also insists that their decision to run to the NFF was basically an “SOS” mission, after being boxed to a very tight corner.
