JUST IN: NFF Normalisation Committee May be Unveiled Today

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief                                                                                                                                          Five days after the resignation of erstwhile President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, the much-awaited Normalisation Committee to run the affairs of the federation is expected to be announced today, Sportsrev reports.

A Nigerian delegation which includes the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Mallam Shehu Dikko and the Director-General Honourable Bukola Olopade have held a closed-doors meeting with the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

It was gathered that FIFA in conjunction with host country Nigeria and in alignment with the Confederation of African Football (CAF), in a tripartite relationship have harmonised the list of members of the NFF Normalisation Committee which will be announced by the NSC leadership at the end of the trip to Zurich.

However, a source very versed in the working of FIFA and CAF has warned that Nigeria’s should not expect outsiders from football fraternity in the NFF Normalisation Committee, pointing out that those who will be appointed are people both FIFA and Nigeria government will be comfortable working with and not outsiders.

“But in actual sense those who will be appointed are people who are those the government is comfortable to work with and those that FIFA is also comfortable to work with. No one can appoint anyone into NFF outside the football structure if not why are they in FIFA”, the source who pleaded anonymity revealed.

He also disclosed that this is so because the NFF is still operating under Decree 101 which still makes NFF a federal government parastatal.

Recall that Gusau resigned 5 days ago on August 27 alongside his NFF Executive Committee members just 34 days before his four-year term was set to conclude.

His resignation followed pressure over football governance issues and national teams poor performances especially Super Eagles and Super Falcons failures to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for men and women in 2026 and 2027 respectively