FIFA has said it will carry out a “joint assessment mission” with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Abuja to examine the recent leadership changes within the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Gatekeepers News reports that the world football governing body said the mission would provide a “comprehensive assessment” of the developments through meetings with representatives of the NFF administration, NFF electoral bodies, the federal government and the National Sports Commission (NSC).
FIFA disclosed this in a letter signed by Elkhan Mammadov, its chief member associations officer, on Monday. The letter addressed Emmanuel Ikpeme as the NFF deputy general secretary, despite his reported promotion to acting general secretary.
FIFA also stressed that it had not reached any conclusions regarding the matters under review and no determination has been made with respect to any potential next steps.
The assessment follows the resignation of Ibrahim Gusau, NFF president, and Mohammed Sanusi, the federation’s general secretary, on August 27. Ikpeme subsequently assumed the role of interim general secretary pending the completion of reforms.
A few hours after the resignations, President Bola Tinubu directed a comprehensive reform of Nigerian football, saying the move was necessary to “overcome repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and world tournaments.”
Tinubu instructed Shehu Dikko, chairman of the NSC, to work with the NFF secretariat on a broad and consultative reform process.
The President also directed that the process should include engagement with FIFA and CAF to safeguard Nigeria against possible sanctions arising from governmental interference in football administration.
As part of its response, FIFA has officially suspended the NFF electoral congress scheduled for September 27, as well as all processes connected to the congress, pending the outcome of the joint assessment.
The FIFA-CAF mission is therefore expected to determine the circumstances surrounding the NFF shake-up and assess whether the ongoing reform process complies with the autonomy of football administration.
