Stakeholders accuse NFF of fanning the ember of religious war in Taraba state

March 22 11:17 2020 by The Ajasa News Print This Article

By Martin Odiete, Abuja

Football Stake holders in Taraba state have unequivocally told Nigerians to hold the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Melvin Amaju Pinnic, and his board members responsible should their role in the football crisis in the state degenerate into a religious crisis.

The Taraba state Football Association Chairmanship battle is between Timothy Heman a Christian and Mahmud Sanusi Mohammed, both with large followers, with both followers gearing up for showdown.

In a letter by the stake holders to the Nigeria Football Federation they noted that their refusal to dispassionately look at the case of the election crisis that produced the two Chairman and their resolve to recognize Timothy Heman is capable of inciting the youths of the state into taking to the street and thereby breaching the relative peace the volatile state is currently enjoying.

The stake holder maintained that NFF role in the buildup to the FA election did suggest that they were bent on returning Timothy Heman against the will of the people of Taraba state. They argued that it was for that reason the NFF election observer, Babagana Khali switched off his phone immediately on arrival in Jalingo for the election, making himself unreachable to anybody except Timothy Heman. They argued further that despite that, the generality of the football stake holders gathered at the designated venue for the election waiting for Baba Gana to arrive only for them to hear that he had gone to another venue with very few persons to elect Timothy. They said that they had no choice than to go ahead with the election since they had the majority of the stake holders at the venue with majority of the electoral committee members on ground, and they overwhelmingly voted for Mahmud Sanusi.

They question the interest of the Nigeria Football Federation in the Taraba state Football Affairs, lamenting that all efforts to get them to look at the case on its merits has fallen on deaf ear. They argued further that the refusal of the Nigeria Football Federation to act on all the correspondence from the state requesting them to dispassionately look at the matter suggest strongly that they are indeed behind the coup from the very beginning.

The Taraba State Football stake holders said that the state had made efforts to resolve the matter by setting up a committee where all the parties were invited and the report of the committee was even sent to the NFF but expressed surprise that they still did not show any interest.   

They said that they are praying that NFF change their stand on the matter and maybe set up non biased committee to look into the matter, but stressed that they would continue to resist attempt to lord Timothy on them as their FA Chairman.