2022 NFF ELECTIONS: Inyama, Ojigwe, Iloenyosi Lose Out After Electoral Committee Fumbles Again

Another massive fumble by the NFF Electoral Committee led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) may have cost former internationals Karibe Ojigwe, Chikelue Iloenyosi as well as Abia Warriors Chairman Emeka Inyama a seat on the NFF Executive Committee.

The Electoral Committee announced yesterday that it has suspended Elections for a representative from the South East after it was discovered at the very last minute that polls had already produced 11 Members with the various leagues – NPFL, NNL, NWFL, NLO – to contribute the other four Members when they hold their own Elections.

The Electoral Committee was not headed by someone from the football fraternity as demanded by the NFF Statutes and with the incompetent NFF Secretariat failing to provide the needed direction, the process in Benin City was terribly muddled.

The committee’s Chairman Aikhunegire.A Malik admitted the embarrassment that forced them to cancel the Election for the South East representative.

 North West produced the President (Ibrahim Gusau) and that meant that region could only produce another Executive Committee Member.

The same applied to the North Central after it produced the Chairman of Chairmen (Ahmed Yusuf ‘Fresh’) and South East after it already had Felix Anyansi elected as NFF 1^st Vice President.

But rather than follow the Election in an order where the Membership Elections of those of North West, South East and North Central would follow immediately those of the Presidency, 1^st Vice Presidency and Chairman of Chairmen, the Election for the South East was skipped over some eligibility issues and as it is now, the eight Membership seats have been filled up.

The South East will now have to be compensated by zoning at least one of the Chairmanships of the leagues to that region.

That also means that Inyama, Ojigwe, Chikelue Iloenyosi, Jude Benjamin Onikwelu and Emmanuel Ocheigha are out on a limp as they all signed documents they will not resort to a regular court for redress.

Could one of them possibly be drafted to the NFF Board through the four leagues?