Former Nigerian international and football administrator, Segun Odegbami, has questioned the legal status of the Nigeria Football Federation, arguing that the body remains unrecognised under Nigerian law despite operating as the country’s football governing authority.
Odegbami raised the legal issue during an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme on Friday while reacting to the resignation of NFF President Ibrahim Gusau and other officials of the federation.
According to him, changing the leadership of the NFF will not resolve the deep-rooted crisis in Nigerian football unless the government addresses the federation’s disputed legal foundation.
He maintained that there is a subsisting court judgment declaring the NFF illegal and that the decision has not been set aside by a higher court.
“There is a subsisting court judgment that has not been vacated up till now,” Odegbami said.
The judgment referred to by Odegbami was delivered on January 20, 2012, by Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court in Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/179/2010, filed by former Chairman of the Nigeria Referees Association, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja.
The suit followed Jaja’s disqualification from contesting the May 8, 2010 election into the board of the then Nigeria Premier League.
In its judgment, the court held that the names “Nigeria Football Federation” and “Nigeria Premier League” were not recognised by Nigerian law and declared the bodies illegal.
The court’s reasoning was that the Nigerian Football Association Act established and recognised the Nigerian Football Association as the statutory body responsible for administering football in the country, rather than the Nigeria Football Federation.
Although the NFF subsequently announced that it had filed an appeal and sought a stay of execution, Odegbami maintained that the judgment remains valid because it has not been shown to have been overturned.
His position reflects the legal principle that a judgment of a competent court remains binding and enforceable unless it is stayed or set aside on appeal.
Odegbami argued that the continuing uncertainty over the federation’s legal identity is part of the structural problems that have affected Nigerian football for nearly three decades.
He said replacing one group of officials with another under the same disputed structure would likely produce the same results.
He urged the government and other stakeholders to use the resignation of the NFF leadership as an opportunity to resolve the legal, administrative and institutional issues surrounding football governance in Nigeria.
He urged the government and other stakeholders to use the resignation of the NFF leadership as an opportunity to resolve the legal, administrative and institutional issues surrounding football governance in Nigeria.
The National Assembly has previously passed bills seeking to repeal the Nigerian Football Association Act and provide statutory recognition for the NFF, but the legal controversy has persisted.
Odegbami said Nigerian football could not achieve sustainable progress until the country untangled the complicated legal and administrative structure under which the sport is currently managed.