NFF Crisis: Solution Is Out Of Court Settlement, Dalung Insists

FRANCIS ACHI/Abuja

As football stakeholders are getting set to storm Katsina state next week for the elective congress of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Bar. Solomon Dalung , the Minister of Youth and Sports has said that the only way out of leadership crisis  in Nigerian football is for both Amaju  Pinnick and Chris Giwa to settle out of court and compensate Giwa.

Dalung said in Abuja that it will be wise for Pinnick and his board to seek every avenue to ensure that the crisis is settled   out of court , insisting that if the matter remains in court , it will be very difficult for the judiciary to compromise the standard legal procedures in the case and everything will be thoroughly dealt with to a logical conclusion that will pass the message that the judiciary is still the bedrock to depend upon during crisis.

“Two persons cannot be at the same position the same time, but the two of them can render different services. Somebody who has fought a cause for four years and did not give up, we cannot just rubbish him. The case is still in court and he should be prevailed upon for out of court settlement and compensate him. Give him something to do and allow everything to calm down”, Dalung said.

” It is only Chris Giwa and once he takes the issue  out of court, then the matter is over. In as much as the case is still in court , there is nothing anybody can do about it”, he added.

“We tag the Nigerian judiciary as the best . The judiciary will always stand by its judgement. Forget about all the noise people are making . The judiciary is one institution in the whole world that stands by its judgement. If you like take the case to the International Institute of Justice, they will still stand by its judgement because they believe that if they allow you to disgrace one of them, you will disgrace all of them.

“This case may even escalate because the judiciary can come into this case with full force to defend its judgement, but it seems some people don’t want to hear what I have been saying”, he continued.

Nigeria football was heading for the hammer with a ban  from FIFA few weeks ago before the Presidency intervened through the Office of Professor Yemi Osinbajo , who was the Acting President then. He communicated to the world ruling football body that the country has complied with FIFA statutes that recognised  Amaju Pinnick as the President of the NFF and Dr. Mohammed Sanusi as the General Secretary of the Federation.

However, Dalung insisted that he will still seek the attention of Professor Osinbajo ,the vice President on the matter as he opined that there is no denying the fact that Chris Giwa had a judgement from the Nigerian judiciary.

“I am working towards getting the Vice President on this matter . We must recognise that Giwa had a judgement and we also know that the interest of the country is very important. Have you seen the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Belgium recently ? The way out of this case is for Giwa to take the case out of court and be compensated”, he concluded.