NFF Election Saga: Amaju Pinnick and Ifeanyi Ubah trying frustrating me – Chinedu Okoye

By Verbinski

As the NFF elections draw nearer, interested candidates have been doing the needful by picking, filling and submitting forms as directed by the regulations. However, trouble, saga and hints of corruption are never far away at every corner

As part of the election requirements, interested persons are meant to get the support of their State FA Chairmen but it appears that even that section of the rules is being abused by Amaju Pinnick.

In a letter to FIFA titled: “PETITION AGAINST THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ANAMBRA STATE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, DR. IFEANYI UBAH OVER HIS REFUSAL TO NOMINATE ME TO CONTEST FOR THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION (NFF) AS STIPULATED IN ARTICLE 4.3 OF THE “GUIDELINES FOR THE NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ELECTIONS, 2018”
Mr Chinedu Okoye, a native of Ogidi in Anambra State, a former football referee in the Swiss Liga, President of Bimo FC and a Diploma holder in Physical and Health Education from the University of Nigeria, laid his frustration as the deliberate ploy by the Anambra State Football Association, Ifeanyi Ubah under instructions from Amaju Pinnick to disenfranchise him from contesting the position of the office of the Presidency of the NFF.
Ifeanyi Ubah told Mr Okoye that he will not support or nominate him to contest despite his eligibility unless he gets the explicit go-ahead from Pinnick

It is important to note that Pinnick is nursing ambitions of reelection despite overseeing the most horrible era in Nigeria Football which broke a whole lot of negative records but none comes close to the fact that this is the first time in the history of Nigeria Football that the League ended mid-season for no just cause, also the first time the league is having a champion by proxy not based on merit and now we are looking at the first time an Administrator is handpicking who his opponents will be in an election

It will be pertinent to recall that Ifeanyi Ubah was installed as the Chairman of the Anambra State Football Association, in clear violation of every rule and tenet associated with the said office in 2016

Also, Ifeanyi Ubah’s club, FC Ifeanyi Ubah notorious for owing players salaries that run into months, have been accused of practising slavery by falsifying players contracts and forcing players to BUY their freedom even when they are supposed to be free agents with no punitive measure on the club, despite the public outcry of the enslaved players of the club.
Meanwhile, Mr Okoye has submitted his form having obtained endorsement from State FA Chairmen from different regions of the country.