Nigeria Football Federation election dispute

RESOLVING THE PERENNIAL DISPUTE WITHIN THE NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION ~ by Olubor Uyi ESQ.
In the early hours of the day, news broke out that the Federal High Court holden at Abuja gave an order restraining the Nigerian Football Federation(NFF) from conducting elections into its executive council. In this article, I would try as much as possible not to comment on the meritocracy of the claimants demand neither am I going to question the validity of the ruling of the Federal High Court restraining the football federation. As it is trite law that during the pendency of an action, parties are to maintain status quo ante in order not to destroy the res. Thus, the Federal High Court was within its right when it made that ruling.
However, my frustration stems from the fact that why is it that during every NFF election cycle we always have these litigations which then dovetails into the regime of every NFF EXCO. The result is always a constant 'bras de fer' between the NFF and the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA). Nigeria on one hand keeps screaming 'we are a sovereign nation' while FIFA keeps insisting 'our game our rules'. At the end of the day, after all the strong handedness we are the ones who always succumbs to the whims and caprices of FIFA. And that is very easy  to understand because for a start they are not within our jurisdiction. Thus, they are not subject to our laws. Secondly, we are the party that subscribed to their laws and article 17 of the FIFA Statutes provides as follows: 
1. Each Member shall manage its affairs independently and with no influence
from third parties.
2. 
A Member’s bodies shall be either elected or appointed in that Association. A
Member’s statutes shall provide for a procedure that guarantees the complete
independence of the election or appointment.
3. 
Any Member’s bodies that have not been elected or appointed in compliance
with the provisions of par. 2, even on an interim basis, shall not be recognised
by FIFA.
4. 
Decisions passed by bodies that have not been elected or appointed in
compliance with par. 2 shall not be recognised by FIFA.
Therefore, having accepted to be part of this organization, we are expected to abide by the above regulations and maintain the sanctity of its affiliate body i.e. the NFF.
However, what baffles me is the fact that this whole dance of superiority between Nigeria and FIFA did not commence today. Yet nothing has been done by those whose primary responsibility it is to resolve this problem. In my humble opinion, the organ of government that is most equipped to address this problem once and for all is the National Assembly. If we all agree that football has a special seat in our drive to national cohesion, why can't the National Assembly make laws that has the buy in of football stakeholders to govern the game.  Also, special courts could be set up (better still sports arbitration courts) to handle football disputes. A percentage of the Football Federation budget can be set aside to operate this court. Football disputes are sui generis and should be treated as such. Allowing ordinary courts to resolve football disputes over the years, has proven to be counterproductive. As it has always ended up scaring away investors and left our football in this state of comatose. In developed climes, people know when their leagues will start and when it would end. But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. Someone can just wake up on .the wrong side of his bed and walk to the court and get an injunction and the whole country would be at his mercy. Our football cannot develop like this. The Nigerian parliament must provide a policy direction for the development of our football. Since the 4th republic, the National Assembly has always had a special committee on sports. What has been their impact on the development of the game in this country? The only time we hear from them is when the national team performs abysmally in any tournament. That is when they start asking all manner of people to start submitting all manner of reports without first asking themselves what have they done to solidify the base of the game in the country. 
Eventually, I hope the National Assembly does the needful in ensuring that the country has a football governing system that can appropriately check and balance itself and ensure that when disputes arise they are dealt with in record time in such a way that they do not affect the proper functioning of the administration of the game. Meanwhile, in the short term, I beseech the ministry of sports to mediate between the belligerent parties to avert a possible FIFA hammer falling on the country.
God bless Nigeria!!!

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