In a league recently ranked as even better than the Scottish league, it sounds rather bizzare that a dead man could be appointed to officiate a Nigerian Premier League match, but that is the state of things right now as the ‘self-imposed’ NFF President, Chris Giwa attempts to take control of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Giwa, who got a Jos High court injunction to take over leadership of the NFF despite Amaju Pinnick being FIFA’s recognized NFF president, has named all the referees to take part in this weekend’s matches and Wale Akinsanya was assigned to Warri Wolves vs Giwa FC – the only issue is; Akinsanya died in January 2016.
Akinsanya passed away during a Nigeria Referees Association fitness test on January 22, 2016 and has since been buried. They won’t know that since there is no data bank for such info not to talk of updating it. Pity you Nigeria!
This latest effort by Giwa to stamp his authority, could land Nigerian football in troubled waters with FIFA, who have warned that the country could face global sanctions from the game if the Amaju Pinnick led board isn’t allowed to carry out his functions and job effectively.
On Wednesday, Giwa’s group had rejected the peace move by sports minister, Solomon Dalung to end the crisis rocking the football federation.