Chairman and CEO, Dreamland Football Academy, Ndudi Edede has alleged that the recently conducted election into the Abia State Football Association executive board was manipulated

Mr Ndudi who contested for the position of the chairman of the FA against the incumbent chairman, Ephraim Chukwuemeka alleged that the election fall short of the Nigeria Football Federation electoral guidelines adding that he did not know the delegates who voted during the election

Mr Ndudi who said he had written a protest letter to the NFF, wondered how and from where the delegates came when there where no local council FA elections in the state for the past 16 years

“I did not do campaign because there was nobody to campaign for. They brought fake delegates, we did not know them, so we did not talk to anybody. I never know the delegates until we entered the hall for the election. They came and did the assignment the way the planned it. Those delegates were not genuine delegates because we don’t have Council football associations in Abia state. normally, council football association chairmen should be the ones to vote as delegates. So where did the delegates come from? The ones we saw that day were nominated by the incumbent chairman and they came and delivered the votes for him.

 “It’s against the status of the Nigeria Football Federation. It is not in line with the stipulations of the NFF electoral guidelines. I have made a protest to the Nigeria football federation over the week. In fact, I made the protest before the election. The list was hidden from everybody. I did not know the candidates nor the delegates until the day of the election. It was in the election hall that I saw it.

“It is well known, it is not only in Abia state. it is systematic across the country. Even the man that represented my local government as delegate for the election, I do not know him and he does not know me. He is not within the football circle. If there was Local Council election before the FA election, why would I not at least know my council chairman?

That has been the system. In fact, since the incumbent took over the chairmanship position 16 years ago, there has never for once been local FA Council election in the state. so it is a known fact, everybody knows it. If there are no council elections in the state for the past 16 years, where did the delegates come from? It is not a hidden fact, everybody knows it.

The board is aware of this systemic fraud in the state FA. If anybody wants to counter me, let the person tell us the council chairmen and the minute of the meeting when they were inaugurated,” he said.

When contacted on phone, the re-elected chairman of the FA, Mr Ephraim Chukwuemeka asked our reporter to call him back in an hour’s time. When the calls were returned, they were unanswered.

The incumbent chairman got 20 votes out of the 20 delegates to defeat his opponent, Mr Ndudi who got zero vote in the election held last week.