Redeployed NFF Director Of Finance To Testify Against Pinnick, Others In Court
By Our Corresepondent
The director of finance and administration of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Salihu Cheku Mohammed has been redeployed to the federal ministry of health as the countdown to the July 1 corruption trial of president Amaju Pinnick and four other officials continues, Bestchoicesports.com.ng understands.
Cheku is a witness for the prosecution in the trial, which also involves NFF vice-presidents Seyi Akinwunmi and Shehu Dikko as well as executive committee member Ahmed Yusuf ‘Fresh’ and general secretary Mohammed Sanusi.
BSN Sports further gathered that the finance director recently had a face-off with Pinnick after it was discovered he will testify against them.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have circumvented President Muhammadu Buhari’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy so as to defraud the country.
The NFF led by Pinnick operated two separate bank accounts for their sponsors – an account operated by Financial Derivatives Company Limited, supposedly financial consultants to the NFF without the knowledge or any corresponding records of their transactions made known to the NFF.
The other was the official account operated by the NFF, where other companies pay into and is being maintained and handled by the accounts department of the NFF.
It would be recalled that Cheku pointed out this illegality and direct affront to the Federal Government of Nigeria in a memo to the NFF president.
In the memo dated July 20, 2018, and titled ‘Sponsorship Funds of NFF’, Cheku listed out the various sponsorship funds and where they are domiciled.
He concluded: “It may interest you to know sir that when I was posted to the NFF, I wrote a memo requesting that the funds in the custody of the consultants (Financial Derivatives) be transferred back to the federation’s accounts since such funds are public funds and kept with the federation in trust.”