Plans by the embattled Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick to gain a ‘vote of Confidence’ vote during the federation’s Emergency Congress in Kaduna this weekend, has been revealed.

Best Choice Sports gathered that with just two hundred and fifty thousand naira (N250, 000), paid to each members of the NFF Executive committee, the ‘deal’ will be done.

Scorenigeria, quoting unnamed source Monday said that “The NFF emergency congress will be staged to pass a vote of confidence on the Pinnick-led NFF board,” a top official informed the paper.

“Passing a vote of confidence on Pinnick and his executives has been a routine, but this latest gimmick is for embattled Pinnick to consolidate from home after the recent events at CAF.

“He wants to immediately show CAF and the rest of the world that he has support from his home.”

Last week, Pinnick was disgraced at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) when he was booted out as 1st Vice President and also sacked from all the standing committees of the continental body including the all-powerful AFCON Organising Committee, which he headed.

Observers said that his vaulting personal ambition to unseat CAF President Ahmad Ahmad meant he only spent 11 months as CAF No 2 man.

In a piece by the president, National Association of Nigeria Footballers, Harrison Jalla, titled Scotch Earth Policy For Those Who Came To Steal, Kill And Destroy Nigeria Football, he alleged that with just N250, 000 members of the congress could compromise and perpetuate corruption and ineptitude on Nigeria football.

“Much ado about proposed NFF Kaduna Congress. But do we really have a congress? If Nigeria football federation has a Vibrant Congress the recent embarrassment to Nigeria from CAF by the sack of Amaju Pinnick would have been avoided. Charity they say begins at home.                 

“A Vibrant Congress would have activated the relevant clauses in the NFF and CAF/FIFA statutes as interim measure suspend all the top officials of the NFF currently facing criminal charges in two separate courts in Nigeria and proceed to dissolve the NFF board and call for fresh elections.                   

“These same NFF officials are still being investigated by the compliance Unit of CAF and the Secretariat of the investigatory Chamber of FIFA. And by the end of these investigations Nigeria will be further subjected to more embarrassment and Disgrace. 

“But Nigerians should not be surprised that with just 250k each to every member of the Congress by Amaju Pinnick and his gang, the proposed Kaduna Congress will hold for less than 15 minutes and a vote of confidence will be passed on this gang.         

“The NFF is not a political party it is a National Asset, the characters that constituted the NFF congress today though 90% of them never merited it, should see National Interest above personal and parochial interest.                               

“But Amaju Pinnick and his gang are very comfortable with these characters that constitute the Congress hence they are unduly interfering in the Elections in Delta, Edo, Rivers, and Ondo states to install their cronies. But the NANF wants to Assure the NFF that it will be fight to finish for undue interference in any F.A Elections. The provision of the NFF, CAF/FIFA statutes is very clear and unambiguous that affiliates should run their affairs independently without external influence.               

“The state football associations are not creations of the NFF they are just affiliates.               

“Those Neophytes and gate crashers into Nigeria Football Administration whose strategy is to divide and rule and occupy the space of Ex-Footballers by seizing and capturing Nigeria Football will face the NANF Scotch Earth policy that will distant them from the game of football forever,” he wrote.

When contacted by our reporter, Mr Jalla said that as a former member of the board, usually N250, 000 is paid to each delegate in such circumstance.

Group Makes N5 Million Bribe Alleagtion

A sports advocacy group has raised an alarm over alleged plans by the embattled president of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, to bribe members of the NFF congress to pass a vote of confidence on his board at an emergency congress this weekend.

The Advocacy Group on Anti-Corruption in Sports in a statement on Monday said Pinnick has sent out invites to chairmen and secretaries of Football Associations across the 36 states of the nation for the Congress scheduled to hold in Kaduna state this coming weekend.

The group alleged that, “We have reliably gathered that Pinnick has budgeted the sum of N5 million for each participant at the upcoming congress in order to save himself from the imminent removal from office over the myriad of corrupt cases he is embroiled in.

“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians and sports stakeholders as well as the federal government to rise up and save the NFF from further decay before Pinnick finally sinks it into abyss.”

The group also urged congress members not to mortgage their conscience, saying money for development should not be used to bribe Congress members.

The group added: “We call on members to reject such bribes so as not to put themselves into trouble because taking such bribes will make our football and youths to suffer.

“Congress members must rise to save the NFF by standing firm against corruption in our football.”

While passing a vote of no confidence on Pinnick, the group said “Pinnick and co should go and appear in court to clear themselves of the corruption charges raised against them and we call on President Muhammadu Buhari to extend his zero tolerance to corruption practice to the NFF to rid the federation of corrupt elements, whose activities drag the image of the nation in the mud.”

Efforts to get the views of NFF President Amaju Pinnick on this matter yielded no results as he failed to pick his calls made to him at 2:04 and 2:21pm on Wednesday by our correspondent.                 

It could be recalled that Pinnick was last week kicked out as the CAF 1^st Vice President by CAF President Ahmad Ahmad a development that made him to abnegate from his duty as CAF AFCON Organising Committee Chairman on the final day on Friday, July 19^th.  

Pinnick alongside other four key officials of the federation are also standing trials in Abuja Federal High Court in a 17-count charge bothering on misappropriation of billions of naira meant for football development in the country. A warrant of arrest was on July 1^st issued on them by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu who adjourned the case till September 26, 2019.