Justice Phillips Joins FIFA Ethics Committee

Immediate past Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips has been elected as a Member of the highly respected Ethics Committee of world soccer governing body, FIFA.

In what amounted to another remarkable accomplishment for Nigerian Football, Justice Phillips’ election was ratified by the congress of FIFA at its 67th Congress in Manama, Bahrain thursday. This is further evidence of the rising profile of Nigeria in international football circles as shown by the recent appointments of the NFF President Amaju Pinnick into important CAF and FIFA roles.

The new FIFA Ethics Committee (Adjudicatory Chamber) is headed by Vassilios Skouris (Greece), the longest-serving President of the European Court of Justice. Fiti Sunia (American Samoa), a Judge and former Attorney General of American Samoa, is deputy chairman.

Other Members are Mohammad Ali Al Kamali (United Arab Emirates: Asia), Aivar Pohlak (Estonia: Europe), Margarita Echeverria (Costa Rica: North and Central America and the Caribbeans), Jack Kariko (Papua New Guinea: Oceania) and Flavio Zveiter (Brazil: South America).

Justice Phillips is presently the Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).
On Monday, Pinnick who was elected as Member of the CAF Executive Committee in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in March, became the first Nigerian to be appointed President of the Organising Committee for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). He was also appointed President of the Media Committee.

He was also recently appointed into the influential Organizing Committee for FIFA Competitions.