Electoral C’ttee Puts Maigari’s Fate in Balance over Forgery Allegation

• Police commissioner assures on security

From Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The aspiration of Alhaji Aminu Maigari to contest for the office of the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the forthcoming Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) election has suffered a hitch after the Electoral Committee substituted the clearance certificate earlier issued to him with a provisional clearance.

Maigari is jostling to be elected for the office with Amaju Pinnick and Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi at the election billed to hold today at Kabir Aliyu Muska Conference hall located within the Local Government Commission in Katsina State.

But the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Muhammad Sani Katu, said in a statement that the resolution was taken after the committee carried out investigation into a petition of certificate forgery against Maigari.

The committee said it acted on two petitions from Chuma Onye and Ahmed Shaibu Gara Gombe on September 14 and 19, 2018 respectively, after the submission of and publication of the list of cleared candidates vying for various offices into the NFF Board.

Katu said that in the course of the screening exercise, the electoral committee discovered irregularities in the certificates presented by Maigari but cleared him and allowed the inclusion of his name in the election via a split decision of 3 votes to 2 by the five members of the electoral committee.

He stressed that the committee reversed itself after Maigari failed to produce the copies of his original certificates for verification when he appeared on September 18 before the committee, which acted on a petition authored by Onye.

The chairman of the electoral body said there were discrepancies in the Grade Three Certificates submitted to it by Maigari, adding the documents were not the same in substance and content with each.

He said the submitted certificates contravened Article 5 (1) (i) of the Guideline for the Nigeria Football Federation Executive Committee Election 2018.du

Meanwhile as the clock ticks down to the election hour into the next cycle of the board of NFF, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state, Muhammad Almustapha, has assured of adequate security.

Twenty four candidates are jostling for 11 available seats on the executive board.

In another development, Bimo FC of Lafia, the amateur club owned by Chinedu Okoye, one of the four contestants for today’s NFF presidential elections, has been thrown out of the Nigerian league.

Bimo FC of Lafia reportedly said it would boycott the remaining matches of the Nigeria National League (NNL) season pending the determination of its petition to FIFA and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on poor officiating in the league.

It carried out the threat and had boycotted three consecutive league matches. It is not clear what effect the sanction will have on the club’s proprietor’s fortunes in the NFF election.