Crisis Rocks Lagos FA, Fouad Oki Suspended as Chairman
Olu Osagie
The uneasy calm in the Lagos State Football Association (LSFA) since the election of Fouad Oki as the chairman of the oldest football body in the country snowballed into the removal of the former vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, yesterday.
He was alleged to have been removed in a split 5-4 voting that took place in the boardroom of the Lagos FA secretariat on Ogunlana drive in Surulere.
Oki was also alleged to have slapped his Vice Chairman, Olawale Gaffar, after the voting process that ousted him from office.
The erstwhile Chairman was alleged to have committed among other things offences that violate the rules and regulations of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
He was also accused of violating the NFF statues by not attending the NFF Congress with no excuse and without the knowledge of the LSFA Board.
The APC stalwart in the state was also alleged to have changed the association’s logo without approval of the board and the congress.
He unilaterally denied the Nigerian Premier League (NPFL) A1 Camera delegates access into the Mobolaji Johnson Arena to test-run their camera prior to the commencement of the 2023/24 league season.
An eye-witness account at the Lagos FA secretariat told THISDAY that
after his suspension, Oki, who could not control his emotion descended on Gaffar, slapping and choked him in the neck. The timely intervention of another board member saved Gaffar from his grip. Even a television cameraman who tried to get the shots on tape was not spared as the ousted chairman punched the camera lense.
Speaking with journalists after the drama, Gaffar said, “He (Oki) slapped me after his suspension and choked me and I had to wriggle free from him. The suspension was borne out of series of anomalies that have been going on and we’ve been talking in-house, advising him on how best to run football but does not listen to advice.
“There are few things that came out recently that we did not discuss at the board level that he unilaterally release to the public. We had a meeting after that of which I made my opinion known and this was the next board meeting after that. We the board members sampled our opinions, came in this morning, formed a quorum and voted for his suspension,” observed Gaffar.
All attempts to get Oki’s side of what led to his suspension proved abortive. He refused to speak with any reporter at the secretariat yesterday.
