Nigeria face ban after government defies Fifa

The government of Nigeria is not backing off its sacking of Nigeria Football Federation President Aminu Maigari despite Fifa threatening an international ban for the nation's football squad.

Nigeria's football team pose for a squad photo during World Cup qualifying on November 16, 2013. Sunday Alamba / AP

Nigeria is not backing down after sacking its entire national football federation leadership, ignoring a Fifa directive and moving closer to a ban from internationals for the reigning African champions.

A weekend meeting of football and government officials in the capital Abuja endorsed the earlier sacking of Nigeria Football Federation President Aminu Maigari and his executive committee for not solving a player payment dispute during the World Cup. Officials said in a statement Sunday they were planning new elections.

The NFF is now being led by an official appointed by the sports minister.

World body Fifa, which doesn’t allow governments to interfere in football affairs, said it would not recognise Saturday’s meeting and has given Nigeria until Tuesday to reinstate Maigari or face sanctions. That would likely involve banning the country’s national team and clubs from playing in continental or international tournaments, and could leave players like Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel and Liverpool’s Victor Moses frozen out of next year’s African Cup of Nations in Morocco, where Nigeria’s football squad are due to defend their title.

Maigari was also arrested on his return from the World Cup in Brazil and delegates at the emergency meeting said they blamed him for embarrassing Nigeria at the tournament by not resolving the bonus dispute.

Nigeria reached the second round for the first time since 1998 but had their campaign marred by the payment dispute, where players rebelled against the federation after not receiving their money for making the last-16 of the showcase.

A statement from the meeting said Maigari’s NFF had failed to, “fully and firmly resolve issues of finance with the Super Eagles ahead of the championship”.

The officials also said they want an investigation into the finances of the NFF under Maigari.

The temporary NFF administration said Sunday that the meeting endorsing his firing was valid, opposing the stance of Fifa, which said the congress had no authority.

“Don’t forget that in as much as we respect Fifa’s law, we cannot jettison our own law here,” said Obinna Ogba, a delegate at the congress.

Nigeria and Algeria progressed from their groups at the World Cup to give Africa two teams in the last-16 for the first time. However, the continent’s reputation was also badly damaged as Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana all had their tournaments undermined by disputes between players and officials over money.

Cameroon and Ghana, who both failed to win a game in Brazil, have ordered investigations into their World Cup embarrassments.

Nigeria were temporarily banned by Fifa for government interference after the 2010 World Cup when the country’s president said he was withdrawing the team from international competition until it improved.

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