Pinnick-led NFF Board Clears Air on NFF Debts, Insists Govt is a Continuum

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Nigerian football stakeholders have not heard the last on the N17billion intervention fund released by the Federal Government to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board under the watch of Ibrahim Musa Gusau, the immediate past president of the federation.

In a right of reply to THISDAY’s report yesterday, a former member of the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF board between 2014 and 2022, also cleared air on claims by the Gusau board that the bulk of the N17billion intervention fund was spent in servicing debts incurred by the Delta State-born football administrator.

Because of investigations by anti-graft agencies to unravel how the Gusau board spent the money, the source from the Pinnick board has also craved anonymity.

The top football administrator insisted that Gusau board was economical with the truth to say that the Pinnick-led board incurred the humongous debts that gulped all the cash.

“First, I want to state clearly that it is not true that our board led by Mr. Amaju Pinnick incurred all the debts that the Gusau board claimed it serviced with the bulk of the intervention funds from the Federal Government.

“As you are aware, government is a continuum. So it is with the Nigeria Football Federation board. When we came on board in 2014, we inherited debts, some as old as 2008. We didn’t go shouting to the roof -top. Don’t forget under the acrimonious situation that our board emerged. Sports Minister at the time, Solomon Dalung, wanted Chris Giwa as NFF President. He did everything to frustrate our efforts to attract sponsors. When Dalung left, we had serious issues with Sunday Dare as new sports minister, who wanted Shehu Dikko and Dr Mohammed Sanusi, out at all cost. But we didn’t resign to fate. Aside Guinness, who indicated to stop their sponsorship with NFF, there were no sponsors. 

We rolled up our sleeves and went to work. That was how Mr. Pinnick used his networks in Corporate Nigeria to attract several sponsors, including AITEO, Nigeria Breweries Plc, MTN, Zenith Bank, later Stanbic IBTC, Air Peace, NIKE, GAC, Premier Lotto and a host of other sponsors to the federation. In addition to other sources of funding from FIFA, CAF and the Federal Government, we did our best to take Nigeria football away from a beggarly position when we came in to one that was almost 80 per cent self-sustaining,” revealed the former NFF board member.

The source said unlike Pinnick, Gusau had the luxury of having a peaceful atmosphere to run the NFF with former Sport Minister, Senator John Owan Enoh giving him the free hand while NSC Chairman, Shehu Dikko, a through-bred football personality, similarly allowed Gusau to run his show.

On the unpaid salaries of former Super Eagles Head Coach, Jose Peseiro, the source insisted that “the sponsorship money from AITEO was basically for the offsetting of coaches emoluments and that a few delays in the payment of the yearly fee of about $600,000 didn’t mean that the oil & gas company didn’t fulfill its obligations to the NFF, even after we left office.”

“Gusau was part of our board led by Mr Pinnick. He cannot claim not to know that AITEO had some challenges in their operations in Bayelsa State at some point during the relationship. AITEO sponsorship was essentially for the payment of coaches salaries and after we left office and Gusau came on as President, his board still collected some outstanding fees in excess of N1billion from AITEO. 

Instead of castigating the Pinnick-led board, the board member insisted that the former CAF and FIFA Council member should be commended for the cleaning up of the NFF brand and making it attractive for Corporate Nigeria to partner.

“I can tell you that Mr. Pinnick brought in Bismack Rewane’s Financial Derivatives as well as PwC to mind NFF financial books unlike what happened in the past. These openness and transparency endeared our board to Corpoate Nigeria. Since Pinnick left NFF, where are the sponsors that have partnered the football federation beyond Premium Trust Bank that were in the works before we left office? All the other sponsors and partners that we attracted have either left or on the verge of ending their relationships with the NFF.

“I also want the Gusau-led board to tell Nigerians what it did with the sponsorship funding amounting to billions of Naira collected from MTN, Nigeria Brewery, Baba Ijebu’s Premier Lotto, Coca-Cola, as well as the $4m Nigeria received from CAF as prize money when Super Eagles finished the AFCON 2023 as runners up in Cote d’Ivoire in addition to other funding from FIFA over the years,” revealed the top football source from Abuja