The Glass House secretariat of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) in Zone 7, Wuse, Abuja went up in
flames on Wednesday morning to the surprise of
staffers and visitors, destroying furniture and
documents, even though the General Secretary
Musa Amadu says that no sensitive document was
destroyed.
As early as 9.15 am on Wednesday when staffers
were about settling down for the day’s business,
pall of smoke was seen emanating from the wing of
the secretariat housing the offices of the General
Secretary, Head of Accounts and the ICT unit. From
that point pandemonium ensued as no fire fighting
device was in sight. By 10.05 men of the FCT fire
service arrived at the scene, but could not access
the main building until about 10.12 am and by then,
that wing was up in flames, running down to the
Marketing department.
Before their arrival, men and officers of the Federal
Road Safety Commission (NYSC) had to avail the
football house of 12 fire exinguishers which could
not do much.
Speaking after his men had fought the inferno which
lasted close to two hours, Mr Opetusi Julius, Deputy
Director, Operations FCT Fire Sevice, lamented that
the nation’s football house had no functional fire
hydrant device of any kind.
According to him, ‘’The fire extinguisher in
possession of the NFF expired in 2012, and even the
parking arrangement on the grounds of the
secretariat hindered access, hence the delay in
reaching the point of inferno. My men had to spend
another eight minutes before they could access the
building and in emergency situations, eight minutes
is a long time.’’
Alhaji Aminu Maigari, NFF president, Emeka Inyama
and Ahmed Yusuf Fresh arrived at 11.20 a.m.
The source of the fire could not be pinned down and
this saw the General Secretary Barrister Musa
Amadu trading words with the Head of Accounts, Mr
Andekan Christopher, who is just three months in
the saddle.
According to Musa, “the fire started from the office
of the head of accounts. It started from a socket in
your office.’’ But Christopher said: ‘’All electrical
appliance in my office were put off on Tuesday
before closing, so it couldn’t have emanated from
here.’’
Offices mostly affected are those of the General
Secretary, Head of Accounts, Marketing and ICT
Department, National and International
Competitions. Staffers were seen bemoaning the
current fate of the house, especially against the
backdrop of recent in-fighting within the board of the
NFF.
Speaking to newsmen on the development, NFF
president Maigari lamented the ugly situation and
assured that soon, the board will meet to map out
the next line of action.
The fire incident is the latest in the series of crisis
that has engulfed Nigeria’s football-ruling body and
which has constantly placed it on the front burner
since the end of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Between July and now, the NFF has witnessed a lot
of crises, including the sacking of the executive
board, followed by the impeachment of Maigari.
But these two separate incidents drew the ire of
world football-governing body FIFA which
suspended Nigeria from particiapting in all its
competitions as a result of the dissolution of the
board. Another FIFA letter addressed to the NFF
secretary-general saw Maigari return to the helm on
Monday.
In between these two incidents, two members of the
executive board were banned for alleged activities
inimical to the interests of the board, while some
stakeholders who had been placed under ban were
pardoned.
We can unravel cause if NFF wants —FCT fire
service
The Federal Capital Territory Fire Service authorities
say the nation’s football house is at liberty to invite
them to come and unravel the cause of
Wednesday’s fire incident, but this request has to be
turned to the FCT Minister Senator Bala
Mohammed.
This was made known to newsmen at the grounds of
the NFF secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to the Deputy Controller Operations, Mr
Opetusi Julius, the Glass House is not sufficiently
equipped to fight any eventualities like fire outbreak
and sundry accidents. He wondered why an
institution like the NFF cannot be reasonably
equipped to fight fire.
“This is a house that commands all the attention of
Nigerians because of the game of football, yet in
terms of safety, it is zero,” Julius said.
He wondered why it will take such a long time to
invite the fire service to the situation on the ground
considering the institution involved. ‘’Nigerians will
ask questions’’
Reasoning further, he said the parking style of the
house could inhibit any kind of emergency
evacuation, with all manner of exotic cars crammed
around a single building.
Upon arrival, men of the fire service had to contend
with accessing the main building, and before they
could get there, sizeable damage had been done.
Eight fire fighter trucks from the FCT Fire service
were on call, while Julius Berger fire service also
weighed in with one fire fighting truck and one water
tanker, before the inferno could be controlled.
SOURCE
http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/13931-fire-guts-nff-office-we-can-unravel-cause-if-nff-wants-fct-fire-service

Naija and dia bitter politics

Somebody's definitely trying to cover his tracks.

I will be shocked if this fire was an accident

I will be shocked if this fire is an accident