The Chris Giwa-led faction of the
Nigeria Football Federation has
overturned the decision of the body
earlier taken by the opposing faction of
Amaju Pinnick to reinstate Stephen
Keshi as the Super Eagles coach.
The Amaju-led faction replaced Keshi
with Amodu Shaibu a fortnight ago
after leading the Super Eagles to a 3-1
victory over Sudan in Abuja. The win
was the team’s first in four matches in
the qualifying series for the 2015 Africa
Cup of Nations.
The Giwa faction took over the NFF
following Thursday’s ruling by a Jos
Federal High Court, which ordered the
return of the status quo in the NFF
before the September 30 election that
brought in the Amaju-led board in
Warri.
A part of the communique released on
Friday by the Giwa-led board reads,
“The NFF board reviewed and feels so
strongly to sustain the out-of-contract
assignment given to the technical
crew of the Super Eagles led by
Stephen Keshi at a very critical
moment like this. Nigerians want the
national team to play well, win and a
pride to them.”
The board also dissolved all
committees set up by the Amaju group
and constituted new ones to manage
the nation’s football.
Giwa told Sunday PUNCH on the
telephone on Saturday that he would
have no problem bringing Keshi back
to manage the Super Eagles despite
the coach saying he was prepared to
move on after the NFF failed to renew
his contract.
“I don’t have problem bringing Keshi
back; he has not told me he was not
interested. I’ve spoken with him and
there are positive signs he is ready to
lead the team to success,” Giwa said.
“I’ve never met Keshi before but I
cannot agree with the idea of replacing
the coach at a time we have crucial
matches to play and qualify for the
Nations Cup.
“Inasmuch as I don’t have anything
against Amodu, I don’t think it is the
right time to bring him on board.
Amodu has not coached any team in
that capacity for a long time, and this
is a crucial time when we need to be
on top of everything.”
The Amaju group, however, said it was
not losing sleep over the activities of
the Giwa faction.
The group confirmed on Saturday it
has filed a Stay of Execution at the
Federal High Court, Jos Judicial
Division over the court’s ruling of
Thursday.
The hearing of the case Stay of
Execution comes up on Wednesday.
“We’re not losing sleep over this, we’ll
get what we want from the court
because we’ve not done anything
wrong by conducting the NFF
elections,” a member of the Amaju-led
board said. www.punchng.com/news/nff-crisis-giwa-resumes-recalls-keshi/

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