Chris Maduewesi
Member
Since after the 2014 World Cup,the signs were there,very ominous that the executive board of the NFF has lost the faith of a lot of football stakeholders with the sounds of a heavy impending rain bellowing.
Plans to sack the executive board reached a crescendo when on arrival from Brazil,Maigari was picked at the airport by security operatives . Although he was subsequently released after being detained,it looked like a point of no return for him.
It seemed that plans to oust Maigari and his cronies from office was already perfected when a court ruling in Jos sacked the entire NFF board,but it took the intervention of FIFA and the threat of a ban before they were brought back to power.
But fate dealt Maigari a cruel blow when on Thursday during an NFF executive meeting, a vote of no confidence was passed on him.
So here below we try to draw up some of the things that went against him in his four years in charge of Nigerian football.
*He had a lot of enemies:
It is no secret that Maigari had few friends up until his last days in power. Even within the NFF circle,Maigari lost some of his allies,in fact some opined that he operated a cabal-like structure in running the affairs of the football federation.
The hefty ban from all football activities placed on the likes of Taiwo Ogunjobi and Victor Rumson Baribote all but created more foes than friends for him.
Some saw the bans on the duo as very cruel,with 10 and 15 years bans from football considered very harsh,which ended up making some parties to pitch their tents with people they are loyal to.
Perhaps the manner the previous board led by Sanni Lulu was voted out of office all but ensured Maigari had enemies from day one.
*Bad Financial management:
For the records,Maigari's board are not the only ones guilty of this menace. In fact it pre-lived their own administration,but the aspect of managing funds facilitated his exit as the NFF president.
A statement from the NFF after Maigari was impeached read that he was accused of: "uncalled-for secrecy surrounding all financial dealings of the Federation and failure to call meeting of the Executive Committee for the past eight (8) months, during which so many weighty decisions on Nigeria football had been taken by a small cabal within the Board".
Further defending their reason for sacking Maigari the NFF said : "the Committee approved the immediate dismissal of Alhaji Aminu Maigari, from the NFF Executive Committee on grounds of financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration."
So much money went unaccounted for and being the president,most of the financial approvals had to be rectified by him,if you understand what that means.
*Arrogance and Pride:
Maybe one of the things that really went against him,Maigari on so many occasions bragged that he is answerable to FIFA and nobody else.
His pride only ended up making a rod for his own back which was effectively used on him
With FIFA frowning at any government interference on football,it was a cloak that Maigari hid under to go about the way he ran Nigerian football.
And this was one aspect that didn't go down well with the sports ministry whom the football federation interfaced with.
A typical example where he displayed this trait very well was when he swore never to have Sylvanus Okpala back as the assistant coach of the Super Eagles .
Okpala even had to take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sports(CAS) for him to get his entitlements after he was laid off.
*Sports minister:
It is not a secret that Maigari and the current sports minister Tamuno Danagogo never got going .
In fact it has been alleged in some quarters that both men exchanged words over the phone and threats made when the problems escalated after Nigeria's loss to France at the World Cup tournament.
It was no surprise when Aminu Maigari was picked up by security officials on arrival from Brazil.
Some questioned the speed with which a new sole administrator was appointed after a Federal High Court ruling that sacked the NFF executives,with accusing fingers pointed at the sports ministry as masterminding the plot to unseat Maigari from power.
Maybe Maigari would have had a safer landing if he were to be singing from the same song-sheet with Danagogo.
*Keshi:
Perhaps his greatest undoing,the way the NFF handled matters about Stephen Keshi always seemed to stem controversies.
Keshi quickly endeared himself to the hearts of so many Nigerians that when an issue between him and his employers comes to the front-burner,majority of the people tilted to Keshi,be he wrong or right.
Keshi at one point was owed over seven months of his salary,he had to go to the press to voice his frustration before something was done and his entitlements settled.
In fact the bickering between Keshi and the NFF was on a level of deep animosity that they would have long severed ties between themselves if not for pressures on the federation to still.
Who would forget the treatment Keshi at the 2013 African Nations Cup,where reports emerged that the flight tickets of the Super Eagles was booked even before Nigeria took to the pitch against Ivory Coast.
Heads were constantly butted,Keshi and his employers hardly trusted themselves and everything happened under the leadership of Maigari.
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All these in one way or the other contributed in hastening Maigari's fall grace.