Aminu Maigari, former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), who is one of the contestants in Thursday’s NFF elections in Katsina State, may be cleared for the exercise, according to reports from the venue.
A statement signed by Mohammed Sani Katu, chairman of the NFF electoral committee earlier yesterday had accused Maigari of certificate forgery, but it was learnt that the issue have been resolved to allow peace to reign.
Katu had said in the statement that following the development, the clearance issued to Maigari to vie for NFF presidency had been withdrawn and substituted with a “provisional clearance”, adding that there were discrepancies in the certificates submitted by Maigari.
Katu, who revealed that the committee received two petitions against Maigari, said further that the petitions filed by Chuma Onye and Ahmed Shuaibu Gara Gombe, are dated September 14 and September 17 respectively.
Sequel to receipt of the petitions, the electoral committee said it asked Maigari to defend himself by producing original documents of the Grade Three certificates that he submitted.“However, as at September 18, 2018, Alhaji Aminu Maigari failed to produce the original document,” Katu said.
However, a source close to Maigari told The Guardian on Wednesday that one of the petitioners (names withheld) was paid N500, 000 by one of the contestants to ‘do the damage’ against the former NFF boss, whose tenure produced numerous results for the country, including Super Eagles triumph at 2013 AFCON in South Africa as well as a second round qualification ticket of the team at Brazil 2014 World Cup.
“Everybody involved in this election are aware of what transpired between one of the petitioners and one of the contestants. He was paid N500, 000 to do the dirty job. The electoral committee members are also aware. So, I can tell you that Maigari won’t be disqualified,” the source said.
Four candidates, including the incumbent, Amaju Pinnick, Taiwo Ogunjobi, Chinedu Okoye and Aminu Maigari are battling for the presidential position in today’s election.There were also indications yesterday that the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung may attempt to stop the election, claiming allegiance to a Supreme Court ruling early this year.
Credit: guardian.ng
