Uphold Anambra FA election, ministry tells NFF

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has advised the Nigeria Football Federation to uphold the Anambra Football Association elections held on August 2.

The ministry stated this following a meeting in Abuja attended by all parties involved in the Anambra election crisis.

Incumbent chairman Senator Ifeanyi Ubah was declared winner of the election that was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown and was presented with a Certificate of Return by the Electoral Committee.

But the NFF disassociated itself from the election, saying the Anambra State COVID-19 Task Force had requested for the election to be postponed.

“That (election) was an act of brigandage and the NFF fully dissociates itself from it,” Chairman of Chairmen of Nigerian Football, Ibrahim Gusau, said in a statement on August 3.

“The Electoral Committee sent to the NFF a letter which they received from the Anambra State COVID-19 Task Force, requesting that the elections into the State FA and the local football councils be postponed, in line with the situation in the country, as the ban on sporting activities and mass gatherings, was still alive.”

In a statement titled ‘Resolution of the ministerial meeting on the Anambra State Football Association’ and dated October 15, 2020, the sports ministry said Article 20 of the NFF on June 18, 2019 in a directive to the Katsina FA, stated that election matter was the exclusive right of the congress of the State Football Association.

The statement signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Gabriel Aduda, added that Ubah contested and won the position of the Chairman of Anambra FA.

In the statement, the ministry urged the NFF “to uphold the result of the election conducted by the Anambra State Football Association,” adding that “grievances (if any) should be channelled to the Electoral Committee in line with the NFF Statutes and extant laws.”