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By Joe Apu
President General of the Nigeria Football and Other Sports Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo has dismissed claims by ex-NFF president Amaju Pinnick that Nigeria would have qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup if he were still at the helm of the Nigeria Football Federation.
Reacting to Pinnick’s assertion, Ladipo described the claim as misleading, pointing out that Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar during Pinnick’s tenure.
“It is important to deal with facts,” Ladipo said. “Under Amaju Pinnick’s leadership, Nigeria did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That reality alone makes it difficult to justify the claim that things would automatically be different now if he were still in charge.”
Ladipo stressed that World Cup qualification is a collective responsibility that transcends individual leadership, noting that Nigeria’s football challenges require sincere introspection rather than a revision of recent history.
“Nigerians have not forgotten that we were eliminated by Ghana in the playoffs for Qatar 2022 while he was in office,” he added. “So attributing our current challenges to the absence of one individual does not reflect the true situation.”
Ladipo urged football administrators and stakeholders to adopt a more constructive approach to addressing Nigeria’s qualification struggles, with emphasis on rebuilding systems, youth development and transparent governance.
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Meanwhile, Ladipo has paid glowing tribute to Nigerian journalists for their role in documenting and amplifying his contributions to sports development over the past five decades.
Speaking during a media interaction in Lagos to mark the visit of over 60 members of the Ghana Supporters Club, the veteran supporters’ leader described media coverage of his activities as instrumental to the recognition he has received both locally and internationally.
“I want to thank Nigerian journalists because everything that has happened to me in the last 50 years in sports, and the way my activities have been reported, is already yielding favourable results,” he said. “That is why I thank God for keeping us alive and active.”
Ladipo disclosed that just last month in Casablanca, Morocco, he was elected and nominated as a Patron of the Confederation of African Sports Supporters (CASS), a milestone he attributed to years of dedication to organised and disciplined supportership across the continent.
Reflecting on previous honours, he recalled that in 1996 he was recognised in the United States for Leadership and Advancement of Nigeria following the country’s historic gold medal triumph at the Atlanta Olympic Games. He also noted that the Nigerian Supporters Club was named Africa’s Best Behaved Supporters’ Club in 1994.
According to him, the 1996 award ceremony in the United States was particularly memorable, as he was conveyed in an open-roof motorcade from Cleveland Airport to the event venue, accompanied by hundreds of vehicles in recognition of his contributions to sports and national image-building.
Ladipo added that he received another major honour in Ghana in 2008 and revealed that he has since proposed that a CASS award instituted in his honour be hosted in Nigeria, a move he believes would further strengthen the country’s leadership role in African sports supportership.
