Waiting for Dalung
By George Aluo
The Ibrahim Galadima led ministerial committee on Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says it is ready with a comprehensive report that is capable of ending the crisis rocking Nigerian football if implemented.
It would be recalled that the Galadima committee was put together by Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung in the heat of the leadership crisis rocking the NFF, with a mandate to deliver in two weeks.
A member of the committee who pleaded anonymity told Daily Sunsports yesterday that in spite of the fact that the committee was not given the wherewithal to do the job by Dalung after being inaugurated, the body went ahead to carry out the assignment.
“The Sports Minister inaugurated the committee and gave us the mandate to submit our report in two weeks. We only requested for one extra week to do a thorough job because our integrity was at stake. We swung into action in spite of the fact that we were not given a dime to do the job. We invited a total of 35 persons and they all made presentations to us and as we speak our report , a comprehensive one that can end all the feud in our football is ready. It has been ready for months now, but surprisingly the Minister has not called for it. We have even sent emissaries to him to say that in the interest of the nation, we have done the job on our own but he (Dalung) has not still called for it. I don’t know if he (the Minister) is still interested in getting our report,” the committee member said.
He stressed that the Galadima led committee is made up of eminent and respected football buffs that can not be bought over. In his words: “Don’t forget that our committee has the likes of Adegboye Onigbinde, Tijanni Yusuf, Musa Amedu, Bolaji Ojo-Oba and Paul Bassey as members. These are men who have integrity and understands how things work in both CAF and FIFA where Nigeria is a strong and respected member. The report we have put together if implemented will end the crisis rocking Nigerian football and all those unnecessarily trying to hold the nation’s football to ransom will stop doing so.”
Dalung had after inaugurating the committee blamed paucity of funds for not funding it.