Governing Bodies

Ademola Olajire is director of Publicity for Aisha Buhari Cup

Published

4 years ago

June 28, 2021

Head of the Communication Department of the NFF, Ademola Olajire has been appointed as the Director of Publicity of the Local Organising Committee for the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Tournament.

That was one of the high points of the inauguration of the LOC conducted by the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick on Monday.

At the event, Pinnick urged the LOC to uphold the values of integrity, diligence, hard work, probity and pursuit of excellence.

“I want to emphasize on the need for this committee to always be conscious of the name attached to this tournament.

“The name of Mrs Aisha Buhari, First Lady of the Federal Republic, which is attached to this competition stands for decency, uprightness and patriotism.

“We should organize a tournament that upholds all these virtues and also gives credence to the stature of Nigeria as a nation of intelligent, knowledgeable and enterprising people.

“I enjoin you to work in close collaboration with the Lagos State Government. We will also be doing everything to uphold accountability, so your committee will have to work with NFF’s auditing and financial advisers, PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Financial Derivatives

respectively.

“The NFF and the Nigeria football family expect the best

from you. I inaugurate you on behalf of the NFF Executive Committee and the Nigeria Football Congress.”

Pinnick also disclosed that the tournament will be an annual event.

Responding, Chairman of the LOC, Seyi Akinwunmi, assured that the committee will work assiduously towards raising the needed funds for a successful organization of the tournament, and also put in place a structure that will engender diligence and probity, with close attention to details and accent on proactivity.

“I am enamoured by the calibre of persons in this committee and I have confidence that we will deliver a tournament to be proud of.

“It is important to use this tournament to create one more positive narrative about our country’s ability to deploy its teeming human and material resources to make a statement.”

Present at the inauguration which was done virtually were Pinnick, Akinwunmi, Dr Mohammed Sanusi (NFF General Secretary), Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau (Member), Ms Aisha Falode (Director of Organization), Mrs Amina Daura (Deputy Director of Organization), Hon. Ayo Omidiran (Member), Rt. Hon. Margaret Icheen (Member), AIG Umar Baba (Member), Dr Mohammed Kamal (Member), Ademola Olajire

(Member), Miss Kemi Areola (Member), Mrs Chisom Ezeoke (Member), Ms Ese Okpomo (Member), Mrs Ufuoma McDermott (Member), Olayinka Olagbemiro (Member), Kola Daniel (Member), Ms Ruth David (Secretary) and Mallam Mohammed Ameenu.

Governing Bodies

Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council

Published

11 hours ago

April 26, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.

The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.

Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.

He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.

An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.

He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.

“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”

Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.

“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.

He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.

“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.

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Governing Bodies

Ex-FIFA Council member and Mali football chief released from jail

Published

3 days ago

April 23, 2025

Kunle Solaja

A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.

Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.

He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.

The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.

He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.

Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.

While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.

-Reuters

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Governing Bodies

Nigeria Football Federation denies owing late national captain and coach, Chukwu

Published

2 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Kunle Solaja

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.

Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.

The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.

Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.

“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.

“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”

Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.

“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”

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