The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to intervene in the crisis rocking the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). The resolution followed the adoption of a motion raised by Ossy Prestige (APGA Abia) under matters of urgent public importance urging the House to immediately intervene to resolve the tussle for the control of the Glass House between the current NFF president Amaju Pinnick and his rival, Chris Giwa. According to Prestige, the seemingly endless squabble among rival groups battling for the soul of the NFF has affected the administration of football negatively, hence the need for the House to mediate on the issue. Speaking in favour of the motion, Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP Delta) suggested that the House fully step into the matter, noting that football management is of utmost importance to Nigerians as the sport has brought the country glory including an Olympic gold medal and coveted prizes such as the FIFA Under-17 trophy. Also calling for prompt action, other lawmakers, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC Adamawa) and Diri Douye (PDP Bayelsa) said aside being a foreign exchange earner for Nigeria, through the sale of players and remittances from players plying their trade in different parts of the world, the sport is also a unifying factor. The lawmakers equally blamed Nigeria’s 67th position in the recently released FIFA ranking on the instability in the NFF. “This motion is timely as there is only one language in this country. When that language is spoken everyone accepts that he/she is a Nigerian and that language is football. So we must not only look into the current crises but the fundamental issues that have prevented the NFF from running football like a business, like it is being done in other countries” Douye said.
When the motion was put to vote by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara it was unanimously passed by the lawmakers and referred to the Committee on Sports for further legislative action. Meanwhile, Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mohammed Sani-Omolori yesterday took a bow in the green chambers to signal his exit. He was appointed the Acting Clerk of the National Assembly on Wednesday April 20. As contained in the resolution of the 440th meeting of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) held in April, Sani-Omolori’s appointment took effect from 13th May 2016 and is to last till 15th August, 2016.