Sultan Urges Peace In Football, Wants NFF To Focus Grassroots

The Sultan of Sokoto, His Royal Eminence Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has called on all stakeholders in football in the country to sheate their swords and rally round the Aminu Maigari-led Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation.

Speaking on Tuesday, during a courtesy visit by members of the NFF Executive Committee led by the President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, the Sultan also charged the NFF to wake up and plan hard to return Nigeria football back to the top in the coming year.

“It is good that your Board has realized the shortcomings and the pitfalls of the outgoing year. The first step to solving a problem is to accept that there is a problem, andfrom there, you move to tackle it. Now, it is time for your Board to come up to solutions that will propel our football even to heights that it had never been before”, said the Sultan, himself a consumate football man who was Camp Commandant of the Nigeria contingent to the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, in his days in the military. That was the Games where Nigeria won two gold medals, one coming from football – a first for Africa.

His Eminence also reminded the NFF chieftains of the importance of football in Nigeria life. “Your Board should realize football is one of the strongest unifying factors in our country. The Government must capitalize on this, and not relegate football to the background. Over the years, sports as a whole has become used to fire-brigade approach. This must stop. NFF must learn to prepare early for big matches and tournaments.

“I strongly suggest that you also go back to the grassroots, to discover, nurture and monitor talents. Good players are everywhere in this country; they only need to be discovered. Also, I believe you should organize a Stakeholders’ Summit, where you can garner a lot more ideas to help on the way forward for the game”, said Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar.


Speaking earlier, NFF President Aminu Maigari thanked the Sultan for his support for Nigeria football and the National Teams, and said the present NFF administration would have achieved far more than two continental trophies and string of impressive performances at FIFA tournaments, if not for distractions of court cases and idle groups, with players who lack commitment and fervour and coaches who lack fresh ideas not helping matters. “But we are determined more than ever to put these behind us and work hard to take Nigeria football even higher than we met it.

“We earnestly seek Your Eminence’s support for our drive to re-engineer the Nigeria game with bold moves and concrete steps that would lead us to the actualization of a roadmap that we have designed.

“In previous years, successive administrations have failed to take bold steps and initiate reforms on the premise that Nigerians would have no patience for us to rebuild. But we have taken the bull by the horn and we believe things can only get better for the Nigeria game henceforth”, assured Maigari.

At the Sultan’s Palace for the occasion was the first Executive President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. There were also NFF Executive Committee members, Alhaji Muazu Suleyman, Dr. Shehu Adamu, Alhaji Ahmed Yusuf Fresh, Hon. Suleiman Yahaya Kwande and Alhaji Ahmad Muazu Kawu, as well as NFF’s Director of Competitions, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi. NFF President’s aides Ibrahim Gusau and Nasiru Jibril were also there.