Chris Giwa has assumed office as President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) following a Federal Government order on Monday.
The Office of the Attorney General through the Minister for Youth and Sports directed the Amaju Pinnick-led faction to vacate the Glass House immediately.
The Supreme Court in April upheld the ruling of the Federal High Court in Jos in favour of the embattled Giwa.
And the Jos-born administrator wasted little time in assuming the country’s apex football house.
Giwas and his board members stormed the NFF Glass House, Abuja, held a meeting and later addressed staff.
They were led to the NFF secretariat by a bailiff from the Apex Court while security was provided by dozens of armed policemen to effect the court order.
Present at the inaugural board meeting were Senator Obinna Ogba (who chairs Senate Committee on Sports), Mr Adama Yahaya, Effiong Johnson and Alhaji Sani Fema.
Surprisingly, Otunba Sunday Dele-Ajayi, a member of the Amaju Pinnick-led board attended the meeting, suggesting he has switched alliance.
The NFF board led by Mr Pinnick is, however, yet to react to the new development as the president and top officials of the Federation are still in Russia for the ongoing World Cup.
The long-running dispute over who is in charge of the NFF dates back to 2014.
Giwa first claimed to have won election to the top job.
However, FIFA did not endorse the vote and threatened suspension unless it was re-run.
Pinnick won the re-run, although the vote was also deemed to have been flawed. Giwa then launched court action over the result.
FIFA statutes dictate that member states should “manage their affairs independently with no influence from third parties”.
It has previously warned Nigeria that if implemented, court rulings would likely be considered to be an interference in the NFF’s internal affairs, which could attract sanctions.
NFF lawyer Festus Keyamo has published a letter dated June 5 and purportedly from FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura which stated it recognised Pinnick and his executive committee.
It also reaffirmed a FIFA ban on Giwa, which the Nigerian court called “unconstitutional, null and void”.
Nigeria has previously been banned for government interference in the running of the NFF.
The country’s under-20 team is currently preparing for the under-20 World Cup in France in August.
The senior men’s side, the Super Eagles, who crashed out of the World Cup in the group stages, start the qualifying campaign for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in September.
