Petitioners have formally demanded that anti-graft agency ICPC charges former NFF president Amaju Pinnick as well as several other top officials to court for corruption.
The other officials are former NFF vice-president Shehu Dikko, NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, and NFF Executive Committee Member Ahmed Yusuf ‘Fresh’.
In a letter by their counsel and addressed to the Chairman of the ICPC, the petitioners, who include Harrison Jalla, Awala Jumbo, and Tunde Aderibigbe, alleged that they are now being victimized by the top officials for blowing the whistle on them.
They therefore urged ICPC to forthwith charge the officials to court for corruption as the anti-graft agency has since 2021 concluded investigations of corruption against the top officials only for the case file to be abandoned.
This formal demand was received by the office of the ICPC Chairman on November 11, 2023, and the lawyers of the petitioners gave a month’s notice that if the anti-corruption agency failed to charge the officials to court, they would be forced to go before the court to compel ICPC to do so.
The lawyer’s correspondence to the ICPC Chairman was copied to the Senate President, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the Minister of Justice as well as the Sports Minister.
Meanwhile, Amaju Pinnick has proposed to Sports Minister John Enoh that the four-man committee to oversee the Super Eagles 2026 World Cup campaign will among other tasks meet with the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to raise the money to offset the outstanding bonuses and allowances of the national team.
The Super Eagles are owed millions of dollars in bonuses and allowances covering as many as 27 matches and ironically most of these games were played under the NFF presidency of Pinnick.
FIFA Council Member Pinnick has already proposed a four-man committee to be headed by the Sports Minister that will also have himself as well as NFF President Ibrahim Gusau and NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi as members.
This proposal was at a “secret meeting” between Pinnick and the Sports Minister last week in Abuja.
According to www.insideglasshouse.com: “It’s a rather very strange twist of fate that it is the same Amaju who incurred these huge debts as regards the Super Eagles, who now wants to help clear them using the same FGN that had paid fully for most of the monies owed the players.”
The Super Eagles failed to fly in their first two rounds of 2026 World Cup qualifiers after two 1-1 draws with Lesotho and Zimbabwe and are currently third in Group C with two points, behind second-placed South Africa (3 points) and leaders Rwanda (4 points).
The World Cup qualifying series will continue in June 2024.
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