Football
Colin Udoh, Special to ESPN 8y

Nigeria's Appeals Court confirms NFF's position as legitimate administrators

Nigeria's Appeal Court on Monday set aside the ruling of a federal high court re-listing a case against the Nigeria Football Federation which was struck out in October 2014.

The judgement means that the controversy over who actually leads the NFF has been brought to an end, with Amaju Pinnick and his executive committee confirmed as the legitimate administrators of Nigerian football.

In October 2015, a federal high court granted an interim injunction restraining Pinnick and his executive committee from acting as the NFF leadership pending the determination of the main suit.

That case was struck out after an out of court settlement which saw the plaintiffs withdraw their suit from court.

But on April 8, 2016, they returned to court and to re-list the case and were duly granted relief pending determination of the main suit. The NFF appealed.

In setting aside the earlier ruling, Justices A. G. Msheli, Joseph Tine Tur and R. M. Abdullahi all agreed with the NFF and faulted the ruling of the high court in re-listing the case, awarding damages of N50,000 each against the two plaintiffs, Yahaya Adama and Obinna Ogba.

The judgement coincided with a two-day visit to Nigeria by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who declared hours before that there was no controversy over who the real leaders of Nigerian football are.

"I don't think there is any crisis in football management in Nigeria," Infantino said.

"There is an elected president in place and he is functioning.

"In a big country like Nigeria, you are bound to see opposition. That's what you see."

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