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Wolves deny bribery claim

Wolves deny bribery claim

Posted: 2009-07-20 09:50

Delta State Sports Commission chairman Amaju Pinnick has denied giving a N50-million bribe to NFF Secretary-General Bolaji Ojo-Oba to influence the award of a place in the CAF Confederation Cup to Warri Wolves ahead of Sharks.

Wolves finished fourth in the Nigerian Premier League behind Enyimba, while Sharks lost to Enyimba in the Federation Cup Final.
 
With Enyimba having twice qualified for the competition, the NFF decided to award the ticket to Warri Wolves, sparking reports of a N50-million bribe.
 
Pinnick has moved quickly to scorch the reports, describing them as ‘malicious’ in a press statement signed by Timi Ebikagboro, his Special Assistant on Media.
 
"The chairman of the sports commission has said at no time did he offer such a bribe to Ojo-Oba," Ebikagboro's statement read.
 
"According to Mr Pinnick, the last contact he had with Mr Ojo-Oba after the Federation Cup Final was on Monday, 13th of July, 2009 when the NFF secretary general accompanied the honorable sports minister and chairman of the National Sports Commission, Sani Ndanusa alongside the NFF president Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdulahi, Mainasara Illo of the Nigeria 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup LOC, and other football personalities to inspect facilities at the Warri City Stadium in preparedness for the FIFA inspection final visit."
 
Pinnick noted that the visit lasted less than an hour, which would have made it impossible for him to have discussed any such thing with Ojo-Oba.
 
Sharks have already protested the NFF decision.

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ayo: 2009-07-20 11:33

Let all these allegations and brouhaha come to an end,Wolves are going to the confedrations cup not sharks,kabisa!?Bad belle'll do nobody any good.

muhammed: 2009-07-20 12:39

i think nff are to blame in this case because how we have association ruling our football without rules and regulation nff should ashamed of themselves even if there is decision before final it will easy now.

IceQueen: 2009-07-20 13:02

I don't like critcizing the NFF, because I think it's rather too easy and perharps a lazy approach to solving the problems in Nigeria.But I will break my rule here and lay the blame for the current controversy on the door steps of the NFF and their failure to do their job properly.

If the NFF did their job, they would have looked at all scenarios before the season commenced and laid down the law, instead of making decisions on hindsight, which always debatable.

The English FA changed their rules concerning runners-up qualifying for Europe, a couple of seasons ago and nobody contested it because it was done before the season began.

I think it's time the NFF reorganised it's staff structure,drop the civil service mentality and introduce a reward system based on performance, some of these issues which are adiministrative rather than political will stop popping up

I hope they've learnt from this and come up with a complete rule book on the league and other competitions, they can even employ one or two more people to focus on this and have them look at all possible outcomes, during and at the end of a football season.

The word.: 2009-07-20 15:19

The whole allegation doesn't hold water. How can wolves bride NFF for 50million naira when eventual FA cup winner will only get 5million naira. I'm not sure,but I don't think league campion can get more than that. Except Wolves want to make name in continental cup, it doesn't make sense.

Emmy: 2009-07-20 15:56

This latest ill-conceived decison by the NFF to give the second Confederation's cup slot to Warri Wolves instead of Sharks fc is one that will not stand the test of time. It is quite unfortunate that a team that came a distant fourth in the league could be awarded the slot against Sharks that narrowly lost the final of the Federations cup. This unpopular decision has no doubt confirmed that NFF was bribed by Warri Wolves to come up with the verdict. I don't know why NFF would continue to court controversy where there is none.It is even worse that this is coming on the heals of that show of shame between Zamafar/Kaduna united. This is one decision i expect Sharks to pursue even if it means going up to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).If the right thing is not done here, a team that comes last in any of the competitions could be called upon one day to come and represent Nigeria if it pays higher as in the case of Warri Wolves.I am so baffled by lack of sound reasoning exhibited by Bolaji Ojo-Oba to justify their decison. NFF should do the right thing by awarding Sharks the slot otherwise, we could continue to court disaster for our football. The very fact that NFF is broke should not result in trading our football to the highest bidders. Enough of this rubbish.

Pius P: 2009-07-22 19:10

This can only happen in Nigeria. what a shame. The winner of the federation cup represents Nigeria in the caf cup, in the invent such as this where the winner has already qualified for the same tournament. The runner up automatically takes the slot. Which one is fourth place in the league again! Please our NFF needs total Re-branding.