NIGERIA FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS BAN; THIS CLUB IS BIGGER THAN PINNICK- LADIPO

President general of Nigeria football and other sports, supporters club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, has told the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Amaju Pinnick, that the association is bigger than him following the temporary ban placed on his members.

The Guardian newspaper on Thursday, June 8, 2017, reported that the Nigeria football and other sports supporters club should stay away from the 2019 AFCON qualifying match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa which comes up this weekend in Uyo due to a lingering crisis rocking the body

The report reads :The Nigeria football federation through its president Amaju Pinnick on Wednesday in Lagos asked the two warring factional leaders Vincent Okumagba and Rev. Samuel Ikpea to step down and pave way for a new election.

“I have made it clear that the Supporters Club should not come to Uyo for this match on Saturday. I have also told Ladipo to resign and conduct a fresh election. The two warring leaders, Ikpea and Okumagba should also resign because we can’t continue to work with factional leaders,” Pinnick told The Guardian.

In a chat with a seasoned sports journalist who also doubles as the Admin of foremost Nigerian Sports Whatsapp group ' NIGERIA SPORTS MOUTHPIECE',  Adewale Ajayi,  the chairman of the Board of Trustees, who is also the President General of Nigeria football and other sports Supporters Club Rafiu Ladipo, said " please tell Pinnick to stay clear of the supporters club and not to allow sentiments make him dip his hands into troubled waters.

"I hear he is supporting Okumagba because they share the same compound in Delta State but please tell him that we will want to take his comments as published by the Guardian newspaper today ( Thursday) as mare jokes because we know he can never be serious with such".

"The supporters club is bigger than Pinnick, a body formed 52 years ago cannot be told how to organise its house, he stated further.

"Pinnick cannot support illegality because of tribal sentiments, we will fight him with all we have. When we read his comments on the Guardian newspaper this morning (Thursday), we immediately called a press conference where we warned sternly that illegality cannot be condoned or accepted.

"We have 12 members electoral committee set up to conduct the elections, out of the 12, eleven were in Lagos and just one was in Abuja so tell me how the election in Abuja can be considered as credible in the real sense of the word.

"We don't want what happened on August 14, 2014 at the Chida Hotel to repeat itself, we remember how Pinnick and others vehemently fought Giwa and other usurpers, now he wants to bring his brother in through the backdoor, we will fight him squarely," Ladipo told NIGERIA SPORTS MOUTHPIECE.

The is a fresh twist in a lingering crisis that have lasted over three years. It is not clear yet, if this whole thing will be nipped in the bud anytime soon.