Fifa has given Nigeria until midday Friday, October 31, to overturn a court ruling which annulled the recent election into the Executive Committee (EXCo) of its football federation or face international suspension until May 2015.
A Federal High Court in Jos passed a ruling to set aside the Fifa approved Elective Congress of September 30, 2014.
In a letter sent to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Tuesday, Fifa said Nigeria must reinstate the newly elected ExCo board, headed by Amaju Pinnick. The World football governing body has earlier warned it would automatically place a global ban on the country till the next Fifa congress, should there be any hindrances to the newly-elected NFF ExCo.
Fifa letter said: “As stated in our previous letters, Fifa stressed that should the electoral process and the installment of the newly elected NFF board be affected by any interference, the case would be brought to the attention of the appropriate Fifa bodies for a suspension of the NFF until the next Fifa Congress due to take place on 28 and 29 May 2015.
Justice Ambrose Allagoa ruled last month’s elections in Warri illegal because the Jos High Court had prior to election date put in place an order that the polls could not be held- which the NFF ignored.
However, 1st vice-president of the newly elected board Seyi Akinwunmi said the NFF did file for “preliminary objection concerning the jurisdiction of the court”, a stance which the court denied.
The injunction was brought by some persons acting on behalf of Chris Giwa, who claims he was elected NFF president on August 26.
Fifa has said it do not recognise the elective congress which took place on August 26 and warned Giwa and his supporters to quit the NFF office.
Nigeria was previously banned from international football in July after another Jos court ordered the removal of the then NFF president Aminu Maigari.
