NNAJI HAILS SPORTS MINISTER

Ray Nnaji who is to withdraw his case against Nigeria Football Federation from court has commended the sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi for initiating the peaceful resolution that has now put an end to the lingering football crisis in Nigeria.

Nnaji had filed a suit in court before last Wednesday when the minister resolved the crisis in a meeting where he asked the NFF to agree to pay him compensation. Also to be paid compensation and made Honourary member of the football body is Sam Sam Jaja who had already gotten the judgment that described NFF as an illegal body. Jaja has also been made to embrace peace and would not enforce the judgment.

'I listened to many people and the Minister who really preached peace and made all to see reason to allow peace to reign,' Nnaji said adding, 'the minister did what his predecessors could not do. I thank him for his initiative. We are all members of the football family and we will all work for the game to move forward. I also thank Senator Pius Anyim, the Secretary to Government of the Federation who also played a great role in the peace that we have achieved.'

Julius Ogunro, the Special Adviser to the minister on media, extolled the approach of the minister and said that what mattered most was 'achieving peace so that we can move on.'

Ogunro said that the minister had sleepless nights trying to pull all strings to ensure that peace returned to Nigerian football.

'The minister was not happy that Nigerian football was in crisis. He used the resignation threat to achieve peace and I commend him for that,' Ogunro said, adding 'before now we could not qualify for the last Nations Cup and we also had many poor results as crisis persisted. Now, we have a new dawn and the minister did a lot to get things done.'

Mike Itemuagbor, the CEO of Pamodzi, the sports marketers, also said that no price was too much for peace and that the minister deserved commendation for achieving peace in Nigeria's football.

'Under the circumstance, it was better to achieve peace and move on than wallow in crisis and get us banned by Fifa,' Itemuagbor said in reaction to those who argue that compensating those who resorted to litigation was a bad precedent in the sense that Fifa and Caf statutes prohibit taking football matters to ordinary courts of law.