 Ibrahim Galadima has forwarded Fifa's letter to Musa Mohammed |
The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has been threatened with a ban by Fifa if two recent appointments made by the sports ministry are not repealed by Friday.
Football's world governing body is unhappy that Nigeria's Sports Minister Musa Mohammed appointed Segun Odegbami as interim secretary-general of the NFA and Salisu Abubakar as secretary of the Nigerian Premier League board on 21 December.
"These two appointments are in direct violation of Article 17 of Fifa statutes," the body explained in a letter sent to the NFA as well as senior Caf officials Mustapha Fahmy and Amos Adamu.
"Secondly, they violate Article 33 of NFA statutes, ratified in Port Harcourt by the general assembly of the NFA on 18 December 2004."
Fifa is upset because changes made to the NFA statutes last month resulted in the governing body's decision to withdraw its threat to suspend Nigeria from international competition.
The West Africans had been threatened with a ban if they did not repeal the controversial Decree 101, which contravenes Fifa statutes by giving the Nigerian sports ministry the power to appoint - rather than elect - NFA board members.
Yet Mohammed's decision to appoint Odegbami and Abubakar has provoked a strong reaction from Fifa.
The body felt that a meeting in Zurich on 7 December, attended by both the NFA chairman Ibrahim Galadima and Mohammed himself, indicated that the decree "would be repealed and not used by the minister in his former appeal."
Fifa has now asked the NFA to officially notify Mohammed that his "two decisions should be rescinded, with notification to Fifa by 7 January.
"If those decisions are not rescinded according to the deadline, Fifa will be forced to initiate the process defined by the Fifa statutes in case of blatant government interference in the face of one of its member associations."
Since Fifa outlaws government interference in the running of a member associations, the NFA thus faces an international ban.
NFA chairman Ibrahim Galadima has forwarded Fifa's letter to Musa Mohammed and is awaiting a reply.
MMIX
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