By Oluwashina Okeleji BBC Sport

The NFA's Sanni Lulu says the league cannot start on 6 January

There could be yet another delay to the start of the new Nigerian league season because of a row between the Nigeria Football League (NFL) and the football association.

On Thursday the NFL board announced 6 January as the latest date for the start of the season but the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) says problems with a sponsorship deal need to be resolved first.

Last month the NFL secured a US$17m sponsorship deal with mobile phone company MTN but another company Padmozi, say they are the official marketers for the NFA, and that they have the rights to the league until 2007.

The confusion over who has the rights to negotiate the sponsorship contract stems from the fact the NFL was made independent from the NFA in 2004.

"First, it is impossible for the league to kick off before the NFA's general assembly," NFA chairman Sanni Lulu told BBC Sport.

"Also, there's a pending query with the regards the sponsorship of the league and until that is ironed out, the kick off date remains a mirage.

"I insist the statues should be followed for the sake of transparency. We need to sort all the problems for the sake of Nigerian football.

"Until that is resolved the league will not go on because the NFL still operates under the NFA."

However the NFL's chairman Oyuki Obaseki insists the trouble is far from over.

"The NFL followed due process as we advertised the league for interested sponsors which MTN won," Obaseki told BBC Sport.

"The NFA cannot stop my league. I have the right to my own opinion and did everything according to the books.

"I challenge the NFA and Padmozi to come up with the contract which gives them to the rights to the league

"We got peanuts for the period Globacom sponsored the league and we are not going to go back to those dark days," Obaseki adds.