FA Council Election: We followed due process, Musa replies aggrieved stakeholders

By Olayinka Owolewa

The Chairman of Kwara Football Association, Malam Idris Musa, has disclosed that the allegations of manipulating the forthcoming Local Government football council election leveled against him by some stakeholders are false.

The Kwara FA boss said this while addressing newsmen in Ilorin on Thursday.

He stated that his office only strictly adhered to the directives of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The state Football Supremo explained that the FA strictly followed the directive and guidelines of the Nigeria Football Federation on the conduct of the election, based on the required prerequisite which must be met by the council’s FA before they could be cleared to participate.

“We received a directive from the NFF to conduct an election from the Local Government Football Council and the extraordinary Congress meeting of FA swung into action by setting up the Electoral and Appeal Committee to execute the process,” he explained.

Musa confirmed that members were briefed in three different meetings on the procedures which must be followed tenaciously and including annual subscription of affiliate fees, effective participation in football-related matters, and screening of aspirants by proxy.

“Disqualified Councils did not meet the requirements and even failed to channel their grievances through the appeal committee set up to hear their allegations,” Musa said.

He implored the stakeholders to study and digest the statues of the NFF, especially in the areas of the electoral process to avoid misinformation and baseless allegations that tend to aggravate tension, and to guarantee a free, fair and transparent transition.

On Kwara Stadium pitch re-grassing, the Kwara FA boss said the pitch will be ready next season, attributing the delay to the initial slow in the approval of the project by the critical stakeholders.

He commended AU Mustapha for giving back to his community through the project, noting that when the re-grassing is finally completed, it would attract national and international football tournaments within and across Africa, thereby improving the socio-economic development of the host community.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that some stakeholders had recently complained that they were disenfranchised by the screening committee set to conduct the elections.

(NAN)