CENTUS NWEZE Reporting
Mallam Abdullahi Idris Musa, chairman, Kwara State Football Association, KFA, has again come under heavy flaks after disqualification of some local FA chairmanship aspirant in what is percieved as shody manipulation of the forthcoming state FA election.
Some disqualified aspirants for the Chairmen of Local Football Council in Kwara State’s Ilorin West, Asa, Moro, and Ifelodun local government areas have accused the State Football Association of manipulating the electoral process ahead of the state’s council election.
This may well be the umpteenth round of allegations against the state FA boss popularly referred to as ‘Thuraya’.
Allegations bordering on misinformation to soccer lovers, misrepresentation of interests to the state governor on football related matters and overt partisanship that shouldn’t be a part of the beautiful game has dogged the stewardship of Thuraya, allege embittered stakeholders in Kwara.
As also learnt, this tendencies on the part of the FA Chairman is believed to be responsible for what may be the bungling of the ongoing local football council elections process so far.
The FA had set March 9, 2023 as the deadline for returning completed forms and screening all contestants at the Kwara Football House by 10am, with the list of successful aspirants to be displayed on March 10, 2023.
It was gathered, however, that Kwara FA, in accordance with the Nigeria Football Federation’s directive, ordering all State Football Associations in the country to conduct elections into the Local Football Council in a letter dated 16th January, 2023, announced the guidelines and timeline for election into the Local Football Council in the state earlier in February to Chairmen of Local Football Council and the public.
To the chagrin of some of the contestants as learnt, there was no physical screening for aspirants after all applicants vying for positions in the state’s 16 Local Football Councils submitted forms to the FA secretary.
But surprisingly, the State FA went ahead to issue a public release in the name of the Electoral Committee on a social media blog on the night of the screening, which was shared on major Football WhatsApp groups in the state, stating that four local Football Councils (Ilorin West, Asa, Moro, and Ifelodun) had all been disqualified from participating in the election.
The disqualification was attributed to non-payment of affiliation dues and unqualified electorates, according to the release.
Some of the disqualified aspirants were irritated by the development and took to different WhatsApp groups to express their displeasure.
Some of them described the entire process as a sham and a desperate attempt by the Kwara FA Chairman to manipulate the process in preparation for his re-election later this year.
When contacted about the allegations of malicious disqualification of the four local Football Councils, Mallam Abdullah Idris Musa refuted the claims and stated that the local Football Council erred by failing to pay their affiliation fee.
“The 2010 FA statutes of the Kwara FA was given to them (all the local Football Council) to know who are eligible to vote and be voted for.
It was also explained in the congress, it is just the laws of the game and every single local government are aware, they only jumped into it.”
While reacting to this, one of the disqualified Aspirants, Mr Yahaya Yar’adua of the Ilorin West Local Football Council, disagreed with the Kwara FA Chairman’s position.
He disputed the chairman’s claim that the FA Statute expressly stated that failure to pay the affiliation fee is a criteria to disqualify Aspirants, and he also stated that the FA never sent a letter of notice on the subject.
“I think it is the chairman’s way of manipulation, perhaps he has seen that I won’t have interest in some of the atrocities he is doing.” Yar’dua retorted.
He further denied the knowledge of Ilorin West council owing any affiliation fee.
“I became acting chairman last year after the previous chairman was late, and I wasn’t aware of any outstanding due to be paid by the local council, until when the election was coming that I applied and paid for the form, I was thinking during the screening they would raise it up and I will defend myself, but there was no screening or opportunity to meet the electoral committee, only for them to tell us we have been disqualified,” he said.
Another source who spoke on this story, Mr Ajao Ibraheem, a retired referee, is a disqualified aspirant from Asa Local Football Council.
He said, “We are unable to pay one affiliation fee of two years which we know nothing about; we have reported to the matter to the Kwara State Sport Commission Chairman already. We know his plans; he wants to tarnish my reputation because people will think I am not capable of being elected. I have made name in this field and I am going to fight for it. My goal is to develop Kwara football and contribute my quota while the FA Chairman is just trying to stage manage is re-election and he knows I am one of those that won’t support his coming because he has failed football in the state.”
When contacted, Alhaji Saliu Ojibara, Chairman of the Kwara FA Electoral Committee, declined to comment and directed inquiries to the committee’s secretary.
“I will direct you to the secretary, we have asked people to rectify the little setbacks where about four local council didn’t meet the condition,” he said.