The Department of State Services (DSS) has evicted the faction of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) led by Chris Giwa from the Glass House secretariat in Abuja.
According to reports, the DSS operatives directed Giwa and the staff to vacate the secretariat on Monday, claiming orders from above.
World football governing body, FIFA had threatened to impose a ban on Nigeria if Amaju Pinnick was not reinstated as the President of the body.
Recall that the Supreme Court recently delivered a ruling on the leadership tussle between Giwa and Pinnick.
Pinnick’s lawyer, Festus Keyamo said, “Supreme Court did not nullify Amaju’s election. The Supreme Court did not remove Amaju from office.
“The Court only referred the case back to the Federal High Court to be tried properly, to know which of the elections held in 2014 was right.
“Amaju was not a party to the case at the Supreme Court. So, the court could not have removed a party from office without joining the party and hearing from the party.’’
But counsel to Giwa, Barrister Chinedu Eze replied, “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to Barrister Festus Keyamo, SAN, wherein he sought to assert that Judgment of the Supreme Court delivered this morning, April 27 2018, merely asked the parties to go back to the Federal High Court to continue their case.
“This cannot be so. As will be shown below, the Supreme Court did not only remit the Suit back for trial. And there is certainly no need for anybody to mislead the general public on the state of affairs.
“The facts are these. Following the application of the Plaintiffs in the Suit, the Federal High Court made an Interim Order on Sept. 19 2014, recognising the Executive Committee elected on Aug. 25 2015 (led by Ambassador Chris Giwa) as valid; and further restrained the defunct Executive Committee whose tenure of office expired on Aug. 24 2014 (led by Alhaji Aminu Maigari) from conducting any Congress or Election to re-elect any other person to the same office.
“Despite the subsistence of the above Orders, the Alhaji Aminu Maigari-led Committee proceeded to conduct the election wherein Amaju Pinnick was elected into Office, in flagrant disobedience of subsisting orders of Court.
“This being so, the Federal High Court consequently, set aside and nullified the purported election that brought in Amaju Pinnick, “same having been held in flagrant disobedience to the order of this Honourable Court made on Sept 19, 2014.
“This development prompted Amaju Pinnick to run to the then President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, for his intervention; upon the intervention of former President Jonathan, the Plaintiffs discontinued the action on the understanding that the parties would settle their differences out of Court.”
