The Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Athletics and Other Sports Development Commission, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe, has slammed former Green Eagles Captain, Segun Odegbami for calling on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the forthcoming NFF Elections slated for September 26, this year.
Gara-Gombe in a chat with some sports journalists in Abuja on Sunday said Odegbami’s call was a frustrated invitation for President Tinubu to stop the elections,arguing that it will backfire, if the President listens to him.
While further describing the move as “senseless”, he queried the timing of the intervention, pointing out that it was borne out of personal interest and not national interest.
Odegbami had in an interview broadcast via his radio station, Eagle7 fm in Ogun State, argued that the composition of the NFF Congress, anchored on delegate structure only favours incumbents while frustrating credible candidates from even contesting, let alone winning.
VDCInsights reports that at its Extra-ordinary General Assembly in Yenagao, Bayelsa State on March 23, 2026, the NFF added 12 new slots to its Congress, thereby increasing it from 44 to 56 delegates to accommodate more football stakeholders, a developemnt Odegbami argued was not good enough with 37 state FA chairmen dominating the Congress and threatened to approach to court to stop the elections.
Gara-Gombe however dismissed the move, arguing that “every election year, all manner of judicial instruments are used to stop the elections, from Galadima, to Lulu, Maigari, Amaju, even Gusau’s first term, but they don’t work”
According to him, threatening the election with court action, “It is outdated and will not work again.So my advise to Odegbami is not to walk this path that he is going, even if he thinks electoral reform is needed, it is not only in football, but in every sport”.
“Odegbami should stop boring us with his profile, we know him and recognise his contributions to sports development in the country, but there are quite a number of issues he raised in that interview that I disagree with”
Gara-Gombe challenged Odegbami to explain the controversies surrounding his voyage in sports from Nigeria’s 2010 World cup bid, Shell Cup, and NASCOM, the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM), which he chaired,that was eventually dissolved by former Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi over allegations of corruption .
The former Gombe FA Chairman alleged that Odegbami “lacks the moral right to speak on accountability and corruption stressing that “those who go to equity must go with clean hands”
He argued there was nothing personal on the matter but national interest pointing out that as Gombe FA Chairman, he was the one who endorsed Odegbami’s form when he wanted to contest for NFF board when he could not even secure nomination from his South West zone
According to Gara-Gombe, “I was a Congress member as Gombe State FA chairman and I was the one that signed his nomination form to contest” .“So, I don’t have anything against him personally, but on this one—asking the President to stop the NFF election for personal interest—I would not agree with him.”
While he acknowledged that the composition of the NFF congress was lopsided and needed reform, he however argued that such reform could only be initiated by the National Assembly
“We need electoral reforms, not only in Nigerian football. Electoral reform is required in everything that we do,” arguing that the composition of the NFF Congress could not be fundamentally changed through court action or ad hoc committees without legislative intervention.
He pointed out “The issue of the composition of Nigeria Football Association Congress has to do with the National Assembly” Let the National Assembly go there and take up that challenge.”
Gara-Gombe stressed that amending the law establishing football administration in Nigeria was the most sustainable route to addressing the concerns over representation, accountability and electoral structures in the NFF.
In conclusion, he wants the National Sports Commission to state categorically its position on Odegbami’s call on the President to intervene, stressing that it was necessary to allay fears in some quarters that the NSC was part of it.
“The National Sports Commission must come out and state their position,” Their silence shows that they are behind it, and we are going to take them on it,” he concluded
