Nigeria Content Online

The
Nigeria Football Federation, yesterday filed a motion challenging the
move by the Harrison Jalla-led National Association of Nigeria Players,
to re-list the case it had formerly withdrawn against it.

At the resumed
hearing of the case between the two parties, at the Federal High Court
in Ikoyi, the new lead counsel for the federation, Akin Olujimi,
challenged the application by the association’s counsel, Aideloje Belo,
to bring back the matter formerly struck out by the court after both
parties had agreed to an out of court settlement. The players
association had returned to court on January 19, 2011 seeking to have
its case against the federation re-listed after previously withdrawing
the same case on October 25, 2010, owing to an agreement reached with
the federation.

The players union
however complained that the federation failed to keep to their side of
the bargain; a situation that prompted the move to re-list their case.
Confirming the development, Aideloje said he was served the notice
challenging his application late but will be studying the argument in
order to respond properly to the filed motion at the court’s next
hearing. “I need to react to what they have written in their
application and so we can continue from there,” he said. Justice Okon
Abang has thus adjourned hearing on the suit till Tuesday, March 1.

Zurich talks

Despite the court
case hanging around the legality of his board however, NFF President,
Aminu Maigari, is away in Zurich for talks with FIFA President, Sepp.
Blatter. In interview with the FIFA.com, Maigari revealed that he has
held very interesting talks, during which he informed the FIFA boss
about the latest developments in Nigerian football. On his priorities
for the next few years, Maigari said: “Our goal is to maintain Nigerian
football’s steady development. Although to ensure we continue our
development, we have to improve our structures. We’re very grateful to
FIFA for its valuable support in this respect. It’s a time of
transition for our national team at the moment, and we’re working very
hard with technical advisors to form a restructured, competitive team
as quickly as we can.”