Nigerian football officials charged with $9.5m fraud

Abuja Three Nigerian football officials have been charged with fraud after allegedly diverting $9.5 million in FIFA grants for personal use, the country's anti-corruption unit said Thursday.
Christopher Andekin, Jafaru Fadanari Mamza, and Rajan Zaka allegedly committed the crime in 2015, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said in a statement.
"The money was a grant given by the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, for the development of football in Nigeria," it added.
EFCC lawyer Steve Odiase told reporters outside the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja that the case had been adjourned to a further hearing on November 28.
The body's spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, told AFP separately that the defendants pleaded not guilty, and were given bail on condition they surrendered their passports and paid a five-million-naira ($13,755, 12,000-euro) surety.
Andekin is the director of administration and finance at the NFF while Mamza heads the finance and accounts department. Zaka is a cashier.
The court case is the latest to hit the embattled NFF, which has been embroiled in a leadership struggle for control that has brought Nigeria to the brink of FIFA sanctions.
Football's governing body and its equivalent in Africa, CAF, have called for calm and reforms to heal the rifts in the running of the sport in Nigeria.

Amos Adamu declares self ready for FIFA probe

Nigeria's Amos Adamu a FIFA executive committee member will face the ethics panel hearing of FIFA at its Zurich headquarter today.

He was alleged to have asked for a $800,000 bribe to guarantee his vote for one of the bidding nations for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He has however declared he's ready to face the committee later in the day.

There are few Nigerians that elicit as much passion when their names are mentioned as Amos Adamu. He is as hated as much as he is loved.

Those who love him describe him as a generous individual, quick to dispense cash and favours. Through this quality his has built up a sizeable army of foot soldiers in the Nigerian sports establishment; men and women who are ready at a moment’s notice, to walk through fire for him.

At the other end are his many haters, those who see him as the embodiment of all that is wrong with Nigerian sports. To these people, he has spent decades building an empire at the expense of Nigerian sports, which he was supposed to develop - first, as Director of Sports Development in the Ministry of Sports and then later as Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC).

Kojo Williams, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA, who was impeached described the Adamu as a serious indictment of Nigeria. This is embarrassing. I think the Government should open all the papers on Adamu.

Ex-international, Adokiye laughed when he said, “Oyibo don catch am."
The Chief Justice said that there should be time to allow the appropriate quarters conduct investigation into the sordid scandal. “I think that we should allow time for them to conduct a thorough investigation first. But we know his antecedents. He hosted several tournaments without rendering accounts. He used his position as Director General of the National Sports Commission to acquire international positions. And it is so glaring that he used his positions in CAF and FIFA to serve his selfish ends. It is so embarrassing to this country."

Adamu has traversed the spectrum of Nigerian sports. A former university teacher, who holds a doctorate degree in Physical Education, he was appointed sole administrator of the Nigeria Football Association in 1992. A year later, he was appointed Director of Sports Development in the Ministry of Sports.

In 1999, he was actively involved in the organisation of the U-20 World Cup hosted by Nigeria and was also an intrinsic part of the organisation of Africa Cup of Nations jointly hosted by Nigeria and Ghana. That same year, he was chosen to head COJA, the organising committee of the 2003 All Africa Games, which Nigeria hosted.

Allegations of fraud rocked the organisation of the games and Adamu continues to face allegations of financial impropriety even though none of them has been proven. In 2005, he was named part of the organising committee of the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa. The following year, he became a member of the FIFA Executive committee and in 2007 became President of the West African Football Union (WAFU).

In 2008, Adamu was transferred from the Ministry of Sports to the office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

Three Nigerians shortlisted for CAF awards

Three Nigerians made the shortlist for the 2010 edition of the Glo Confederation of African Football (CAF) Footballer of the Year award.
Dickson Etuhu, Osaze Peter Odemwingie and Kalu Uche were the only Nigerians picked in the nominees for this year’s award.
The provisional list of Caf for the 2010 award is full of surprises, as Nigerians will be shocked to find Etuhu in the list and John Obi Mikel excluded despite the player being touted as having improved his game in recent games for Chelsea.

Explaining the rationale for the shortlist respected Caf instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde, said that every award has it criteria for nominating players.

He opined out that it should be remembered that the likes of Etuhu, Odemwingie and Kalu Uche appeared in several international matches for Nigeria in which Mikel did not.

Onigbinde used the 2010 Fifa World Cup as an example.

“You cannot win awards when you don’t play at the very big stage. Yes no doubt playing for your club is good but every award has its own criteria for picking nominees and the Caf award is no exception.

“So the players nominated for the award must have picked based on certain co-efficient like playing in the Fifa World Cup this year and also other international matches for their countries.

The absence of Mikel might be due to such lack of picking enough co-efficient to be nominated,” the former Nigerian head coach said.

However, Mikel’s Ghanaian teammate, Michael Essien, is also missing from the provisional list of 30 and his case is believed to due to the injury that kept him away from competitive football for a long period, which led to his missing the Mundial in South Africa.

Apart from Etuhu, Odemwingie and Uche in the Caf nominees, it is learnt that Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana produced five players each.

The trio of Cameroon, Egypt and Morocco has three players each like Nigeria while Algeria produced two.

Benin Republic, DR Congo, Mali, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia all have one player apiece in the Caf award’s provisional list.

Perennial nominees such as Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o of Inter Milan and Cameroon are part of those named in the shortlist.

Other top names in the hat are Asamoah Gyan and Andre Ayew of Ghana, the Toure brothers – Kolo and Yaya and their Ivorien teammate, Salomon Kalou.

The 30-man list is expected to be trimmed to 10 by Caf’s three committees of media, technical and football