All is now set for the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) to welcome Nigeria back to the football family after a high court late Wednesday vacated the order restraining the Aminu Maigari-led board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) from office.
FIFA banned Nigeria on July 9, demanding the withdrawal of the court case and the reinstatement of the Maigari-led board of the Nigeria Football Federation as conditions for reversing its decision.
Wednesday’s vacation of the court case means the NFF executive committee are now expected to return to office to fulfill FIFA’s conditions for lifting the ban.
The world football governing body also extended the deadline for compliance to July 17, in a bid to save Nigeria’s participation at the Under-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as at the male African U-17 Championship qualifiers scheduled for the weekend.
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The Golden Eaglets are expected in Abuja from their training base in Calabar on Friday, from where they will fly out via Ethiopia Airlines to DR Congo for an African Junior Championship qualifier in Kinshasa.
Maigari and his board are expected to resume their duties on Thursday and continue their normal functions until next elections on August 26, 2014.
While the Falconets and the Eaglets are now primed to escape the consequences of FIFA’s hammer, there will be no such luck for FIFA referees advisor and consultant to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on refereeing, Linus Mba, who was appointed three weeks ago as the match commissioner for the Sierra Leone-Seychelles African Cup of Nations qualifier in Freetown on Saturday, but was replaced on Tuesday.
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