NFF Elections: Stakeholders Clash Over Calls To Suspend Poll After Nigeria’s World Cup Failure

Nigeria’s football community remains divided over calls to suspend the 2026 Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) elections, as former internationals and football administrators disagree on whether the country’s recent setbacks warrant an immediate overhaul of its football leadership.

The controversy intensified following the failure of the Super Falcons and Flying Eagles to secure qualification for their respective 2027 FIFA World Cup competitions.

Former Dream Team star Abiodun Obafemi, a member of Nigeria’s gold medal-winning squad at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, said the recent disappointments exposed the contrast between the current state of Nigerian football and the unity that existed during his playing days.

“We were celebrating the anniversary of our Olympic triumph just a few days ago, and now we find ourselves facing a World Cup miss for the first time, with the Falcons and the young Flying Eagles both missing out,” Obafemi said.

“In our days, we came into camp with hunger, and our relationship with the administration and our coaches was open and sincere. Today, it appears to be a different story entirely.”

The Super Falcons were knocked out by Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) on Sunday.

The defeat ended Nigeria’s hopes of securing automatic qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, while the Flying Eagles suffered a 4-1 defeat to Burkina Faso in the final of the WAFU Zone B Under-20 Championship.

The result also ended Nigeria’s hopes of qualifying for both the 2027 Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations and the 2027 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Azerbaijan.

The consecutive setbacks have intensified calls by former Super Eagles captain Segun Odegbami for the suspension of the NFF’s 2026 Executive Committee elections, scheduled to hold on September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State.

Odegbami has repeatedly criticised the administration of Nigerian football, arguing that the country has failed to properly harness its abundant football talent.

He described the NFF election process as “a four-yearly ritual of crisis” and appealed to President Bola Tinubu and other Nigerians to halt the electoral process.

Chief Executive Officer of Monimichelle Sports Facility, Ebi Egbe, has also supported Odegbami’s position, questioning whether the existing electoral structure can deliver meaningful reforms.

Under the current arrangement, 37 of the 44 delegates to the NFF Congress are chairmen of state Football Associations. Egbe argued that the structure gives incumbents considerable influence over the outcome of the election.

“It will be very difficult for genuine reformers to even consider buying nomination forms for the current NFF elections when the electoral structure appears to give the 37 State Football Association members such enormous influence over the outcome,” Egbe said, according to Punch.

“For me, the real issue is not about who buys a form or who eventually wins. It is about whether the process gives every credible candidate a genuine and equal opportunity to compete.”

However, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe, founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Athletics and Other Sports Development Commission, has rejected calls for the election to be suspended.

Gara-Gombe accused Odegbami of allowing personal interests to influence his position and questioned his record in previous football and sports-related roles.

“I disagree with many things he said in that video,” Gara-Gombe said, according to Punch.

“If you want to talk about issues in Nigerian sports or anything affecting our country, forget fronting or saturating people with your profile. We know who you are.”

He also challenged Odegbami to explain controversies surrounding the Shell Cup and the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee, which the former international previously chaired.

Gara-Gombe alleged that Odegbami had “no moral right to talk about corruption or accountability.”

He further disputed Odegbami’s previous claim that an unsuccessful bid for an NFF position was connected to flaws in the electoral process.

According to Gara-Gombe, Odegbami failed to secure the required endorsement from Football Associations in the South-West zone.

Despite opposing an immediate suspension of the NFF election, Gara-Gombe agreed that the federation’s electoral structure requires reform.

He argued, however, that such reforms should be pursued through the National Assembly rather than the courts.

“We need electoral reforms, not only in Nigerian football. Electoral reform is required in everything that we do,” he said.

“The issue of the composition of Nigerian Football Association Congress has to do with the National Assembly. Let the National Assembly go there and take up that challenge.”

Gara-Gombe also called on the National Sports Commission, led by Chairman Shehu Dikko and Director-General Bukola Olopade, to publicly clarify its position on the controversy surrounding the NFF elections.

“The National Sports Commission must come out and state their position,” he said.

“Their silence shows that they are behind it, and we are going to take them on it.”