Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme and Dr Ayo Abdulrahaman have assumed key roles at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) respectively, as the National Sports Commission (NSC) moves to ensure continuity in football administration following the resignation of the federation’s top officials.
The NSC endorsed Ikpeme, who was previously the NFF Deputy General Secretary, to oversee the federation’s secretariat as interim General Secretary.
Dr Ademola Olajire, formerly the NFF Director of Media and Communications, has also been appointed interim Deputy General Secretary.
The appointments followed Thursday’s resignation of Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau as NFF President, Dr Mohammed Sanusi as General Secretary and members of the federation’s Executive Committee.
Meanwhile, the NFF appointed Abdulrahaman as Chief Operating Officer of the NPFL on Friday, coinciding with the start of the new league season.
The appointment was announced as CAF Confederation Cup representatives Shooting Stars faced newly promoted Inter Lagos at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan, in the opening fixture of the season.
Abdulrahaman holds a doctorate degree in sports administration and has extensive experience across Nigeria’s various football leagues.
Ikpeme confirmed that his appointment took immediate effect, explaining that it followed Thursday’s directive for all board members, appointed chief executives and non-NFF-staff chief operating officers of the various leagues to vacate their positions.
Chairmen, appointed directors and chief executives of the NPFL, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and Nationwide League One have also been directed to hand over the administration of their respective competitions to NFF-employed Chief Operating Officers.
Where an existing NFF staff COO is not available, the federation is expected to deploy another official to oversee the league.
As part of the ongoing restructuring, all processes connected to the NFF Elective Congress, which had been scheduled for September 27, have been suspended.
A fresh electoral process will only commence after comprehensive reforms have been concluded in consultation with FIFA and CAF.
The reorganisation follows President Bola Tinubu’s directive for a comprehensive overhaul of Nigerian football administration.
The President had called for reforms to address Nigeria’s repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and global competitions.
He said the restructuring should strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football.
“Football, Nigeria’s most popular sport and the greatest beneficiary of public support, investment and national attention, has continued to struggle basically due to structural deficits within the system,” Tinubu said.
He directed the Chairman of the National Sports Commission to work with the NFF Secretariat and other stakeholders to maintain continuity in football administration while pursuing a broad and consultative reform process in collaboration with FIFA and CAF.
The latest appointments are therefore expected to provide temporary administrative stability as the government begins the wider process of restructuring the management of Nigerian football.
