Posted by By Osasu Obayiuwana on
Fifa has ruled that Nigerian parliamentarians have no authority to make laws that govern football in the country.
Fifa has ruled that Nigerian parliamentarians have no authority to make laws that govern football in the country.
The National Assembly - comprised of the House of Senate and the House of Representatives - passed a law earlier this month which established the Nigerian Football Federation.
The new federation replaces the Nigeria Football Association (NFA).
This law also repealed Decree 101 of 1992 - the infamous piece of legislation which allowed the government to have a say in the affairs of the NFA.
But Jerome Champagne, Fifa's deputy general secretary, told BBC Sport on Thursday that the decision of the Nigerian parliament violates the world body's statutes forbidding government interference in football affairs.
"It is clear that [the decision of Nigeria's National Assembly] is incorrect," Champagne said.
"After the decision taken on the 2nd of June, we have sent a letter to the chairman of the Nigeria FA, Mr Ibrahim Galadima, asking him to send us a report and the text of the law.
"This is to see the discrepancies between the new law and the statutes of the Nigeria FA which were approved on the 18th of December in Port Harcourt.
"We are yet to receive the report from the Nigeria FA, so it would be inappropriate to make a definite statement on the situation."
Champagne confirmed to BBC Sport that congresses of national FA's remain the supreme law-making bodies for football in their nations.