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Segun Odegbami has been removed as NFA secretary general Nigeria have averted a potential Fifa ban by rescinding two recent appointments made by Sports Minister Musa Mohammed.
Segun Odegbami has been removed as NFA secretary general Nigeria have averted a potential Fifa ban by rescinding two recent appointments made by Sports Minister Musa Mohammed.
Football's world governing body had threatened to ban Nigeria if the controversial changes were not reversed by Friday lunchtime.
The Nigerian government has withdrawn the appointment of Segun Odegbami as secretary-general of the Nigeria Football Association and of Salisu Abubakar as the new league chief.
The minister said: "We have addressed the two issues raised by Fifa in a letter to the NFA chairman.
"I have backed down on my earlier decisions, Nigeria is greater than individuals and if we claim to love Nigeria we all must do the best for it, Musa Mohammed included.''
"One of the reasons we made the original changes to the NFA was because of poor accountability and so I have handed over the matter to appropriate authorities to investigation and take necessary action."
Mohammed also announced that the government has accepted the resignation of former NFA secretary-general Taiwo Ogunjobi.
"I've thrown the issue of the appointment of secretary -general back to the NFA board as that's what Fifa wants and so be it," Mohammed said.
No replacement has yet been named and it is now expected that the NFA board will name this replacement.
The minister also said they are going to talk to the clubs about the future of the league board. "We are going to talk to club owners concerning the issue of the league board, we have to come to an understanding on what is good for our nation," he said
Observers believe that these announcements by government will now stave off any sanctions from Fifa who forbid direct interferences by government in a member association.