By DPA,
Johannesburg : FIFA has given Nigeria’s government until Monday to cancel its suspension of the national football team from international competition or get the boot from FIFA, football’s ruling body said Friday.
“FIFA will send today a letter to the Nigerian Football Federation indicating that the government of Nigeria has to cancel by Monday 6 p.m. its decision to withdraw Nigeria’s participation in all FIFA and CAF competitions for the next two years,” FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot told a press conference in Johannesburg.
Failure to do so would result in the suspension of the NFF from FIFA’s ranks, Maingot said. FIFA has strict membership rules banning political interference in football.
Maingot also said that FIFA’s Nigerian executive board member Amos Amadu would be sent to his home country for “last-minute mediation” Monday.
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday suspended all the country’s teams from international competitions for the next two years over the poor performance of the Super Eagles at the World Cup in the form of a winless group stage exit.
The government set up a caretaker committee, to be inaugurated Monday, to reorganise football in the country. But Nigeria’s lower house on Thursday passed a resolution asking the president to rescind his decision.