Sports

NFF Brouhaha: Member Flares As Roadmap For Election Missing In AGA’s Agenda

Published

4 years ago

August 16, 2022

It will be a fight to finish in Lagos on Thursday, August 18, 2022 when the postponed Nigeria Football Federation ,NFF, Annual General Assembly ,AGA, will be finally held.

With just one month to the end of the present NFF board, Congress members of the apex football body expected that the major agenda in the General Assembly is setting a roadmap for the September elections.

The roadmap includes appointment of Electoral Committee, Appeal Committee, date, as well as venue for the Elective Congress.

However, it was revealed that all these were missing in the Agenda of the AGA sent to the Congressmen.

Infuriated by this act, Chairman of Rivers State Football Association, Barrister Chris Green yesterday said, the congress will force the elections agenda on the NFF adding that members will do everything in making sure that the Elections are held in September.

“People keep doing the wrong thing and I will try to correct them. We ,NFF, are calling for AGA and this is supposed to usher in the process or roadmap to election come this September, but keep giving excuses of non-existence court order. The same court order the plaintiff has filed to abandon the matter.

“First the agenda has to be changed. This AGA is more than a normal Annual General Meeting when you have an account etc. This one is a special one.

“We are going to have a roadmap to the election in September; from the agenda I have it doesn’t mention anything about the election. They need to set up an electoral committee but it is not on the agenda.

“But we can change the agenda at the venue. It is very possible whether the majority or minority of us want that done because we must have an election this September.

It is not possible for them to stay longer than their time. In 2014, the election that brought the present administration was done within one week.

Speaking on whether the FIFA has vital role to play in the elections, he said,

The NFF election is an internal affair but some people keep deceiving people about FIFA. There is no part in the statute that said, the FIFA must be there.

He cleared the air on the six months gap to set up a roadmap for elections as contained in the electoral code.

“You will juxtapose which part of the statute that stated six in between NFF Elections. There is nothing like that in it and when it ,statute, conflicts with electoral code, which one prevails? The Electoral code or statute of the NFF? The statute of the federation prevails if that is supposed to be the case. Why did we have an election in Warri in 2014 in less than two weeks?

CREDIT BSN SPORTS

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Sports

Plateau Vipers, Benue Queens Crowned Champions at HFN North Central Division One Tourney

Published

8 hours ago

October 3, 2026

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The President of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Jibril Seidu, has said the federation will continue to intensify its grassroots talent development drive through zonal competitions across the country.

Seidu stated this on Saturday in Abuja at the finals of the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship, where Plateau Vipers defeated Suleja Shooters 29-24 to emerge champions in the men’s category.

In the women’s final, Benue Queens of Makurdi defeated City Queens of Suleja to claim the title.

The eight-day tournament featured teams from across the North Central Zone, with Plateau Vipers of Jos, Confluence Stars of Lokoja, Unity Boys of Abuja, Suleja Shooters and Nasarawa Ambassadors of Lafia competing in the men’s category.

In the women’s category, Nuela Handball Academy of Ilorin, Inikpi Babes of Idah, Benue Queens of Makurdi and City Queens of Suleja competed for honours.

At the end of the competition, four teams — two male and two female — emerged as the North Central Zone’s representatives for the national Division One league.

According to Seidu, the tournament was organised as part of the federation’s deliberate strategy to take handball development back to the regions and discover talents that might otherwise remain unnoticed.

He said the HFN board, inaugurated on October 25, 2025, resolved that grassroots development was essential to creating a sustainable pipeline of players for national and international competitions.

“All the teams you have seen here are from the North Central Zone of the country, and every state is represented with an academy or state team,” he said.

Seidu explained that the new approach marked a departure from the previous system, where talent identification was largely centred on the federation’s major league competitions.

He said taking competitions to the regions would provide young players with greater opportunities to showcase their abilities while strengthening the foundation of handball across the country.

The HFN president also linked the grassroots initiative to Nigeria’s recent achievements in international handball, stressing the need to develop younger players who can eventually replace members of the current national teams.

He noted that Nigeria had qualified for the 2027 Men’s Junior Handball World Championship in North Macedonia, describing the achievement as evidence of the potential within the country’s handball system.

“How do we replace these players with upcoming players? This is the avenue for us to get players,” he said.

Seidu added that the federation was determined to make handball more visible and accessible, describing it as one of Nigeria’s major sporting disciplines with significant potential for growth.

The North Central tournament is part of a wider zonal programme designed to decentralise handball development across Nigeria.

According to the federation, similar competitions are being organised across other zones, including the South East, North East, North West and South South, with qualifiers from each zone expected to converge at a designated venue for the next stage of the competition.

The federation also appealed for greater support from sponsors, stakeholders and state associations to sustain its grassroots development programme.

It expressed appreciation to the participating states, academies, team sponsors and other stakeholders for their support and commitment to the growth of handball in Nigeria.

The federation said the initiative would provide a platform for discovering the next generation of Nigerian handball stars while expanding the sport’s reach beyond its traditional centres.
While Speaking the elated coach of Benue Queen Godwin Tondo has promised a stronger and more tactical performance after guiding the team to victory at the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship in Abuja.
He attributed the success to the team’s long-term youth development programme, noting that the squad was built through a deliberate process of identifying and nurturing young talents.
According to him, the programme began with the selection of 92 girls from secondary schools, who were subsequently trained and developed over a four-year period.

He said the team’s success was a product of sustained hard work and commitment despite the challenges encountered during preparations for the tournament.

“I feel very pleased being a champion today. The road to this stage was very, very hard, but I am very happy that we have got the result from all the toughness of the game,” he said.

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