I don’t see why NFF election won’t hold today ―Ex-Oyo FA boss, Adepoju

Barrister Leye Adepoju, is no doubt, a voice in Nigerian football given his antecedents as a former footballer and as an administrator of the game.

The former executive committee board member of the Nigeria Football Federation also once headed the NFF’s Disciplinary Committee.

Adepoju, also a former chairman of Oyo State Football Association, in this interview with Tribunesport’s NIYI ALEBIOSU and OLAWALE OLANIYAN, speaks on the NFF election scheduled to take place today in Katsina, amid an injunction purportedly granted a players union, National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF), by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Can an injunction stop the NFF election given the prevailing circumstances?

That is a very difficult question to answer in the sense that I have not seen the court papers and the decision of the court on these papers, but from what I heard, the first question is who had gone to court?

Has that person got the ‘locus standi’ to do so and if it happens to be Harrison Jalla, of course yes, everybody knows that Harrison does not have a locus standi in an NFF election. He has been banned by FIFPRO (global body for all professional footballers) and he’s not a member of NFF either. So, it’s as if a busybody has gone to the court in respect of the NFF election.

ALSO READ:  NFF election: Maigari’s clearance withdrawn

What is his interest in the election? The truth of the matter is that before one can proceed to the court, one must have an interest in a case.

The second question is that what did the person apply for? Application for what? It is only a person who has an interest in the election that can stop it. Maybe he’s contesting or being prevented from contesting, there must be an evidence to show that he has something to lose as far as the case is concerned. If you apply to court, it means your right is being trampled on or about to be jeopardised and then, you decide to go to court to seek redress.

So, it’s unfortunate that I have not been able to see the court papers, if not, I would have been able to say more on this issue, but I know that, if there is an injunction, the other party must be duly served.

You could all remember that I was one of those who contested the NFF executive committee election in 2o10 and some people then said that we should not hold the election, but we did not know of this development. I was voted in but we were later arraigned in the Federal High Court, Lagos for alleged contempt of court.  We told the court yes, we held an election but we were not informed of the court order stopping the election. The court order must be served to the affected person before you can talk of contempt of court.  So, we were set free, about 93 of us, the whole executives of the NFF and it was this same man, who was behind the whole thing. So, let’s have peace and orderliness in our football.

What is your view on the stance of the Youth and Sports Minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung that he is not aware of the election in Katsina?

On what basis will he say that the election cannot hold? I know, the Minister is a well learned friend and he knows the court order. As I said earlier, I don’t have the court papers.

ALSO READ:  NFF election: Akinwunmi highlights aspirations

One thing that must be clarified is that is the Minister a party to that suit? If he’s a party, has he been served the court order? In fact, if the Minister is served with the court order, NFF is a party and NFF should be served as well. I doubt if the Minister will say such a thing that NFF election should not hold.

To the best of my knowledge, once a court order is not served on the affected party, then you cannot allege contempt of court. You can’t say somebody has disobeyed the court order if he’s not aware of the case in the first instance legally. If this happens, one can’t be held liable. So, NFF must be served and if the Sports Minister is made a party to that suit, he must be served too.