President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has ordered the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)to immediately withdraw the licence of the League Management Company (LMC) as the operator of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

This is contained in a statement by Ismaila Abubakar, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, on Friday.

It said the regime was constrained to withdraw its recognition of the LMC immediately.

The regime attributed the decision to several unpleasant incidents regarding the football league management.

“This decision has become necessary because of the obvious aberration which is at variance with our football statutes or the laws of the land. Specifically, the declaration of the National Football League (NFL) as an illegal body by the court, the status of the LMC and the NFL’s successor-in-title being outside the purview of the statutes of the NFF,” the statement noted.

The regime said it was worried about the situation “whereby a private company is gifted the mandate to manage or run the league indefinitely, without the full involvement of and leadership by the clubs.” It noted that “this is also devoid of any process to monitor the progress and development of the game.”

To rescue the domestic football from total collapse, the board of the LMC would no longer be recognised by the Buhari regime, the statement added. 

The sports ministry, therefore, ordered the NFF to withdraw the licence given to the LMC immediately and, in the meantime, set up an “Interim Management Committee (IMC) to avert further chaos in domestic football.”

The ministry explained that the IMC should include the current LMC chief executive officer and chief operating officer to oversee the league’s affairs until a proper board.

(NAN)