Gusau Has Fallen, But Who Is Really Rescuing Nigerian Football?

Gusau Has Fallen, But Who Is Really Rescuing Nigerian Football?

By Solomon Dalung

I have followed with keen interest the unfolding crisis in Nigerian football and the resignation of Ibrahim Gusau as President of the Nigeria Football Federation, alongside the NFF Executive Committee and General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi.

I do not intend to defend Gusau or the administration that has just collapsed. Much of what has happened to Nigerian football under this administration deserves serious scrutiny. But Nigerians should not mistake the collapse of one NFF leadership for the resolution of the crisis in Nigerian football.

I say this from a position of experience.

I served as Minister of Youth and Sports Development from 2015 to 2019. I therefore understand the institutional relationship between the Federal Government, the NFF, international football bodies and the complicated politics surrounding the administration of Nigerian football.

What we are witnessing today did not begin with the Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

It has been building for years.

The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The Super Falcons have now also failed to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, ending Nigeria’s uninterrupted participation in the competition since its inception in 1991.

For a country with Nigeria’s football pedigree, this is not an ordinary sporting disappointment. It is an institutional failure.

Then came the NFF’s own fact-finding committee.

The allegations contained in the report are deeply disturbing. The committee reportedly found allegations of interference by some NFF board members in the invitation of players to national teams and claims that some officials invited players to camps for financial gain.

If substantiated, that goes beyond poor administration or bad football decisions. It strikes at the integrity of the national team itself.

The national jersey is supposed to represent merit, talent and the interest of Nigeria. It cannot become an avenue through which private financial interests determine who gets an opportunity to represent the country.

Then there is the money.

The Federal Government’s intervention to clear outstanding obligations to Nigeria’s national teams was initially approved at ₦12 billion and was subsequently reported to have risen to ₦17 billion following exchange-rate adjustments.

This distinction is important because recent scrutiny has specifically identified the ₦12 billion intervention fund, with the NFF confirming that relevant records are now with the EFCC and ICPC. At the same time, reports concerning the broader ₦17 billion intervention have raised additional questions about its disbursement and utilisation.

Whatever figure one chooses to cite, this is public money.

Every naira must therefore be accounted for.

The players and national teams were supposed to benefit from this intervention. Nigerians deserve a complete account of what was approved, what was released, when it was released, through which channels it was disbursed, what was actually paid to beneficiaries and what remains outstanding.

The fact that anti-corruption agencies are now examining the records makes this no longer a matter for football gossip. It is a matter of public accountability.

But there is another dimension to this crisis that cannot be ignored.

Shehu Dikko, the present Chairman of the National Sports Commission, is not an outsider to Nigerian football administration.

He was a former NFF Second Vice President and Chairman of the League Management Company. In 2022, he contested for the NFF presidency against Ibrahim Gusau.

Gusau won the first ballot 21–6.

Dikko withdrew from the contest, and Gusau subsequently won the runoff 39–1.

That result is part of the public record.

There have since been persistent accounts within football circles that the rivalry did not end with that election. I will not convert those accounts into established facts. But neither should Nigerians pretend that the political history between the two men does not exist.

This becomes particularly significant because President Bola Tinubu appointed Shehu Dikko Chairman of the National Sports Commission in October 2024.

The former NFF presidential contender subsequently became the government official with significant institutional responsibility for the wider sports sector, including the government’s engagement with Nigerian football.

Under his leadership of the NSC, the government has now moved towards what it calls the re-engineering of Nigerian football, including the proposed establishment of a Normalisation Committee.

Reform is necessary. But reform must never become a euphemism for political capture.

There is another fact that deserves equal attention.

Shehu Dikko himself has previously been subjected to scrutiny by Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies in relation to alleged financial irregularities in football administration. The ICPC sealed his Abuja residence in 2019 during an investigation involving alleged financial malpractices, while the EFCC had earlier announced investigations involving him and other NFF officials.

An investigation is not a conviction, and allegations must never be converted into guilt.

But that principle must apply consistently.

If the government is demanding accountability from the NFF, then the same government must demonstrate the highest standard of transparency in determining who is entrusted with restructuring Nigerian football.

The people designing the new order must themselves be beyond suspicion and must willingly submit to the same standards of accountability they demand from those they are replacing.

This is why the present crisis cannot simply be reduced to the removal of Ibrahim Gusau.

Gusau’s administration must answer for its record.

The NFF must answer for its finances.

The intervention funds must be fully accounted for.

The allegations contained in the fact-finding report must be investigated.

The failure of our national teams must be properly interrogated.

But the government must equally answer for its own role in the deterioration of Nigerian football and for the process through which it is now attempting to reconstruct the system.

The proposed Normalisation Committee must not become an instrument for replacing one football faction with another.

Its composition must be transparent.

Its mandate must be clear.

Its finances must be publicly accountable.

Its tenure must be limited.

And its responsibility must be to restore a credible, independent and competent football administration, not to manufacture an electoral outcome favourable to any individual or political interest.

This is where I differ from those celebrating Gusau’s resignation as though Nigerian football has been rescued.

It has not.

One administration has collapsed.

The system that produced the administration remains.

The networks that sustained the system remain.

The financial questions remain.

The institutional weaknesses remain.

And the political interests surrounding Nigerian football remain.

That is why this moment requires something much bigger than a change of personnel.

Nigeria needs a forensic examination of the administration of football over the years, particularly the handling of public funds, the management of national teams, the relationship with football agents and intermediaries, the appointment and remuneration of officials, the electoral processes of the NFF and the role of successive governments in supervising the sector.

We cannot keep changing the occupants of the Glass House while leaving the foundations untouched.

I have seen Nigerian football at close quarters. I know the enormous talent, passion and commercial potential that exist in this country.

Our problem has never been a shortage of football talent.

Our problem is what happens to that talent when it enters a system that is poorly governed.

So I will not celebrate Gusau’s exit.

I will not defend Gusau’s record either.

I will demand accountability from everybody.

From the NFF.

From the government.

From the sports administrators.

From the anti-corruption agencies.

From those who controlled the money.

From those who made the decisions.

And from those who now claim they have come to rescue Nigerian football.

Because Nigerian football does not need another faction to win.

It needs the Nigerian football system to win.

If this government is genuinely serious about reform, then this is the moment to prove it.

Clean the books. Follow every naira. Investigate every allegation. Open the records. Reform the electoral system. Protect the autonomy of football. Remove political patronage. And build an administration whose first loyalty is to Nigerian football and not to whoever happens to control the machinery of government.

The Gusau chapter may have ended.

The accountability chapter has just begun.

Solomon Dalung is a former minister of sports