By Ado Salisu
Former Gombe State Football Association (FA) Chairman, Alhaji Shuaibu Ahmed Gara-Gombe, has accused chieftains of the National Sports Commission (NSC), led by Mallam Shehu Dikko, of being behind Chief Segun Odegbami’s recent criticism of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and its President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau.
Odegbami, a former captain of the Nigerian national team, had called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene and cancel the NFF election scheduled for September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
The former international, popularly known as “Mathematical” during his playing days, also threatened to challenge the election in court, arguing that the composition of the NFF Congress was tilted in favour of the incumbent leadership and could make it difficult for other candidates to emerge.
Speaking on his Eagle FM radio programme on Saturday, Odegbami reportedly said that 37 of the 44 delegates involved in the electoral process were chairmen of state football associations.
Reacting to the development while addressing journalists in Abuja on Sunday evening, Gara-Gombe challenged the NSC leadership to state its position on the matter.
“The NSC must come out and state their position on this. Their silence shows that they are behind it, and we are going to take them on it,” he said.
Gara-Gombe alleged that the silence of the NSC leadership was “complicit,” claiming that there were indications that the commission sponsored Odegbami’s criticism of the NFF.
“I’m calling on the NSC led by Mallam Shehu Dikko and its Director-General to state their position on this burning issue. Their silence is complicit, and everything is pointing at them.
“That they sponsored Odegbami’s tirade against the NFF is not in doubt. They must come out clean. We know the relationship between Dikko, Olopade and Odegbami,” he alleged.
Gara-Gombe said he disagreed with almost everything raised by Odegbami, accusing the former international of relying too heavily on his profile when discussing issues affecting Nigerian football.
“If you want to talk about issues in Nigerian sports or anything affecting our country, forget fronting or saturating people with your profile. We know who you are,” he said.
He also alleged that Odegbami’s disagreement with Gusau was connected to funding for his participation in the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
“The same Odegbami was at AFCON in Abidjan with the NFF. They were in the same hotel. His problem with Gusau started because the NFF could not bankroll his trip to AFCON in Morocco,” Gara-Gombe alleged.
He further questioned Odegbami’s criticism of corruption and accountability in Nigerian football, challenging him to explain controversies surrounding the Shell Cup and the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM), which he chaired.
“He has no moral right to talk about corruption or accountability,” Gara-Gombe alleged, while calling on Odegbami to respond to questions surrounding the management of funds allocated to NASCOM.
Gara-Gombe also recalled Odegbami’s previous attempt to contest for a position in the NFF, claiming that he failed to secure the required endorsement from football authorities in his South-West zone.
“Ogun State, where he hails from, did not endorse him.
“I was a Congress member as Gombe State FA chairman, and I was the one who signed his nomination form to contest. So, I don’t have anything against him personally, but on this one—asking the President to stop the NFF election for personal interest—I would not agree with him,” he said.
He also questioned claims that Odegbami’s Eagle FM radio station suffered significant financial losses because Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Did the NFF ask him to go and set up Eagle FM? You set it up for your own personal gain,” Gara-Gombe said, arguing that other privately owned media organisations had not made similar complaints.
On the broader issue of electoral reform, Gara-Gombe agreed that changes were necessary but maintained that the responsibility ultimately rested with the National Assembly.
“We need electoral reforms, not only in Nigerian football. Electoral reform is required in everything that we do,” he said.
He argued that the composition of the NFF Congress could not be fundamentally altered through court action or ad hoc committees without legislative intervention.
“The issue of the composition of the Nigerian Football Association Congress has to do with the National Assembly. Let the National Assembly go there and take up that challenge,” he concluded.