May 1 – FIFA have warned Nigeria that they could be kicked out of the World Cup if they don’t sort out their internal affairs.
Local reports say a Supreme Court decision last Friday directed the various parties fighting for the leadership of the Nigerian Football Federation to go back to the High Court to sort out a lawsuit filed by one of the parties.
FIFA subsequently warned Nigeria that it would not hesitate to throw the country out of world football, including the World Cup, if it found that a third party had been meddling in the nation’s football affairs.
Meanwhile the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has banned Nigerian referee Joseph Ogabor for a year for “attempted match manipulation”.
CAF says the incident concerned a Confederation Cup match between Nigeria’s Plateau United and USM Alger of Algeria’s on April 7 in Lagos.
“The decision follows investigations conducted and evidence submitted by the South African match officials of the said match, who were contacted by Ogabor to provide ‘technical assistance’ to the Nigerian team,” a CAF statement read.
Plateau United were also ‘”cautioned to refrain from the practice of hospitality gifts which tend to create wrong impression.”
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