The Kwara State chapter of Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria has insisted that a recent court order retraining the state Football Association be respected and that its right to vote as critical stakeholders in the round leather game be ensured.
The association filed a suit at an Ilorin Upper Court, which restrained the FA from conducting the June 13, 2023 election.
The election is to be held in Kaiama Local Government Area of the state.
It is meant to usher in a new administration for the soccer administrative body in the state.
Speaking in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at a news conference on Saturday, the Chairman of Kwara State PFAN, Coach Ashifat Sulyman, accused the Chairman of Kwara State FA, Malam Idris Musa, of arrogating powers that he doesn’t have to himself by his decision to deny the players union rights to participate in the elective congress.
Sulyman maintained that the players are the most important entity of football and the union will not succumb to any form of pressure or threats from the Chairman of Kwara State FA to deny them their rights as contained in Article 10.1 of the statues of the Nigeria Football Federation.
He said: “As a law abiding association that believes in powers associated with dialogue and consultation, we have written series of letters to the Chairman of Kwara FA to see the danger of his primitive act of desperation, but in his way, he refused to thread on the path of honour and dignity to retract his decision,”
While stating that the union was left with no option after exhausting all forms of dialogue with the FA than to seek a redress in a court of competent jurisdiction, he said however that PFAN had participated in elective congress in more than 20 states across the federation and that of Kwara State shouldn’t be an exception.
Sulyman revealed that the union has opened a channel of dialogue with the Kwara State FA and is willing to withdraw the suit of the restraining order provided that FA acknowledged its statutory participation in the elective congress officially.
“The FA called us to a meeting this morning and they have expressed their willingness to allow our union to be part of the election, but we will only believe them if they communicate with us officially with a letter,” Sulyman said.
While stressing that the election will not hold on June 13, due to the restraining order and the hearing that is scheduled for June 14, he noted that the union will only consider the withdrawal of the suit in court if the FA does the right thing.
The Kwara State PFAN chairman thanked stakeholders for supporting the union and maintained that the body would not be intimidated in fighting for its right and development of football in the state.
