Sambawa washes hands off NFA elections

Sports and Social Developmen Minister, Mr. Saidu Sambawa, has said he would not intervene in the forthcoming elections of the Nigeria Football Association,NFA slated for Abuja on December 28 and 29.

Sambawa, who was at the sixth convocation of the the National Institute For Sports held in Lagos last Saturday, said none of his ministry staff has a voting right adding that, the elections would be left alone for only stakeholders in sport.

He enjoined the electorates to go out there and elect those, who are knowledgeable about the sport and will also, have the time to run it as it should be done.

On the Nations Cup preparation, the sports minister assured that, the team would begin the preparation in Faro, Portugal on December 21 adding that, he was confindent that Super Eagles would not disgrace the country in Egypt.

Reacting to Yakubu Aiyegbeni utterances that he would not honour any invitation to the national team because he was not included in the Nations Cup party by coach Austin Eguavoen, he said any player has the right to decide whether he wanted to play for the country or not.

"It is not compulsory to play for Nigeria, but we will see it as a big honour, if you accept our invitaion," he explained.

Sambawa, who expressed sadness over the country's preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia next March, said he was unhappy particularly with the preparation of the athletes which he pointed out has not taken off.

"Our preparation is not going the way I really want it to be, but we shall work hard to make sure that, we will improve on it immediately after the Christmas holiday," Sambawa noted.

He said that the ministry has also appealed to the authorities concerned over the weightlifters suspended adding that, if the order was not revoked, the country would suffer a lot from it during the Games.

"Weightlifting is one area, where we are hoping to win more medals. We have invested so much in this sport but, as long as the suspension remains, we may not be able to participate," a jolted Sambawa explained.

.ADEOLU JOHNSON