By Jacob Ajom
Nigerian football is under siege. With court cases hanging on the necks of impeached former officials of the Nigeria Football Federation and the last board elections quashed by a Lagos High Court, there don’t seem to be any easy way out of the logjam.

In the face of the hearing at Federal High Court Lagos  sitting today to commence proceedings on the injunction  against the NFF election held on August 26th, 2010 which has thrown Nigerian Football into disarray top sports personalities in the country have appealed to the authorities to prevail and organize a round-table discussion  among the key actors and stakeholders to resolve the controversies that have led to this impasse.

The past three weeks have witnessed a steady drop in football activities in the country and Nigerian representatives at various levels have suffered embarrassing defeats. that could be attributed to the confusion in the house of football.

Golden Eaglets have been ousted from the CAF U-17 Championship qualifiers, the crash of the Flamingoes in  the quarter-final of the FIFA U-17 Women World Cup holding  in Trinidad and Tobago and the exit of Heartland FC of  Owerri in the on-going CAF Champions League are some of the worrisome incidents that brought the stakeholders together.

Leading the pack is Chief Uzor Ekpunobi the 1st Vice-Chairman of the Anambra State Football Association who  spoke with newsmen in Lagos. He was spokesperson of many football stakeholders who gathered in Lagos yesterday to discuss a possible truce. Chief Ekpunobi said, “a truce is needed now to save our football from further decline.

“Already, we have suffered massive loss and if something is not done fast, it could degenerate into something we cannot quantify.

The Anambra state FA boss insisted that the new NFF board would be willing to negotiate its way out of the impasse. Said he, “I know that the newly elected board whose activities have been truncated by the court injunction will be ever willing to accept any genuine truce provided it will stabilize the polity.

The present situation does no good to anyone. We (Nigerians) will be the end losers because football will still move forward in other countries.

He also called on the Federal government, through the Sports Ministry  to help end the problem which has taken a rather devastating dimension with the court suit.

“Those who lost out in the last election should also be part of this truce because as stakeholders they will be part of the new board in very influential capacities and designation. I think the matter is more of ego which could be resolved once all interests are represented and carried along.”