By Philips Adefioye

Former Nigerian International, Tajudeen Disu says he would have preferred that the indefinite suspension slammed on Nigeria stays in order to allow for the proper restructuring of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA.

Disu said that the ban would have made the country to put its house in order adding that a situation where the NFA will be using FIFA to threaten the country will be a thing of the past.

“I would have preferred the ban on our country to remain, it would have been the most welcome development so that we can go back to the root of the problem of our football and correct all the wrongs,” he said.

The one time player of the defunct Abiola Babes football club of Abeokuta stressed that the federal government should not be blamed for all the wrongs happening in Nigerian football adding that what led to the country’s suspension in football was between the National Association of Nigerian Footballers, NANF, and NFA.

“When this saga started, I was one of the ex players that said we have to get to the bottom of this problem. Why would the NFA that always collect money from government whenever they are embarking on any tournament be using FIFA to threaten the country whenever the government asks them to give account of the money given to them.

“Nobody should put the blame on the government, NANF has done so well. There is nobody who sees what NANF is doing that will not support it. NANF is not only fighting for the ex footballers alone but for the interest of all Nigerians.

“Some people think that they can do whatever they like with the country’s football. The people who are willing to serve are being frustrated. To be honest with you, it’s been a long time that this mess has been going on in the country’s football system.

“These set of people believe that they have Nigerian football in their armpit and nobody can question them. It is very unfortunate that these people always threaten the government with FIFA ban.

“I must tell you that FIFA was not given the right information. They are taking sides and my advice to the government is to disregard FIFA. It is unfortunate that some people who the federal government made are the ones biting the fingers that fed them or made them what they are today, he stressed.

Disu said that the government should not look back despite FIFA’s accusation, adding that NANF should be left alone to slug it out to the end with the NFA because Nigerians need change.“Government never took NFA to court, government never interfered in NFA’s election. Where is government interference here, it was NANF that took the NFA to court, it was NANF that asked the elections to be postponed.

“One thing is, people that are feeding through the NFA don’t want to leave there. They just don’t care about of the development of the game, they are careless to what happens to football in the country.

“It is their selfish interest that is making them not to want to leave power and want to keep looting, embezzling money from every tournament. My advice to Harrison Jalla is, there is no going back because what NANF is doing now is the right thing”, said Disu.