Patrick Omorodion

The decision of the Professor Akin Ibidapo-Obe Arbitration Panel to annul the election of Davidson Owumi as the Chairman of the Nigeria Premeir League, NPL has been faulted a by lawyer, Barrister Danladi Isaac.

*Owumi

Barrister Isaac who said he was privy to the sitting of the Professor Akin Ibidapo-Obe Arbitration Panel described it as pre-arranged judgement to get at Owumi by some officials of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF under Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi.

The man at the centre of the brouhaha, Professor Ibidapo-Obe however disagreed with the insinuation that the Panel’s action was pre-arranged, adding that it was unfair for anybody to say that for a professor of his stature.

To buttress his point that the action of the Panel was pre-determined, Barrister Isaac told Sunday Vanguard sports that before the Panel began sitting, the Owumi camp objected to Professor Ibidapo-Obe heading the committee because he was related to Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, one of the officials of the NFF who were against Owumi. He said instead of stepping down, the professor ignored it.

On the legality of the Arbitration Panel, the lawyer said that in as much as the NFF had powers to appoint one relying on Article 68 of its statutes, the Arbitration has no powers to sit on election matters as the election guidelines stipulates that such matters ends with the Appeals Committee.

“Election matters as stated in the guidelines were supposed to end with the Appeals Committee. Baribote protested Owumi’s election but the Appeals Committee upheld the result but the NFF went ahead to appoint and arbitrator,” Barrister Isaac said.

He added that matters which have nothing to do with elections are only taken to an Arbitration if both parties agree that when there is a disagreement between them, the matter could be taken there.

“From what Professor Ibidapo-Obe did, it shows that it was a pre-determined and pre-arranged judgement to stop Owumi. The whole thing smacks of illegality and scandal and I bet that it will not stand,” he said.

When Sunday Vanguard sports however, put a call to Professor Ibidapo-Obe, he said “the Award was not pre-determined, those saying so are not being fair to me. I am a professor of law and a lecturer in a university of repute.

How can they say it was pre-determined when the parties had their counsels and made their submissions. What I meant when I said that the Award was 60% concluded was that I had collected submissions and responses from the parties which were done electronically,” he stressed.

Owumi however countered Professor Ibidapo-Obe, stressing that he had actually protested the setting up of the Panel and asked him where he got the powers to sit over election matters which had been decided by the Appeals Committee but he said he was over-ruling me and went ahead with the process.

I protested the jurisdiction of the Professor Ibidapo-Obe Panel because in the NPL Election guidelines, the process ends with the Appeals Committee if one party is not satisfied with the result. I also petitioned the NFF that I was not satisfied with the Panel’s Award and asked that an independent body be set up to look into the matter like was done in the MTN versus Globacom issue on the league sponsorship but the NFF turned it down. Why? Because they had a hidden agenda,” he argued.

He however said that the last has not been heard about the matter because even though FIFA abhors football matters going to ordinary courts, he would seek redress in court because in matters of arbitration, the next step is the courts.