BY JUDE OPARA, Abuja
Even as many interested aspirants into the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were yet to purchase the forms the electoral committee says it has concluded the sale of forms for the election slated to take place on August 26 in Abuja.

In a telephone chat with Sports Vanguard, the chairman of the electoral committee, Amoni Biambo said the decision to stop the sale of forms was taken after a meeting of the committee Monday night in Abuja. He said the committee regrets that some people who wanted to be part of the process were not able to buy the forms due to what he described as the confusion that trailed the exercise which also culminated in the locking of the committee’s office located at Number 9 Arusha Crescent, Wuse Zone 1.

Many aspirants were also seen yesterday at the secretariat of the NFF hoping to purchase the forms which is the first demonstration of interest to be part of the process but all their efforts came to naught as the earlier thinking that the committee could extend the date to cover-up for the lost time have been jettisoned by the latest development.

It was also not clear whether the acting president of the federation, Chief Mike Umeh eventually succeeded in purchasing the form before the close of the exercise. Recall that Umeh was said to have been presented with the form of a vice president which he instantly rejected insisting that he wanted to contest as the president.

Biambo also hinted that the screening of candidates who were able to purchase the forms has already started yesterday and will run till tomorrow to also give everybody the much talked about level playing ground.

The chairman also expressed dismay over remarks by certain people that made it look like his committee was hoarding the forms from some people who failed to indicate interest since the sale of forms began early enough and those who went to Brazil even bought. He said that the nomination forms were released on 24th of June and ended on 15th of July.

“Some people thought that the former board may not have given the chance to run but after the impeachment of Maigari, most of them started showing interest and these are the very people giving us bad name, saying we were hoarding the forms. I have no special interest on any particular candidate, we in Nigeria should begin to do things the right way like it is elsewhere” Bbiambo stated.

According to him, “the issue of sale of forms is an old story and we have started the screening of aspirants that that will run to say Thursday so as to give everybody the opportunity to clarify issues if any. Let me also add that we are not inviting everybody to travel form far and wide to come to Abuja, it is only those that may have issues with their documents that we are going to invite and at the end we will make our findings known to everybody concerned”.

But in a statement issued yesterday, NFF expressed serious concern over the handling of the electoral process ahead of elections which has drawn complaints and attracted widespread criticisms from members of the Nigeria football family.

“We have received phone calls, phone messages and emails, and there have been media reports of persons being denied forms for unclear reasons.

“The litany of complaints and widespread condemnation has been deafening. The best legacy that this team can give to Nigeria football is a flawless electoral process leading to credible elections,” Chief Mike Umeh, NFF’s Acting President, said on in Abuja yesterday.