Delta FA Chairman, Amaju Pinnick has advised Amanze Uchegbulam to maintain dignified silence and work hard to change their dismissal from the Nigeria Football Association to a milder offence so that they could still have a future in public office in Nigeria.

Uchegbulam

Lulu, Uchegbulam and Taiwo Ogunjobi were the President, Vice President and Chairman of the Technical Committee respectively. They were dismissed from the FA July 4.

Amanze has spoken to the media twice since then. First,  he wondered why he should be invited to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over financial matters since he never dealt on them. Secondly,  he has reacted to the statement of Director-General of National Sports Commission, Patrick Ekeji during the Extraordinary Congress of the FA last Friday. In his address, Ekeji told the Congress that Lulu and co were removed because of their insubordination. Amanze immediately thanked Ekeji for this revelation but wanted to know the actions he took that could be adjudged acts of insubordination.

Amaju, one of those who pushed for change in the FA reacted this way yesterday: “I really don’t know why Amanze has been the one talking. I thought that he would be sensitive to the anger of the nation on how they ran football and be quiet. I thought that he would toe the line of Sani Lulu and Taiwo Ogunjobi and plan on how change their dismissal to a milder thing so that this will not hunt them in future.

My advice to him is that he should stop appointing accusing fingers to others because that’s what his statement translates to. I thought that he would maintain dignified silence and use this time for sobre reflection and stop the display of arrogance that did not help their board.

I want to put it on record that Sani Lulu is not bad as a person but some overwhelming influences affected him. How can you explain the fact that the sports minister wrote a memo to a parastatal under him, advising that elections be postponed for all to concentrate on the World Cup and they took the letter to FIFA to make a case of interference? That was like reporting your father to an alien.

That was gross insubordination. I thought that Amanze would interact with Nigerians and know how they feel about their leadership of the FA and that way stop making comments that exacerbate the anger of the government, football fans football stakeholders.”