National Sports Commission has installed Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme as interim general secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation and named Dr Ayo Abdulrahaman chief operating officer of the Nigeria Premier Football League, officials said Friday, after the sudden resignation of the federation’s top leadership.
Ikpeme, previously the NFF’s deputy general secretary, will oversee the federation’s secretariat. Dr Ademola Olajire, formerly director of media and communications, takes up the role of interim deputy general secretary.
The moves follow the resignations on Thursday of NFF president Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, general secretary Dr Mohammed Sanusi and members of the executive committee. The National Sports Commission endorsed the interim arrangements to maintain continuity in football administration.
Abdulrahaman, who holds a doctorate in sports administration and has extensive experience across Nigeria’s leagues, was appointed by the NFF on the same day the new NPFL season opened with a match between Shooting Stars and newly promoted Inter Lagos FC in Ibadan.
Ikpeme said the appointment followed a directive issued Thursday requiring board members, chief executives and non-NFF staff COOs of the various leagues to vacate their posts. The change took immediate effect.
Chairmen, appointed directors and chief executives of the NPFL, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and Nationwide League One have been instructed to hand over administration to their NFF-staff COOs or newly deployed officers from the federation.
All preparations for the NFF elective congress, previously scheduled for September 27, have been suspended. A new electoral process will begin only after comprehensive reforms, to be carried out in consultation with FIFA and the Confederation of African Football.
The reorganisation comes after President Bola Tinubu ordered a full overhaul of Nigerian football administration in response to repeated failures to qualify for major regional, continental and global tournaments.
“The reform must respond to a longstanding need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football,” Tinubu said.
He noted that while other sports had made progress under the re-established National Sports Commission, football continued to lag because of structural weaknesses.
“Football, Nigeria’s most popular sport and the greatest beneficiary of public support, investment and national attention, has continued to struggle basically due to structural deficits within the system,” the president added, directing the NSC chairman to work with the NFF secretariat and stakeholders to ensure continuity while advancing a broad consultative reform process with FIFA and CAF.
