ABUJA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's new football chief Chris Giwa took office on Monday following the sack of the former chief by the country's apex court.
Giwa said his taking of office was in tandem with the country's constitution.
"I am here to claim my mandate as the substantive chairman elected on Aug. 26, 2014," he said during his inaugural press conference at the head office of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Abuja.
Earlier on Monday, Nigeria's Minister of Youth and Sports had directed the former football chief to comply with a ruling of the apex court which set aside his election into the Executive Committee of the NFF four years ago.
In a statement signed by his spokeswoman, Solomon Dalung, the minister of youth and sports, urged the former FA chief Amaju Pinnick and members of the executive committee to quit their positions with immediate effect.
The directive followed a written notification from the Attorney-General of the Federation and minister of justice of requesting the federal ministry of youths and sports to ensure compliance of the court order, Dalung said.
The apex court ruled on a lawsuit contesting the election of Pinnick as helmsman of the local FA.
The verdict by the Nigerian Supreme Court on June 5 had restored the orders of a Federal High Court which set aside the purported election of Pinnick and the current executive committee of the NFF.
Giwa, who contested Pinnick's election in court, was earlier banned from all football activities in the country by world football governing body FIFA, as the controversy caused by the election raged on.
In its ruling, the apex court also considered Giwa's purported ban as "unconstitutional, null and void".
Upon assuming office, Giwa said he would embark on reconciliation of all aggrieved members of the FA.
In August 2014, Giwa had emerged as a president of the local FA following an election in Nigeria's north-central city of Jos but his election was not recognized by FIFA. This broke the FA into factions.
FIFA, after threatening to ban Nigeria from all its activities, had supervised another election on Sept. 30, 2014, in the southern city of Warri, in Nigeria's Delta.
Pinnick got elected with 32 votes out of the 44 votes and took office.
Giwa, following the development, instituted a lawsuit against Pinnick's recognition, pursuing his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, where he lost and was banned from football-related activities by FIFA.
Speaking on the latest development, Dalung noted: "It is a trite law that court orders are sacrosanct and any acts of disobedience to it constitute a threat to the rule of law."
Pinnick, who led the Nigerian football officials to the ongoing Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup where Nigeria crashed out at the group stage, is yet to react to his sack by the court. Enditem
