NFF Congress Rejects Ikpeme as Acting General Secretary, Questions Authority to Dissolve Electoral Committee
The Nigeria Football Federation Congress has rejected the appointment of Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme as Acting General Secretary of the federation, arguing that the NFF Statutes make no provision for such a position and insisting that the appointment of a General Secretary is the responsibility of the Executive Committee and must follow the procedure prescribed by the Statutes.
Sportsnow.com.ng gathered that members of the Congress expressed their position at a meeting convened by the National Sports Commission at its headquarters on Thursday, where they were also briefed on the developments surrounding the leadership crisis in the federation.
The Congress reportedly took particular exception to a letter issued by Ikpeme in his capacity as the NSC-endorsed interim head of the NFF Secretariat, in which he purportedly dissolved the Electoral Committee and suspended the process leading to the elective Congress.
The Congress questioned where Ikpeme derived the authority to take such a decision, pointing out that he is not the substantive General Secretary and that, under the NFF Statutes, even the General Secretary does not possess an unfettered power to dissolve the Electoral Committee or Congress.
The position of the Congress adds a new dimension to the crisis coming barely days after NSC Chairman Shehu Dikko said the Nigerian delegation that visited FIFA had obtained the world governing body’s approval for its proposed approach to resolving the crisis and had been directed to consult relevant stakeholders. The NFF Congress is undoubtedly one of the most important stakeholders in that process.
The NFF’s own published Statutes state that the General Secretary is appointed by the Executive Committee upon the proposal of the President.
The Statutes describe the General Secretariat as the executive, operational and administrative body of the federation under the direction of the General Secretary, while the General Secretary’s listed responsibilities include organising Congress and providing electoral committees with logistical and operational support upon request from the Electoral Committees.
It is against that background that the Congress is questioning the legal basis for Ikpeme’s appointment and, more importantly, his subsequent decision to dissolve the Electoral Committee and the Congress.
The dispute now goes beyond who should temporarily run the NFF Secretariat and directly into the question of which organ of the federation has the constitutional authority to make decisions during the present leadership vacuum.
The Congress also reportedly declined, politely, an offer by the National Sports Commission to pay allowances owed to Congress members in connection with the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Sources said the Congress members made it clear at Thursday’s meeting that they had not requested the payment and that the purpose of the meeting was to address the governance crisis rather than seek financial assistance.
The latest development is likely to intensify the debate over Dikko’s claim that the NFF Statutes did not anticipate the mass resignation of the federation’s leadership. The March 2026 amendments were approved by the NFF Congress in March, with the federation subsequently fixing September 2026 for its elective Congress.
