Court Orders NFF, Gusau To Respond In Fresh Suit Challenging 2022 Election

A Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa has ordered that hearing notices be served on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and its president, Ibrahim Gusau, in a fresh legal challenge over the federation’s leadership.

The suit, marked FHC/YNG/CS/70/2026, was filed by former Super Eagles player Awala Jumbo and lawyer Tekena Ediyekio. Presiding judge, Ayo Emmanuel, gave the directive on Wednesday after declining to hear an ex parte application brought by the plaintiffs.

At the brief court session, none of the parties was present, but counsel to the applicants, Rumson Baribote, informed the court of a pending application dated March 13, 2026, and sought leave to move it.

“My Lord, we have an ex parte application dated March 13, 2026, and we seek leave of this honourable court to move same,” Baribote said.

The court refused the request, insisting that the defendants must first be notified.

“Having refused to hear the ex parte application, it is hereby ordered that the defendants be put on notice,” Justice Emmanuel ruled.

The case was adjourned to March 31, 2026, for hearing.

In the originating summons, the plaintiffs are asking the court to nullify the September 30, 2022 election that produced the current NFF leadership and restrain the board from further administering Nigerian football.

They want the court to determine whether the Gusau-led board can continue to act as the legitimate leadership in view of a Court of Appeal judgment delivered on January 19, 2024.

“Having regard to the Order of the Court of Appeal dated the 19th of January 2024, the 2nd Respondent-led Board can still parade themselves as the validly elected Board and continue with the management of the nation’s football,” the plaintiffs asked.

They also urged the court to decide whether it can enforce the appellate ruling under Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution by stopping the defendants from acting on the strength of the disputed election.

The plaintiffs further questioned whether the continued stay in office of the NFF leadership, including plans to hold a congress on March 23, 2026, amounts to contempt of court.

Among the reliefs sought are a declaration affirming the court’s power to enforce the appellate decision and an order for the establishment of an interim board with equal representation across the federating units.

In a supporting affidavit, Ediyekio said the suit was filed with the consent of his co-plaintiff and based on full knowledge of the facts. He recalled that a subsisting order of the Federal High Court in Abuja, delivered on September 15, 2022 by Inyang Ekwo, directed parties to maintain the status quo and restrained the conduct of NFF elections.

According to him, although the defendants initially secured a temporary stay, the Court of Appeal struck out the appeal on January 19, 2024.

“The decision of the Court of Appeal extinguished the temporary stay and restored the full force of the status quo order,” he said.

Ediyekio argued that the implication is clear: “There is no valid legal basis upon which the respondents can claim that the status quo order was ever lawfully displaced.”

He maintained that the September 30, 2022 election was conducted “in deliberate violation of a subsisting court order” and is therefore “null and void ab initio.”

The plaintiffs accused the NFF leadership of continuing to act without legal backing despite the appellate ruling.

“They have continued to hold themselves out as the lawfully elected leadership engaged with FIFA and CAF, organised congresses, and made appointments without any legal mandate,” he stated.

He added that the planned congress in Yenagoa underscores what he described as “continuing contempt of court.”

Ediyekio warned that the dispute has deepened uncertainty in the administration of football in the country.

“The continued state of governance uncertainty… has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to the development of football in Nigeria,” he said.

He added that the situation undermines “the rule of law, good governance, and the supremacy of the Constitution.”

The dispute stems from an earlier suit in Abuja, where the court barred the conduct of NFF elections pending the determination of the case. The plaintiffs insist that despite that order, the federation went ahead with the election and has continued to operate in defiance of subsisting court directives.