Nigeria’s football troubles now extend well beyond results and performances. As the country’s national sides and clubs lose ground in continental competition and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) prepares for another elective congress, an expanding coalition of stakeholders is calling for a fundamental redesign of the game’s administration before a new four-year term begins.
A talent-rich nation confronting a leadership crisis
Nigeria possesses an exceptional supply of footballers and a deep sporting heritage, with its players competing throughout the leading leagues around the world. Yet those advantages have not translated into sustained success at the highest level, making the country’s recent football record increasingly hard to justify.
The NFF is due to hold its Elective Congress on September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State. That approaching date has prompted a basic debate: should the election go ahead, or should it be put on hold while the country rebuilds its football governance system?
The argument intensified after the Super Falcons were beaten 1–0 by Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. Nigeria consequently lost the chance to qualify automatically for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The team must now defeat South Africa in a crucial play-off to preserve its hopes of reaching the tournament.
Calls for the election to be stopped
Opponents of the NFF administration headed by President Ibrahim Musa Gusau regard the Falcons’ loss as part of a much wider pattern rather than an isolated sporting disappointment. Former Green Eagles captain Segun Odegbami has been the leading voice urging that the September vote be suspended. He has repeatedly questioned the structure of Nigerian football and has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Nigerian public to prevent what he considers a deeply defective process from continuing.
Odegbami said the way football has been run during the last 20 years has not kept pace with Nigeria’s talent or its potential. In his view, NFF elections have become a recurring four-year crisis, with an electoral college that favours those already in office making the result largely foreseeable.
He also dismissed fears that changing the process would automatically invite FIFA punishment, arguing that FIFA does not prescribe the internal governance model of independent countries. Odegbami said the National Sports Commission (NSC) has the authority to offer firm direction and steer the NFF towards choices that reflect the national interest. He plans to ask the courts to interpret:
- the constitutional and governing instruments of Nigerian football;
- FIFA’s statutory authority;
- the responsibilities of the government; and
- the structure and membership of the NFF Congress.
Ebi Egbe, a sports-facilities specialist and chief executive of Monimichelle Group, expressed similar reservations. He said the present arrangement deters credible challengers from entering the race because the 37 state football association chairmen possess excessive influence over the outcome. Egbe argued that the discussion should not be reduced to individual candidates or endorsement networks, but should focus on whether reform-minded contenders are given a genuinely level opportunity.
Failures cited by the administration’s critics
Those seeking accountability before the NFF receives another mandate have highlighted a series of setbacks under the Gusau leadership. Their complaints include:
- the Super Eagles’ failure to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup;
- the Flying Eagles’ early elimination by Burkina Faso in the WAFU Zone B U-20 qualifying competition;
- continuing disagreements about players’ allowances and bonuses;
- fragile grassroots development arrangements; and
- the poor commercial development of the domestic league.
Domestic football has also been affected by instability. Enugu Rangers won the latest Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season, while defending champions Remo Stars endured the surprise of relegation. Former U-23 international Abiodun Obafemi said the support systems and commitment seen between officials and players in earlier periods are missing today, warning that confidence between the two groups has been badly damaged.
Reform versus an established timetable
Not everyone supports stopping the election immediately. Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe, a former chairman of the Gombe State FA and founder of the Athletics and Other Sports Development Commission, rejected the argument that recent results justify delaying the vote. He said exchanging one executive board for another, without first changing the constitution, would produce the same outcome. Since the period of Ibrahim Galadima, he noted, several executive boards have come and gone without tackling the fundamental problems.
Gara-Gombe agreed that the electoral system needs to be changed, but said altering the composition of the NFF Congress should be handled through legislation passed by the National Assembly, not through an abrupt interruption of the announced schedule. He also called on the NSC to state clearly where it stands in the dispute over football administration.
The central issue is therefore broader than whether Gusau should seek another term. It is whether Nigerian football can remain under its present administrative design and reasonably expect its competitive fortunes to improve.
Preparations for the September 27 meeting in Lafia are already well advanced. At its Extraordinary General Assembly in March, the NFF approved the Electoral Committee and the Appeals Committee, while also passing a vote of confidence in the Gusau-led Executive Committee. Reform advocates, however, maintain that holding the congress without first addressing the structure would simply extend a failing model.
The next step now lies with President Tinubu, the National Sports Commission and Nigeria’s wider football constituency. They must decide whether the game is better served by conducting the September 27 congress as planned or by pausing the process and rebuilding the framework through which its leaders are chosen.
