Amaju Pinnick has been reinstated along with his administrative body as the head of Nigerian football.
He was able to do this with the help of operatives of the Directorate of State Security Services (DSS) who stormed the NFF glass house and chased out Ambassador Chris Giwa and his group.
The DSS were purportedly acting on orders from higher-ups.
Giwa had taken over the NFF on the 1st of July relying on the strength of a Supreme court ruling and had even made appointments including Emmanuel Ikpeme, as the acting General Secretary of the NFF in place of Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.
However, the government intervened and Pinnick is now back in power.
Pinnick in a statement thanked Buhari for restoring his power and for his intervention.
He said: “We must give all the credit to our President, Muhammadu Buhari, for acting to restore the leadership of the federation and saving the nation the embarrassment,” Pinnick said.
He added: “Even as the situation persisted, I was very positive about his patriotic commitment to the best interest of the nation and his clarity of judgment to bring order to bear.
“It is said that the sheep cannot be suffering the pangs of birth tied to the stake while elders are around.
“He has demonstrated this fatherliness in so many ways across various sectors and now football is the latest beneficiary.
“We thank God for his life and for giving him to us.
“By his intervention, the nation has been saved the embarrassment, the world football community has been reassured of the high sense of responsibility of the government of Nigeria as a member of the international community and hope is brought back to thousands of Nigeria youths engaged in football as the various national teams can proceed on their various programmes without apprehension, the various leagues which were stopped under the circumstance can now get back to action while the confidence of the various sponsors, partners and investors in Nigeria football has been restored.”
Pinnick had reacted strongly to being removed as NFF head earlier and had called it illegal.