Not suspicious at all – wonder who gains and which possibly incriminating documents have been burned? KS
BBC
Fire rips through NFF building in Abuja
By Oluwashina Okeleji BBC Sport
A huge fire has ripped through the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) building in the capital Abuja on Wednesday.
Flames were spotted coming out of the building at about 1000 local time and it took fire fighters almost two hours to extinguish the blaze.
Nigerian Fire Service official Eyo Ime said it is suspected an electrical fault caused the fire.
“The fire started from the chief accountant’s office as I was told,” said NFF general secretary Musa Amadu.
“I just arrived at the office and saw the smoke and was not allowed to go upstairs, obviously, for safety reasons.
“Staffers would have been able to reduce the impact of the damage, but could not gain access into his office and as such could not quell or trace where the smoke was coming out from.
“But we must not engage in blame games and thank God that no life was lost. But this is sad and unfortunate.”
The disaster is another blow for the NFF, coming at a time when it is locked in a bitter leadership crisis which has seen president Aminu Maigari sacked and reinstated twice.
The African champions are also without a coach as the football authority continues to negotiate with Stephen Keshi, whose contract ran out in June, over his return to the job.
However, Keshi told BBC Sport he “cannot wait much longer”, adding “it should only take the 24 hours or 48 hours to agree a contract; this is taking too much time”. BBC
Nigerian Eye
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
The headquarters of the Nigeria Football Federation in Abuja, the Glass House was gutted by fire on Wednesday.
The office of the NFF general secretary was reportedly razed down, along with those of other principal officers of the federation.
A source in Abuja told NigerianEye that the offices of the President and the accounts department might also be affected by the inferno.
This comes on the heels of acrimonious events leading to the August 26 congress meeting.
Senior federal fire service chief Imo Eyo described the damage as “huge” and said there was no immediate indication of foul play.
“We suspect a circuit fault to have led to the fire but a proper enquiry would be carried out by the authorities,” he added.
Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) technical director Emmanuel Ikpeme said the blaze appeared to have started in the office of a senior accounts manager.
“We thought it was something that could be contained by the fire extinguisher,” he told reporters.
“But before we knew it, the fire spread to the general-secretary’s office and from there, there couldn’t be any control.”
The NFF has been in crisis for several months and FIFA suspended the organisation in July over what it said was “government interference” in its affairs.
That followed a Nigerian court ruling that sacked the NFF high command and the government appointed a sole administrator to run the game.
The ban, which threatened Nigeria’s participation in the FIFA under-20 women’s World Cup this month, was later lifted.
But the NFF executive board then gave a vote of no confidence in president Aminu Maigari and sacked him over allegations of financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration.
Maigari was however reinstated because FIFA said that correct procedure had not been followed. He returned to work this week.
NFF secretary-general Musa Amadu cautioned against attributing blame for the fire but added: “Thank God no lives were lost but this is sad and unfortunate.”
Ikpeme added: “It’s very sad, more so that Nigerians know that we have been having some challenges in the Nigerian Football Federation.
“When we thought it was all over only for us to come this morning and experience this kind of thing. It’s a very, very serious matter.
“You can imagine, most of the NFF’s sensitive and important documents of the NFF are in the secretary-general’s office and for the fire to destroy the accountants’ office is very sad.
“It’s a set-back for the NFF.” Nigerian Eye
