(
Nigeria
) The Minister of Sports, Tammy Danagogo, said he won’t go to jail following the commencement of contempt proceedings in court against Tuesday’s conduct of Nigeria Football Association, NFA, board elections in Warri,
Delta
State
.
Danagogo’s comment comes on the heels of the court order which restrained the NFA and its agents from going ahead with the election.
He told NAN in
Abuja
that he was not served the ``Form 48 contempt proceedings’’ to warrant him going to jail.
"I can’t speak for other persons whether they are heading for jail or not, but certainly I am not heading for jail. In law, documentary evidence excludes oral evidence, that’s what lawyers will tell you. If you come and tell me now that there is a court order against me I can say it’s a gossip or rumour.
"I should not be told about a court order, I should be served; you must read in between the lines to properly interpret and know what directives you have been given,’’ Danagogo said.
The minister, who justified his earlier intervention in the NFA leadership crisis, noted that the mandatory directive by the court led to an interim leadership in July.
``The last time I intervened, a mandatory directive was given by the court for the most senior civil servant in NFA to take over, so you must understand why I have to intervene then. I looked at the issues and said please let’s obey the court order while we seek further clarification from the office of the Attorney-General and possibly see how we can set it aside.
``At a certain point, one party said there was a court order that he should take over; the other man said no, you could not take over because FIFA did not recognise Nigerian court order. But at the end of the day, lawyers will interpret the order and we will get to a position where we will decide on what should be and what shouldn’t be,’’ he added.
Amaju Pinnick, Chairman, Delta Sports Commission, was on Tuesday elected NFA Chairman to replace Aminu Maigari, following the board election in Warri,
Delta
State
.
Pinnick emerged after a keenly contested election that also had former NFA Secretary-General, Taiwo Ogunjobi, and former NFA Vice-Chairman, Mike Umeh, in the race.
The election, which was held amidst tight security due to a restraining order from a Federal High Court in Jos, saw Pinnick win the contest with 32 votes.