Following widespread of EFCC invitation of the bigwigs in the former NFF board last Friday, many are of the opinion that the writer of the petition James Peter was used by some people for their selfish interest to have done that, one of their reasons is the consideration of the time the he submitted and re awaken the issue surrounding the letter he had submitted few years back,National Daily learnt.
Former Super Falcons coach, James Peters, who wrote a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a ‘Monumental Stealing and Financial Crimes’ in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied being used by anybody.
Instead, he insisted that he did it in the interest of Nigeria and in fulfillment of his fundamental human right as a stakeholder of Nigeria Football Federation.
The former BBC Lions of Gboko coach, who had received threats to his life and that of his family, said no amount of blackmail and intimidation will stop him from further exposing the corruption in Nigeria’s football if given another opportunity.
“I am living in fear now with my family. But I do not regret doing what I did. It is for football. If I have another opportunity, I will do it again.
“I am a stakeholder in Nigeria’s football and have the right to expose corruption in football if I see any. It is up to those affected to defend themselves rather than trailing me all over the place and accusing me of being sponsored. I am too big for anybody to use against people,” Peter stated.
It would be recalled that Peters, who coached Nigeria’s national teams and led them to notable victories, urged the EFCC to carry out a thorough investigation on an alleged “unprecedented stealing, corrupt practices and financial crimes being perpetrated by the ousted NFF President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, the General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, the 1st Vice President Barrister Seyi Akinwumi, the 2nd Vice President Mallam Shehu Dikko and a member of the Executive Committee Alhaji Ahmed Yusuf (AKA Fresh).”
The technical director of NFF, in the petition, alleged of “stealing and fraudulent activities by Financial Derivatives Ltd, a company cunningly brought into by Amaju Pinnick for the sole purpose of warehousing money outside the official accounts of the NFF in the Central Bank and diverting same for fraudulent activities.”
The petitioner stated that, “These NFF chieftains have also used the company Mediterranean Sports Ltd belonging to Mallam Shehu Dikko who is the 2nd Vice President of the Executive Committee, Chairman of the League Management Company, a body saddled with the responsibility of running the Elite league, and attracts millions of dollars from sponsorships and Chairman, Marketing and Sponsorship sub-committee of the NFF to collect over 40% of revenues from the numerous sponsors of the NFF.”
He alleged that despite the Federal government’s policy of Treasury Single Account (TSA) where monies of government Parastatals are lodged for purposes of checking leakages etc, Mr Amaju Pinnick and others obtained the services of Financial Derivatives Company Ltd to warehouse revenue accruing to the NFF from well spirited individuals and corporate organizations which never got to the NFF.
He further alleged that funds made available by corporate sponsors were never disclosed and called for a Forensic audit to be carried out to look at all approvals and retirements by the mentioned person.