The supposed merger between the National Association of Nigeria
Footballers (NANF) and the National Association of Nigeria Professional
Footballers (NANPF) did not form the Professional
Footballers Association of Nigeria,( PFAN) as expected through the signed agreement
on November 9 2020 by representatives of both bodies
A careful analysis of the outcome of the
registration Certificate and Articles of
Association of the Corporate affairs Commission documents of PFAN showed clear
violations of key provisions of the Merger agreement orchestrated by certain
key officials from the NANF for selfish and personal interest.
Following the outcome of the CAC registration of PFAN
, the following provisions were
conspicuously and deliberately flawed .
1) Clause 4 " the parties have agreed that in the
interest of all her members and the progress of Nigeria Football, for absolute
peace, harmony and to create a sense of belonging among members, both NANF and
NANPF shall merge to produce a single and unified union under a new name
2) Clause 5 " the parties upon the execution of
this agreement shall henceforth operate under the name of PROFESSIONAL
FOOTBALLERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (PFAN)
3) Clause 6 " the parties also agrees that both
members of NANF and NANPF shall make up the composition of both the Board of
Trustees and National executive committee of PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLERS
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (PFAN)
4) Clause 8 ' that the CAC certificate and other
incorporation documents of NANF be adopted for the purpose of the merger with
necessary amendment and alterations pending the process of a name change as
agreed in paragraph 4
5) clause 9 ' that the particulars of trustees of NANF
be altered by appointing new trustees and retaining old trustees to reflect
equal numbers of trustees from NANF and NANPF as members of the Board of
Trustees
6) clause 13 ' that upon completion of the merger
NANPF and ASPFON ( APFON) shall be wind up, while a change of name to reflect
the united players union shall be created from NANF Certificate.
THE DRAMA AND THE CHALLENGE
1) The first drama and challenge is in clause 13 .
".... the united players union (PFAN) shall be created from NANF
Certificate. Instead the PFAN Certificate was created from the Association of
Professional Footballers of Nigeria (APFON,) Certificate Precisely it was a
change of name from APFON to PFAN
2) The second challenge was the composition of the
board of trustees of PFAN as contained in the CAC documents of articles of
Association which was hidden Inspite of numerous calls for members to see it,
until I carry out a personal investigation which was very revealing. Kindly see
clause 9 '..... trustees to reflect equal numbers of trustees from NANF and
NANPF as members of the board of trustees ' As far as I can remember from NANPF
we recommended the following members to constitute the PFAN board of trustees
which includes
Tijani Babaginda, Austin Popo, Dahiru Sadi, Hon
Tajudeen Ajide, and Jibo Bello. But ironically the names that constituted
members of PFAN board of trustees, includes Tijani Babaginda, Dahiru Sadi,
Austin Popo, Dr Felix Owolabi, Austin Equaveon and Harrison Jalla
Interestingly,
taking a critical look at the names of the board of trustees of PFAN, you will
discover that apart from Tijani Babaginda who came from NANPF and Harrison
Jalla from NANF, all other members of PFAN board of trustees were the same
board of trustees of APFON, namely Dr Felix Owolabi, Dahiru Sadi, Austin
Equaveon, Austin Popo and Henry Nwosu which was the only name excluded.
The conclusion of the whole mischief surounding the
registration of the CAC Certificate and article of Association of PFAN is nothing more than a charade that
ended up just in the change of name from APFON to PFAN, including the
composition of the board of trustees which is 90% APFON
STATUS OF APFON
The Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria
(APFON) was registerd with the CAC in 2007 and was affiliated with the Nigeria
Football Association, now Nigeria Football Federation on the 1st of February
2007 via a letter ref NFA /LEG.9/12/vol.1/82
In a move to transit to a proper trade union, APFON in
December 2015, acquired the Certificate of Registrar of trade unions under the
trade unions act as amended Cap T14 of 2004 having been affiliated with the
Trade Union Congress (TUC) 8th of August 2007, and later change it name to
National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers,(NANPF)
In conclusion if PFAN Certificate is merely a change
of name to APFON and its current composition of the board of trustees is made
up of about 90% APFON against the key provisions of the agreement between NANF
and NANPF, it can therefore be said that PFAN is APFON, the same way NANPF is
APFON. So you can see that legally speaking PFAN is not an offshoot of NANF,
neither is it a personal property of some individuals as they claimed
Puting the record straight is a very important place
to begin from as we move on to strengthening the unity of Nigeria players and
the union. Knowing the truth is what sets us free.
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