President Jonathan, Minister meet over FIFA ban

As the zero hour approaches swiftly for Nigeria to reinstate the Aminu Maigari-led NFF board today or risk an indefinite ban from FIFA, the Minister of Sports and Chairman National Sports Commission, Dr.Tamuno Danagogo is expected to hold a crucial meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, where a decision on whether to reinstate the Maigari board would be made to forestall a worldwide clampdown on Nigeria. Nigeria was suspended on August 9 by FIFA , who ordered that Nigeria should reinstate the board by today or face an indefinite worldwide ban from football. The ban will effectively rule Nigeria out from next month's FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada and many other international events. In an attempt to present their side of the story, the Ministry of Sports sent a team to Brazil to meet FIFA. The team has returned back to Nigeria and was scheduled to brief Danagogo last night. At the time of filing this report, the meeting was yet to start. It was gathered that the team to Brazil was expected to tell the Minister what transpired during their meeting with FIFA and make appropriate recommendations on what to do to beat the impending ban. "The team that went to Brazil to meet FIFA would brief the Sports Minister and tell him what unfolded there and possibly make recommendations on the way forward. I do not know the exact time that the meeting would start but I it will hold tonight", said a Ministry insider, who added that the Minister of Sports would disccuss the recommendations of the team with President Jonathan today. "The Minister is scheduled to meet President Jonathan tomorrow (today) and brief him on what transpired so that Nigeria can find a way out of the current problem," the source said.