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Dikko denies misuse of $1.2 million FIFA stadium fund in Kebbi
Shehu Dikko, who chairs the National Sports Commission, has refuted claims that the $1.2 million FIFA allocation for Kebbi State’s mini-stadium construction was misused.
During a Friday appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today program, Dikko clarified that the funds were never physically received by any Nigerian entity, explaining that FIFA maintains direct control over such project financing.
“That is where people are getting it wrong; no one collected the money. I’m not here to defend the NFF; they can defend themselves.
READ ALSO: Pinnick denies financial misconduct allegations over FIFA Goal project in Kebbi
“But as the leader of sports in Nigeria, what happens to the NFF affects the entire sports ecosystem. So we need to set the record straight for people to understand how this works,” he said.
Dikko detailed FIFA’s operational framework, noting that the international body selects its own consultants, oversees contractual agreements, and compensates contractors without channeling funds through the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
“I was a manager of FIFA projects, and I know how FIFA works. Nobody collected the money because FIFA manages its projects directly. The NFF’s role is to provide the land and state what they want. FIFA then appoints consultants, goes through procurement, and pays the contractor directly to deliver the project,” Dikko said.
The NSC head emphasized that the project’s initial valuation dates back nearly a decade, explaining its approval came in 2015 with procurement processes starting the following year.
“This project is not $1.2 million of today. When it was approved in 2015, the value was about ₦300 million. That was what the project was worth at that time,” he explained.
According to Dikko, complications with securing and documenting the land resulted in the foundation work and contract formalization being delayed until 2020, when FIFA’s selected contractor began construction.
“Before the project was signed, there was a public tender and procurement process. People just see a picture and assume it’s incomplete. That structure shown was only the first phase of the project,” Dikko stated.
The Birnin Kebbi facility, financed through FIFA’s Forward Programme, has attracted significant attention after drawing criticism regarding its construction quality and cost-effectiveness.
Public controversy intensified when FIFA featured the stadium in its social media imagery, triggering widespread disapproval and demands for official inquiry.
Dikko maintained that FIFA holds full accountability for project implementation, emphasizing that financial management adhered to transparent international protocols.
The House of Representatives Sports Committee has launched an inquiry into how the NFF handles FIFA and CAF developmental funding, with particular focus on the Kebbi facility.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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