January 17, (THEWILL) – The FCT High Court in Nyanya has nullified the Player’s Representative election for a place on the Board of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN).
The case was filled after the September 2021 election, and the trial judge, Justice Alfred Okpe, upheld that the then Secretary General of the HFN, Alhaji Mohammed Maigidansama, had no powers or legitimate right to draw up guidelines for the elections of both Players’ and Technical representatives for places on the HFN Board.
As a result of this ruling, the court ordered for a fresh election for the Player’s representative, in strict compliance with existing rules and regulations, to be held within 30 days. The court also awarded damages of N500,000 in favor of Sam Abua (the claimants) and against Alhaji Maigidansama, the immediate past Secretary General of the HFN.
However, Joseph Udalle of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) De Defenders, who was elected as the Player’s representative, has called the judgement a “miscarriage of justice” that “lacked substance”.
Udalle, who is also a former international handball player for Nigeria, believes that the judgement is unfair as Alhaji Maigidansama acted in line with a circular from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development directing all Scribes of Sporting Federations to work out modalities for the elections of Players’ and Technical Representatives into all the sports federations, including the HFN.
