Rugby delegates meet to resolve leadership crisis

The Nigeria Rugby Stakeholder meeting was held on Tuesday, December 21 to deliberate on ways to move the game forward in the country.

Twenty six delegates from across the country along with five observers attended the meeting, which was held at the National Olympic Committee board room of the National Stadium, Lagos. The delegates were made up of rugby club proprietors, members of state associations and players’ representatives.

Ntiense Williams, Convener and secretary of Friends of Rugby said, “The attendance of the delegates clearly shows that Nigerian Rugby Stakeholders are prepared to resolve the lingering leadership crisis which has engulfed the present concession board of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation.”

This crisis led to Nigeria being banned by the International Rugby Board since 2009.

Resolution of the council

According to Williams, the meeting deliberated on the state of rugby in the country and the present ban on Nigeria by the sport’s world governing body, and after studying the situation through all the available documents from the International Rugby Board and the Confederation of African Rugby a motion was raised for members to take a decision on whether to endorse the present concession board of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) or to endorse the IRB directive for a democratic election to be conducted into the board of the Rugby Federation.

The meeting which lasted for over two hours eventually voted 24 to 2 in favour of the IRB’s directive, and immediately gave a constitutional six weeks’ notice (End of February) for a special General Assembly of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation to be called.

In the interim, a seven man Nigeria Rugby Stakeholder Forum Committee was set up to follow through on this issue and other pressing issues.

Members of the committee include, Tunde Akerele as chairman; Edward Pam Fom, representing the North Central; Abdulahi Musa, representing North West; Richard Raphael, representing North East; Obasi Josuah, representing South East; Gbenga Hamed, representing South West; and Ntiense Williams, representing the South-South.
Source:http://234next.com/