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Chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Shehu Dikko stated that Nigeria’s case before FIFA regarding the eligibility of several Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) players in World Cup qualifiers is solid and “very tight.”

Dikko made the statement on Friday while appearing on Arise Television’s Morning Show, amid allegations of FIFA’s investigation into DR Congo’s possible fielding of ineligible players.

According to him, the issue of player eligibility was detected by Nigerian football authorities prior to the playoff loss to DR Congo, and it was not addressed after the loss.

He explained that the NSC and the Nigeria Football Federation closely observed developments after DR Congo picked players of different nationalities to their playoff team, which was announced on November 1 ahead of the November 13 matches.

Dikko expressed concern that some of the players had not gotten FIFA approval when they were named to the squad.

He mentioned a similar example involving South Africa, who were previously punished three points for fielding an ineligible player, as evidence of FIFA’s stringent standards on player eligibility.

“So, when we saw the squad that was put in place for the playoffs, the squad was named on November 1 and the playoffs were on November 13, we looked at the squad of our opponents. We found out from the beginning that even the Congolese had already named players of other nationalities who had not been cleared by FIFA in their squad. That was an alarm, so everybody started monitoring, even though the players were not being played.

“This issue did not start because we lost the playoffs. We had been watching what they were doing, and then we found out a day before the qualifiers that they were getting clearances so that the players were qualified to play.

“But if you look back, what gave them the confidence to name a player of another nationality in their squad to play a match two weeks later, when he wasn’t qualified to play for them until the day before the match they received permission? That raised alarm for us after the qualifiers,” he said.

Dikko said that the players in issue only acquired FIFA permission a day before the qualifiers, raising further suspicions.

Following the playoff loss, he stated that Nigeria had employed legal and international law specialists to investigate the case, and that their results revealed that DR Congo may have misled FIFA in gaining permissions.

He emphasized the importance of scrupulously adhering to legal procedures when issuing passports and nationalities, saying that failure to do so jeopardizes the game’s credibility.

“It is the responsibility of a federation to ensure passports are issued in line with the law. You cannot just issue a passport to someone and change his nationality. If the passport is not issued according to the law of that country, it affects everything,” Dikko said.

He verified that Nigeria has subsequently submitted an official complaint with FIFA, and that the situation is currently being reviewed.

While admitting Nigeria’s playoff defeat, Dikko stressed that the country is not acting as a sour loser, but rather following the laws of the game.

“Yes, we lost. Unfortunately, everybody was angry about it. We are not sore losers, but it’s part of the rules. We bring in our legal team, we bring in our international lawyers. We look at the legal opinion, we look at the laws, and we found out there is some suspicion that some things have not been done right according to the laws of the game.

“There are probably, from what we found out, misrepresentations to FIFA to obtain those clearances,” he added.

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