Former Gombe FA chairman, Alhaji Shuiabu Ahmed Gara-Gombe, has pointed accusing fingers at the chieftains of National Sports Commission{NSC} led by Mallam Shehu Dikko as been the brain behind Chief Segun Odegbami tirade against the Nigeria Football Federation {NFF} and its president, Ibrahim Musa Gusau.

Chief Odegbami, former Nigeria’s captain had called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to wade in and cancel the NFF election slated for September 27 in Lafia. Odegbami also known as ‘The Mathematical’ during his playing days also vowed that he will stop the election by going to Court to seek redress and address the abnormally of the composition of the NFF Congress, arguing that the current delegate structure titled in favour of the incumbents and makes it difficult for other candidates to emerge.

He said 37 of the 44 delegates involved in the electoral process were state FA chairmen in his Radio Station, Eagle FM aired on Saturday.

Addressing the press Sunday evening in Abuja, Gara-Gombe in a swift reaction said that  “the NSC must come out and state their position on this ,” he said. 

“Their silence shows that they are behind it, and we are going to take them on it.”

“I’m calling on the NSC led by Mallam Shehu Dikko and its Director General to state their position on this burning issue, their silence is a complicit and everything is pointing at them, that they sponsored Odegbami’s tirade against the NFF is not in doubt. They must come out clean. We know the relationship between Dikko, Olopade and Odegbami”

“I disagree with almost everything he said, Gara-Gombe enthused “If you want to talk about issues in Nigerian sports or anything affecting our country, forget fronting or saturating people with your profile. We know who you are.”

“The same Odegbami was in AFCON in Abidjan with NFF. They are in the same hotel. His problem with Gusau started because the NFF cannot bankroll his trip to AFCON in Morocco,” Gara-Gombe alleged.

He questioned Odegbami’s criticism of corruption and accountability in football and challenged the former international to explain controversies surrounding the Shell Cup and the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM), which he chaired.

“He has no moral right to talk about corruption or accountability,” Gara-Gombe alleged, while calling on Odegbami to respond to questions surrounding the management of funds allocated to NASCOM.

Gara-Gombe also recalled Odegbami’s previous attempt to contest for a position in the NFF, claiming that he failed to secure the required endorsement from FA in his South-West zone. 

“Ogun state where he hailed from did not endorse him.

“I was a Congress member as Gombe State FA chairman and I was the one that signed his nomination form to contest,” he said. 

“So, I don’t have anything against him personally, but on this one—asking the President to stop the NFF election for personal interest—I would not agree with him.”

He also questioned claims that Odegbami’s Eagle FM radio station suffered significant financial losses because Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“Did NFF ask him to go and set up Eagle FM? You set it up for your own personal gain,” Gara-Gombe said, arguing that other private media organisations had not made similar complaints.

On the wider issue of electoral reform, Gara-Gombe agreed that changes were necessary but said the responsibility ultimately rested with the National Assembly.

“We need electoral reforms, not only in Nigerian football. Electoral reform is required in everything that we do,” he said.

He argued that the composition of the NFF Congress could not be fundamentally changed through court action or ad hoc committees without legislative intervention.

“The issue of the composition of Nigerian Football Association Congress has to do with the National Assembly,” he said. “Let the National Assembly go there and take up that challenge” he concluded.