Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalung has appealed to leaders of the warring factions in the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick and Chris Giwa to shift their positions to save the nation's football from extinction.
Dalung, who spoke to reporters when he visited the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, also described as shallow thinking by those accusing him of supporting Mr. Giwa in the ongoing NFF crisis.
"I think in my mind that the best way out of it is that we must be able to come together and plan to mitigate the winner-takes-all syndrome. I have been emphasizing this so many times that the first republic collapsed because of the-winners-take all.
"Both leaders must shift position from their extreme position to a mid-way in the interest of football and in the interest of the nation. They must appreciate the fact that yes, even if their exhibition of charisma have overstretched it now, there is a need for them to narrow their differences and submit especially to the voice of reasoning, so that we can make progress," he said.
On allegations that he was behind factional leader, Chris Giwa, the Minister said he couldn't have supported Chris Giwa's led group because he is a Plateau man like him.
"I think it is also an unfair assessment of the situation. There are courts sitting in Jos, judges are Plateau people and they decide issues affecting Plateau and they have been deciding it against them.
"So I don't think because I am a Plateau man and Giwa is from Plateau, and he has an issue then I should be supporting him.
"More so that this crisis started long over two years ago before I came on board, could it have been me that supported Giwa to go to court? Or could it have still be me who encouraged the state to arrest people during their convention that led to the disqualification," Dalung said.
