TWO years after he was controversially removed from office alongside the trio of Taiwo Ogunjobi, Amanze Uchegbulam and Bolaji Ojo-Oba, former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Alhaji Sani Lulu has cried out seeking justice against what he termed unlawful impeachment.The quartet were removed from office in the wake of Nigeria's poor performance at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Affrica and were susequently charged for mismanagement of funds by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).After about two years, no concrete proof has been found against them, a development which Lulu said is a pointer to the fact that they were 'maligned, blackmailed, vilified, intimidated, arrested, detained and charged to court by which hunters sponsored by some selfish persons.'Lulu in his latest petition to President Goodluck Jonathan on the issue, alleged that some individuals in government and their collaborators denied them the chance to get their position known to the President , 'especially in view of lies and falsehood and the persecution he and his colleagues were going through at the moment as a result of their removal from office.'The former NFF boss who hinted that the essence of his petition was ''to give our own perspective of the circumstances under which we were unlawfully pushed out of office and unjustifiably vilified, intimidated, arrested, detained and charged to court.''He argued that instead of being subjected to ridicule and blackmail, his administration deserves the commendation of the right people of the country for his landmark achievement while in office.Highlighting some of his boards' achievement, Lulu said his board inherited a debt of more than N300 million when it assumed office but left with a credit balance of 2.8 billion naira in local banks and FIFA accounts.He added that among other things, the NFF under his leadership created an enabling environment which resulted in the participation of the nations national team in all nine categories of FIFA-organised competition, a feat that was attained only by Brazil.''Among such FIFA-organised competitions was the Under-17 male World Cup in 2007 in Korea in which we won the gold medal.''The former FCT Sports chief lamented that 'sports in the country has suffered great decline because of deliberate mismanagement, misinformation, blackmail and insensitivity to progressive ideas, especially by selfish government officials who use the sector as a means of selfish acquisition over the years.'He, therefore, among other things appealed to President Jonathan to ''please save our souls from these unjust actions against us, especially the illegal process of the impeachment which was hatched through a hostile petitioner.
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