AÂ Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja on Tuesday fixed December 16 for the Office of The Attorney General of the Federation to report the harmonisation of the cases against some Nigerian Football Federation officials in the alleged misappropriation of $9.5m FIFA grant.
Justice Peter Affen had
earlier fixed Oct 22 for ruling on the application filed by the EFCC, to join
the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick and secretary-general, Mohammed Sanusi.
EFCC dragged three officials
of the federation before the court in an alleged $9.5m FIFA grant
misappropriation before applying on April 30 to join both Pinnick and Sanusi in
the matter as co-defendants.
Those being tried earlier were Christopher Andekin, NFF Director of
Administration and Finance, Reagan Zaka, Cashier and the Head of Finance and
Account Department Fadanari Mamza.
The EFCC charged the
defendants with five counts bordering on criminal conspiracy, breach of trust
and misappropriation.
The EFCC alleged that they
conspired between January 8 and 26, 2015 to commit the offence, contrary to
Section 97 of Penal Code.
Andekin was alleged to have
been entrusted with money meant for the development of football in Nigeria, a
grant from world football body, the Federation of International Football
Association (FIFA).
He was alleged to have
fraudulently diverted $1.3m from the NFF domiciliary account with Zenith Bank,
an act that is contrary to Section 311 of the Penal Code.
Zaka, on his part, was said to
have fraudulently diverted $7.2m from the FIFA grant, while Mamza was alleged
of diverting $2.3m. The defendants all pleaded not guilty to the charge.