Hon. Fouad Oki, the Chairman of the Lagos State Football Association (LSFA), has been accused of physically assaulting his vice, Olawale Gafar during a meeting where he was suspended for gross misconduct.
The decision to suspend Oki was reached with a 5-4 majority vote, citing alleged misconduct and high-handedness following a meeting at the Secretariat in Surulere on Tuesday, October 17.
At the meeting, Oki was alleged to have “committed, among other things, offences which violates the rules and regulations of the Nigeria Football Federation.”
The embattled FA boss was accused of “not attending the NFF Congress with no excuse and without the knowledge of the LSFA Board, changing of the association logo without approval of the board and the congress, denying the Nigerian Professional League A1 Camera delegates access to test-run the A1 camera prior to the commencement of the league, and total disregard to NFF instructions on NPFL rules and regulations regarding branding and streaming of matches by our affiliate (Sporting Lagos FC).”
Oki was also alleged to have “released the 2023/24 NNL SEASON – MATCH DAY LOGISTiCS to NNL clubs without the knowledge of the board, delayed and stopped several youth tournaments and recreational football, threatening teams to move out of Lagos and initiating independence of LSFA outside of the authority of the NFF.”
The board also said he was at loggerheads with the Lagos State Sports Commission on the use of facilities and accused him of “spoiling a hitherto amiable relationship.”
Oki was also accused of slapping his vice chairman Olawale Gafar.
A viral video shared online showed Gafaar lamenting over the alleged assault, with Oki seated close to him
“It’s over, it’s over sir, we can’t take this anymore, you (Oki) slapped me. Chairman, you slapped me and punched me in my throat. Ill take anything for football, I’m taking this again for football. This is our destiny, this is our lives, the oppression is over, the board is suspending you unanimously,” Gafaar told Oki.
Speaking with journalists after the drama, Gafar said, “There are few things that came out recently that we did not discuss at the board level that he unilaterally released to the public. We had a meeting after that and I made my opinion known. We the board members sampled our opinion, came in this (Tuesday) morning, formed a quorum and voted for his suspension.
“The grounds of the suspension include not going to the NFF AGM and telling clubs that they can move out of Lagos if they won’t do what he says.”
Gafar, however, said the suspension was meant to correct Oki.
“We formed a quorum; we were nine and the voting process was five to four. Normally, we are supposed to call a congress, which will give him a fair hearing, but it was on the verge of this that he descended on me, choked and slapped me,” Gafar added.
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