By Leadership News
Copyright leadership
The chairman of the FCT Cricket Association, Engineer Emeka Onyeama, has threatened to take the National Sports Commission (NSC) to court over his alleged disqualification from the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) board elections, as determined by the electoral committee.
The electoral committee, chaired by J.J. Usman (SAN), revealed the names of 16 eligible candidates for the upcoming elections yesterday. Among them is the incumbent President of the NCF, Uyiosa Akpata. However, the committee announced that three candidates—Emeka Onyeama, Pakribo Telema Darego, and Chimezie Onwuzilike—submitted their nomination forms after the stipulated deadline, thereby rendering them ineligible to participate in the electoral process.
Dissatisfied with this decision, Onyeama, a former president of the NCF, stated that he has issued a pre-action notice to the NSC, accusing it of facilitating electoral malpractice in the lead-up to the 2025 NCF elections.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP Sports, Onyeama described his disqualification, along with that of the other candidates, as an unconstitutional and orchestrated effort to retain the current NCF leadership in power.
He further accused the NSC of enabling the incumbent NCF President, Uyi Akpata, to allegedly manipulate the electoral process to his advantage—specifically by appointing an electoral committee likely to favour his continued presidency.
“This is exactly what I have been warning about for some time now. The incumbent president has established an electoral committee that is designed to ensure his return to power. This is akin to being a judge in one’s own case, which is fundamentally untenable in law,” Onyeama asserted.
“Historically, when the tenure of sports federation boards expires, the Sports Ministry—now the NSC—dissolves all boards and appoints electoral committees to oversee new board elections. Yet, we are now witnessing the current boards, whose tenures have long lapsed, remaining in office and conducting their own elections.
“I have issued a pre-action notice to the NSC, and if they fail to rectify this anomaly and injustice, I will challenge them in court to protect the integrity of our sports.”
