Ibrahim Gusau has resigned as president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). He announced it himself at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, saying he had consulted family, friends and stakeholders before reaching the decision.
Minutes later, the NFF confirmed that Secretary-General Mohammed Sanusi had also stepped down. Gusau said he had advised other board members to follow his example, though he could not say if they would.
🚨 NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, alongside his Executive Committee and the General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, have resigned from their positions.
— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) August 27, 2026
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The resignations came weeks after the Super Falcons failed to qualify for the Women’s World Cup for the first time ever.
Reports suggest the exit was the final straw, and that pressure from the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the presidency pushed Gusau’s hand.
With the September 27 elective congress now in doubt, a normalisation committee is expected to run the federation until further notice.
A Long Overdue Exit
Nigerian football did not fail once under Gusau. It failed again and again, across every level that matters.
The Super Eagles missed the 2026 World Cup, even with Africa getting ten qualification slots for the first time. The men’s U-17 and U-20 teams also missed their World Cups. Then came the Super Falcons’ collapse, the one team that had never let the country down.
No single loss breaks a football administration. A pattern does.
When failure repeats across age groups and genders, the problem is no longer players and coaches. It is the people running the system. Gusau and his board had lost the room. Staying in office would have meant asking Nigerians to trust the same hands that had already dropped the ball repeatedly. Their resignation was not a favour to Nigerian football. It was the only honest option left.
This is why the resignation was important, and why it should be welcomed. It clears the path. But a cleared path is not a finished journey.
The Real Work Starts Now
Resigning is easy compared to what comes next.
Nigerian football needs people who can rebuild it, not just people who are not Gusau. A change of face means nothing if the next set of leaders arrives without a plan, without football knowledge, or without the discipline to fix what is broken.
The next NFF leadership, whether interim or elected, must be judged on competence, not connections. It must understand grassroots development, since that is where the U-17 and U-20 failures were born. It must understand the women’s game, since the Super Falcons cannot be left to coast on past glory while everyone else in Africa catches up. And it must be willing to take responsibility when things go wrong, something the outgoing leadership struggled to do until it was forced to.
Nigerians should not celebrate this resignation as if the job is done. It is the first step of many. The next appointment will show whether the country has learned anything from this mess, or whether it is simply changing names while keeping the same habits.
Who Replaces Gusau?
Early speculation points to Kunle Soname, Chairman of Remo Stars Football Club, as a possible leader of an interim committee. If true, it would be a promising sign.
JUST IN : Busines mogul, Kunle Soname is reportedly being tipped to head the interim NFF office. https://t.co/WlpSygibI0
— Ojora Babatunde (@ojbsports) August 27, 2026
Soname founded Remo Stars in 2004 and spent twenty years building the club from nothing into champions of the Nigeria Premier Football League in the 2024/25 season, the first privately owned club to win the title in over two decades. The club was relegated the following season, a setback that will draw criticism.
But that single stumble does not erase two decades of patient, ground-up building. It is proof that he knows how to construct something lasting in Nigerian football, not just manage what already exists.
Nigerian football has been mismanaged at nearly every level for years. It does not need another administrator who simply occupies the office. It needs someone who has actually built something in the game, not just managed it.
FURTHER READING
Whether Soname gets the job or not, that is the standard by which Gusau’s replacement should be measured, and it is a standard the NFF’s search should not lose sight of in the coming weeks.
Philip Ibitoye is a Special Correspondent with EKO HOT BLOG. Click here to find daily analysis and critical insight on trending issues in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.
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