Ibrahim Gusau’s resignation as president of the Nigeria Football Federation may satisfy the immediate demand for accountability, but changing the person at the top will not necessarily repair a system whose problems have survived several administrations.
Gusau announced his departure at the NFF headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, bringing his four-year tenure to an early end after a succession of damaging results by Nigeria’s national teams.
NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and several executive committee members have also resigned, leaving the federation facing uncertainty ahead of elections scheduled for September 27.
Gusau said he was stepping aside to allow other Nigerians to contribute to football development, but maintained that he was leaving the federation in a better position than he found it.
“By the grace of God, I hope I can continue to give my contributions because the experience and relationship we have within African football, we will never allow it to go in vain,” Gusau said, according to Channels Television.
His record, however, is mixed; there were significant successes. The Super Eagles reached the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and finished third at the 2025 tournament, while the Super Falcons reached the last 16 of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The Falcons also qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics after a 16-year absence before winning a record-extending 10th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in 2025.
Those achievements prevent Gusau’s presidency from being dismissed as a complete sporting failure, but they were eventually overshadowed by missed tournaments, coaching instability and growing concerns about administration.
The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the expanded 2026 World Cup after finishing second in a group containing South Africa, Benin, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Lesotho before losing to DR Congo on penalties in the African play-off final.
That meant Nigeria missed consecutive men’s World Cups for the first time since making its tournament debut in 1994.
The Super Falcons’ collapse proved even more damaging. After winning the African title in 2025, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and lost 2-1 to South Africa in a World Cup play-off.
Nigeria will consequently miss the Women’s World Cup for the first time since the competition began in 1991.
The youth teams provided little evidence that Gusau’s promised grassroots programme was transforming Nigerian football.
The Golden Eaglets failed to qualify for consecutive Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, with their latest elimination also costing the five-time world champions a place at the 2026 Under-17 World Cup.
The men’s Under-23 side failed to qualify for the 2023 Africa Under-23 Cup of Nations and subsequently missed the Paris Olympics.
The NFF eventually described the national teams’ results as an “unwholesome poor run” and established a fact-finding committee.
Its chairman, former NFF General Secretary Fanny Amun, resigned immediately after submitting the report because he feared its findings could be compromised.
“I did not want anyone to influence the report before I submitted it to the NFF. That was why I submitted it and resigned,” Amun told The Punch. Gusau can reasonably argue that he inherited a federation already in difficulty.
Nigeria had failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup before he was elected, while the NFF was battling recurring disputes over unpaid bonuses, coaching salaries, government funding, financial accountability and the management of national teams.
The administration of his predecessor, Amaju Pinnick, had faced repeated allegations of financial opacity, although Pinnick denied wrongdoing.
However, Gusau was not an outsider recruited to dismantle that system. He had served on the NFF Executive Committee under Pinnick, chaired its security committee and held the influential position of Chairman of Chairmen.
He inherited the problems, but also came from the structure that had allowed them to develop. When he campaigned for the presidency in 2022, Gusau promised to strengthen grassroots football, improve the domestic league and implement the government-backed 10-year Football Development Masterplan.
“The basis of football is about grassroots development. I have a robust plan to develop it,” he said at the time, adding that he wanted the Nigerian league to become one of Africa’s best.
Four years later, Nigeria’s youth teams are struggling, its two senior national teams are outside their respective World Cups and many of the federation’s long-standing administrative problems remain unresolved. That is why Gusau’s resignation may change little unless it is followed by wider reform.
If his successor is elected through the same political blocs, depends on the same regional alliances and operates under the same culture of limited accountability, Nigeria could change its president without changing its football.
The transition must also follow the NFF Statutes to avoid accusations of government interference. The rules provide that the first vice-president should take charge when the presidency becomes vacant until Congress elects a replacement.
If more than half of the executive committee positions become vacant, an extraordinary congress must be convened, with the remaining members handling daily affairs until elections are held.
Gusau’s departure shows that continued failure can eventually carry consequences for football administrators. Whether it marks a turning point will depend on what comes next; transparent elections, financial accountability, stable coaching structures, genuine youth development and a stronger domestic league.
Without those changes, the next NFF president could inherit the same problems, make similar promises and eventually leave under the same pressure.
