Former Super Eagles captain Segun Odegbami has called for a temporary suspension of the Nigeria Football Federation elections, arguing that the country’s football administration has failed to match the enormous talent and potential within Nigerian football, Sunday PUNCH reports.

Odegbami made the call ahead of the NFF’s 2026 Executive Committee elections, scheduled for September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State. The Elective Congress was postponed by a day, from September 26, to accommodate the Super Eagles’ 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Madagascar.

According to the former Green Eagles captain, problems within football administration have persisted for decades and gradually become entrenched in the system.

“The reality is that football administration in the past two decades, in particular, has not matched or complemented the level of talent and possible achievements,” Odegbami said.

He argued that the growth of Nigerian football has been undermined by faulty decisions dating back to the early 1990s, which have since evolved into an established system that is now difficult to reform because those who created or benefited from it remain part of the football administration structure.

“The growth of our football industry has been stunted by faulty decisions taken more in ignorance than by any malicious intentions since the early part of the 1990s,” he said.

“These have grown, sustained and become the norm in our football, a monster that now needs the creators of it to rid it of its venom. They won’t do it because they are also the beneficiaries of the faulty architecture.”

Odegbami also criticised the manner in which NFF elections have traditionally been conducted, describing the process as a recurring source of controversy.

“Elections into the board of the NFF have become a four-yearly ritual of crisis,” he said.

The former international added that the shortcomings in administration have prevented Nigerian football from becoming the economic and youth-development engine it could be, denying young people opportunities and holding back the country’s economic potential.

“All of these to the detriment of the country that loves its football with passion but can only look on helplessly as football continues to fail to achieve its full potential, fails to boost the country’s economy, and fails to empower the country’s gifted youths with the best opportunities that are available all over the world,” he said.

Odegbami said Nigerian football needed time to reassess its administrative structure and address its longstanding problems, reiterating his call for a temporary halt to the electoral process.

“I hope all Nigerians, including the members of the Nigerian Football Association, will understand why these elections should be temporarily halted for Nigerian football to find its feet again,” he said.