Maigari submitted a letter of resignation to the NFF Board in Abuja yesterday which was accepted and then forwarded to FIFA.

That was followed by a letter from FIFA deputy secretary general Markus Kattner to the general secretary of the NFF, Musa Ahmadu, demanding an explanation behind Maigiri's decision and calling for him to be reinstated in the run-up to the elections.

Maigari and the rest of the NFF Executive Committee and Congress had been sacked by a Nigerian court last month and replaced by a senior member of the country's civil service.

It followed the Government making allegations of corruption against Maigari and claiming he was trying to rig the forthcoming elections.

Maigari was arrested upon his return from the FIFA World Cup in Brazil where Nigeria exited at the round-of-16 stage following a 2-0 defeat to France.

As a result, FIFA  suspended Nigeria over "Government interference" and demanded that Maigari and the NFF Executive Committee be reinstated.

That ban was lifted on July 18 when the court order was lifted and Maigari and his colleagues were reinstated.

But it appears that Maigari, seeking a second term as NFF President after replacing Sani Lulu in a fractious elections four years ago, is a divisive figure in Nigerian football.

After returning from Brazil, he was impeached by some members of the NFF Executive Board, who want him sacked, but it is being claimed that not enough of the 46-member NFF Congress backed the decision.

One member, Ahmed Kawu, claimed that his signature was forged on the impeachment document.

Meanwhile, officials looking to contest elections later this month are claiming that they were denied access to the requisite nomination forms.

Maigari was briefly arrested by the Nigerian Government after returning from the World Cup in Brazil where Nigeria were knocked out by France ©Getty Images



In his letter to Ahmadu, Kattner called for clarity in the electoral process and urged Nigerian officials to put the future of football ahead of internal and personal disputes.

"It is regrettable that the situation has turned so confused, while elections are planned to take place on August 26, 2014," wrote Kattner.

"The recent decisions of the Executive Committee are highly questionable with regard to the compliance with the statutes and should anyway be confirmed by the Congress.

"In the meantime, the different suspensions are affecting the electoral process by preventing persons to contest the elections.

"Under this circumstances, we deem that the NFF Congress will exercise its sovereign power through the electoral process, which shall be open to everybody and managed by the electoral committees elected by the Congress in their entirety.

"The Executive Committee of the NFF shall also be reunified as it was before the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

"Taking into account the internal divisions in the Executive Committee, it is advisable that major decisions are frozen until the elections of August 26 and that the focus will be now on the programmes of the candidates and the development of Nigerian football."

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