Nigeria was one of five African sides eliminated in the World Cup's group stage, as none of the continent's teams reached the knockouts for the first time since 1982. The Super Eagles returned home to turmoil in their Football Federation, as the Supreme Court ordered former boss Amaju Pinnick out, in favor of Chris Giwa. Now there is worry of a FIFA ban due to political meddling, but as Kelechi Emekalam reports, the new chief says those fears are overblown.  

It's a new dawn at Nigeria's Football Federation Headquarters in Abuja. This man -- Chris Giwa -- is now the new head of the Federation after years of court battle. He claims he won the in September 2014 NFF elections, but an alternative election was organized, and the outcome was not legitimate. As such he has been engaged in endless court battles to nullify the election of the outgoing board. He finally obtained a Supreme Court order favoring him in April. That ordered has prompted the Sports Ministry to direct Pinnick and his team to step down, but as Giwa and his team get down with work here, there is fear FIFA could ban Nigeria for political meddling.

CHRIS GIWA NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION PRESIDENT "In Nigeria here, we don't have court of arbitration because FIFA statute has not been domesticated here, and the only place we can go to settle disputes is the court of law and its even provided in our own state-article 1.1, and FIFA said it, even the later people are spreading, FIFA said here that except if it is provided in the statute, and the statute provides that the federation is registered under the Nigerian law, and must abide by Nigerian law, so that is it. So where is the ban coming from?"

FIFA is strict with what it deems political meddling in the running of football federations' affairs. It had threatened to ban Nigeria before the World Cup over the same case. The April court ruling that saw the exit of Pinnick and his executives was issued before the World Cup, but because of the uncertainty of response from FIFA, the authorities did not rush to implement it. Only after the Super Eagles were eliminated from the World Cup, the Sports Ministry decided to retrogressively implement it.

VICTOR IROELE SPORTS ANALYST "The Beneficiary of the Judgement, Ambassador Chris Giwa and his board, also felt that it would not be in the interest of the nation for them to begin to pursue the enforcement of the Supreme Court judgment. They wanted the Super Eagles to do well at the World Cup, and because of that, they had to restrain themselves from pursuing the enforcement of that judgement to allow the team to go, and then without any pressure of any kind, and then after the World Cup, they can resume. Since you have already gotten the judgement, then why are you in a hurry?"

KELECHI EMEKALAM ABUJA "Chris Giwa and his team have already embarked on work at the Football Federation office, but they know there is a lot of uncertainties involved, the ousted leader Amaju Pinnick is challenging his removal in a high court -- that hearing will start on Wednesday -- but the main headache for Giwa is the unknown how FIFA would react to these developments. The worst nightmare would be a ban which could mean Nigeria's under-20 women's team may not be able to participate in next month's Women's World Cup [Qualifiers]. Kelechi Emekalam, CGTN, Abuja, Nigeria."