Desperate people are blackmailing me, says HFN boss

Category: Sports Published on Thursday, 28 February 2013 05:00 Written by David Ngobua

Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN) president, Mr. Dauda Yusuf has said people who are desperate to take over the leadership of the federation have embarked on campaign of calumny and blackmail to pull him down.

Speaking to Daily Trust against the backdrop of recent reports that he has stepped down for a former president of the federation ahead of the forthcoming election into the handball federation, said he has not and will never contemplate such action.

He said even if he has any plans to vacate office, it is not now that he has started building on the solid foundation he and his board members have worked hard to lay for the game in Nigeria.

Yusuf explained that the report which claimed he had agreed to step down for Jacob is a figment of the imagination of the writers who hacked into the email account of the federation to mislead unsuspecting Nigerians.

He said “I have not entered into any agreement with anyone as far as the presidency of the handball federation is concerned. I have not made any agreement and it is something I will never do.

“I have succeeded in laying a solid foundation for the handball federation and I do not see how I will step down now that it is time for me to build on the same foundation. Everything that is happening is cheap blackmail by some desperate people who want to become president of the federation.

Yusuf said even as much as he does not want to join issues with anyone, he is surprised by the sudden interest in the affairs of the handball federation by Barrister Jacob.

“I do not want to give relevance to any balderdash but let me say here that I am surprised by the sudden interest in the handball federation by Barrister Jacob who abandoned the federation simply because he could not realise his ambition to lead this same federation”, he said.