Nigeria’s top intelligence agencies have opened a joint investigation into allegations that senior officials of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFFÂ are colluding with foreign interests to undermine national security, a security source has disclosed.
The Department of State Services, DSS, and the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, are said to have intercepted what one insider described as “highly disturbing communication” between the unnamed NFF officials and foreign nationals — exchanges considered capable of creating security problems for the country.
The source was quick to draw a line between this probe and the controversy surrounding the ₦17 billion intervention fund released to the federation, stressing that the current investigation goes far beyond financial questions.
“It is true that President Bola Tinubu in 2024 approved ₦17 billion as a special intervention fund to help NFF clear outstanding payments owed to Nigeria’s national teams. However, that falls within the purview of the EFCC, not the DSS and NIA,” the source said.
Issues of financial impropriety, the source explained, are handled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, whereas the involvement of the two intelligence agencies signals a far graver matter.
“The mandate of the DSS is on dealing with domestic threats to national security. The NIA deals with external threats. So, when you hear that the DSS and NIA are jointly investigating a matter, it has got to be very serious, especially when the persons involved are saddled with the responsibility of managing an important body like the NFF,” the source stated.
The probe lands at what may be the lowest point in the recent history of Nigerian football administration. The NFF has come under sustained fire from fans and stakeholders over years of alleged neglect and chronic underfunding of the national teams — failures they say have translated directly into results on the pitch.
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The Super Eagles have missed consecutive FIFA World Cups, a bitter pill for a nation that once considered qualification routine. But it is the collapse of the Super Falcons that has crystallized public anger. Nigeria has appeared at every single FIFA Women’s World Cup since the tournament’s inception in 1991 — a record unmatched in Africa and among the best in the world. That streak is now over.
The Falcons’ title defence at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations ended with a 1–0 quarter-final defeat to Cameroon, a result that also cost them automatic qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil and consigned them to a playoff path. In that playoff, South Africa’s Banyana Banyana defeated Nigeria 2–1, sealing the first-ever failure of the Super Falcons to reach the World Cup.
Pressure Mounts on Gusau-Led Board
The executive committee of the NFF, headed by President Ibrahim Gusau, is now facing intense calls to resign, both over the catalogue of on-field failures and the unfolding security investigation. More than half of the board’s members have reportedly resigned or are weighing their exit.
“That at least half of NFF executive have or are contemplating resignation may not be unconnected with the fear of the DSS and NIA probe,” the insider said, adding that the turmoil is fuelling uncertainty over whether the NFF board election scheduled for September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State, can proceed as planned.
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