By S. Siapha Mulbah
The campus-based Student Unification Party (SUP) of the University of Liberia is reawakening the spotlight to look back at the nationality status of the president of Liberia Football Association Mustapha I Raji who is widely perceived to be a Nigeria national.
After many years of doubt about his status predicated on his parental background, the students of the state-run university are now demanding that the football house president in the next 48 hours come public with his nationality in order to give account of his tenure at the FA.
Addressing a news conference on the Capitol Hill campus of the University, SUP expressed support for the lifting spirit of Pan-Africanism which encourages the freedom and right for all Africans to co-exist across the continent.
The called on the LFA boss to justify and clarify his citizenship; whether a naturalized Liberian by law or still holds his Nigerian Citizenship at the top level of the country’s football governance.
“To be an executive member of the football house, you must be a Liberian by birth or a naturalized Liberian. If you are from Nigeria and naturalized in Liberia, we do not have issue but you need to justify your citizenship which is by law,” a representative of the party disclosed.
The student also highlighted that football in the country has lost taste due to the poor performances of the national team under the watch of the current LFA leadership headed by Raji.
They alleged that because Raji is a Nigerian national, his being in authority of football administration in Liberia will not in any way improve the game to raise competition as it was many years before the involvement of the LFA current leadership.
“Football is no longer interesting in Liberia. Players and member clubs have no interest in the Liberian league. It is clear that football is developing in others countries but Liberia is not the case,” SUP added.
According to the campus based student party, the only interesting football event in the country is the national county sports meet while the league remains unattractive and tasteless to the sporting community.
They called on other authorities and stakeholders of football in Liberia to go after Mustapha Raji in an instance he remains defiant and failed to disclose the needed clarity in regards to his nationality.
The recent call from the Student Unification Party concerning Raji citizenship is not the first instance since his involvement into the sporting politics of Liberia.
According to reports, Raji once responded to former players and other stakeholders that came at him for the same issues that he as a person did not choose to be born in Liberia.
It is also reported that he once responded to critics that his father is a Nigerian who came to Liberia and his mother hailed from Grand Cape Mount County.
The student ultimatum comes just a day after Liberian and other African football stakeholders gathered in Egypt to witness the 14th Extraordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football and re-elected the LFA boss as an executive committee member.
He was re-elected on Wednesday March 12, 2025 alongside the re-election of Dr. Patrice Motsepe as CAF president on accounts of strengthening the leadership of African football.
Both Motsepe and Raji have long been advocates for the development of football across the continent, with an emphasis on unity, grassroots development, and elevating African football’s global stature.