General Seyi Memene has quit as president of Togo's interim football federation following FIFA's rejection of his request for new board elections to be postponed for two weeks.
Togolese Sports Minister Christophe Tchao said Tuesday that Memene resigned on Sept. 30.
Memene is currently receiving medical attention in Paris for an undisclosed illness and had wanted the elections pushed back from Oct. 16 on health grounds.
The federation was embarrassed in September by a fake Togo national team playing an unsanctioned match against Bahrain, resulting in two of its officials - Antoine Folly and Doucoure Mamadou - being arrested.
Folly was a member of the disciplinary commission investigating the Sept. 7 game and Mamadou was a special assistant to the federation's president.
''Given the situation where we have Antoine Folly, a former sports minister and a member of the interim federation, and other officials currently under arrest in connection with the Bahrain affair, I requested FIFA to grant us an audience for discussions so that the law and justice can take their full course before the federation's elections - but they did not give us a favorable hearing,'' Tchao said. ''FIFA says we can only have those discussions after the elections.
''Now I have received a copy of General Memene's resignation yesterday on Monday from the FIFA-appointed interim federation because he is due to undergo a surgical operation in Paris. So we are at a loss as to what to do.''
Only two of the original six board members on the interim federation now remain, after the earlier resignations of Judge Sogoyou Powele and Lawyer Akakpo Martial.
A group of unknown players, claiming to be Togo's national team, lost 3-0 to Bahrain at National Stadium in Riffa. Togo's football federation and sports ministry both said the players and officials did not have permission to represent the country.
Former Togo coach Tchanile Bana, who was banned for his role as the organizer behind the scandal, is believed to be at large.
The interim federation was appointed by FIFA in December 2009 following an internal power struggle.
