Peter right man to helm Safa — Hamid
KOTA KINABALU: Hamid Apdal has given his full backing to Datuk Peter Anthony to be the next leader of the Sabah Football Association (Safa).
Hamid, who spoke in his capacity as Safa deputy president I, said Peter was the right man to be at the helm and that he strongly believed the Infrastructure Development Minister would be able to put the ailing association back on the right track.
“It is like supplying extra oxygen to patients in the ICU,” Hamid told reporters here yesterday.
Hamid was responding to Peter’s announcement in Keningau on Saturday that he was ready to take the heavy responsibilty of becoming Safa’s next top official.
Peter also stated in his speech at the KDMM Football League opening that he had received the blessing from Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal on the matter.
However, Peter is at best now an honorary president due to certain clauses in the Safa Constitution.
As the honorary president, Peter would have the authority to form a pro-tem committee before calling for another Safa Congress to conduct a fresh election to pick the new Safa line-up.
“Under the Safa constitution, there is a clause stating that a person can be appointed as the honorary president and I believed Peter in making the announcement has received the blessing from the Chief Minister.
“I want to state here that I’m in full support of Datuk Peter to be the honorary president and of course becoming the next president.
“As the honorary president, he (Peter) will take over the duties of a president and put the house in order.
“What’s important now is to ensure all the problems in Safa are solved including the outstanding payment of salaries,” he added.
For the record, Safa have been without a president following the resignation of Alijus Sipil recently.
Meanwhile, Hamid said that he is still the deputy president I after his resignation was rejected by the Safa Supreme Council.
“I haven’t received any official letter from Safa regarding the matter (resignation). That is why I decided to call for this press conference to state my full support of Datuk Peter to be the next leader of Safa,” he said.