Ahead of CAF elections
Nigeria’s sports authorities on Tuesday announced the Federal Government endorsement of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, President Amaju Pinnick’s candidature for a seat on the Executive Committee of Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) at the elections scheduled for March 16 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
It followed a meeting convened by the Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung with the NFF’s executive committee members in which Dalung said the Federal Government has given its blessing to Mr. Pinnick’s quest and will fully support him.
But with regards to the CAF Presidential election, the gathering advised that NFF boss should use his discretion to vote for the candidate who will best serve Nigeria’s football interest. It was agreed that the interest of Nigeria should be paramount in all calculations. Before now, Mr. Pinnick had declared his support for Mr Ahmed Ahmad, the Madagascar FA boss, who is considered the most serious challenger in years to CAF President Issa Hayatou. This decision has caused a lot of commotion and controversy within the country’s football circle. The Nigeria football power bloc were opposed to Nigeria supporting the Malagasy for obvious reasons and chided Mr. Pinnick for projecting his personal good as against national interest. These stakeholders, who are mainly members of the continental body, stressed that though Mr. Pinnick has a right to declare support for whoever he pleases but when “such support is made in the name of Nigeria then there is need for extreme caution given the political colouration of CAF elections of which we are well grounded and versed in.”
They further argued that, “No Nigerian member of CAF has been consulted nor informed out of courtesy about the ambitions of the NFF President. We do not remember Mr. Ahmad visiting Nigeria to solicit or canvass for votes nor do we have any record of Mr. Ahmad’s pedigree in the running of football in Africa that would have led Mr. Pinnick to dangerously throw all of Nigeria’s eggs in his basket. We stand dangerously threatened.”
What is very clear here is that the power bloc in Nigeria football wants the octogenarian Issa Hayatou and not the unheralded Ahmad, who never bothered to visit Nigeria and solicit for its support. Though he has spent 29-years at the helm of CAF and is turning out to be less popular across Africa, Hayatou has been a true friend of Nigeria and a strong pillar for African football. His service to the round leather game cannot be disputed given the giant strides that football in Africa has taken especially in the areas of sponsorship and partnership, and the spread of the game to all nooks and corners of the continent.
We in Daily Trust believe that elections in CAF are generally not about individuals. Countries support their candidates, finance such elections, set up various committees led by ministers, diplomats and football people to lobby and canvass across the continent in high level diplomatic sojourns. Regrettably, Nigeria cannot claim to have done any of the above, yet the election is less than two weeks away. But now that Mr. Pinnick has federal government endorsement, though belatedly, it’s in the country’s interest to stand by him as he challenges Anjorin Moucharafou of Benin Republic for a seat in the Executive Committee of CAF. Only two Nigerians - late Oyo Orok Oyo and Dr. Amos Adamu have sat on the CAF Executive Committee in the body’s 60 years of existence.
On the CAF Presidency, we advised Mr. Pinnick, who did not consult with the relevant stakeholders before making his declaration in support of Mr. Ahmed, not to commit a seriously blunder that would impact negatively on Nigeria football. He should vote wisely. The interest of Nigeria football should be paramount over any personal interest and consideration.