Nigeria: Pinnick Knows Fate Today As CAF Elects New President

By Olawale Ayeni

Abuja — President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Melvin Pinnick, will today contest with other top African oppositions to win one out of the six seats in the FIFA Council during the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) 43rd general assembly and elections in Morocco.

Recall that the federal government through the federal ministry of youths and sports had earlier backed Pinnick's bid saying that Pinnick's ambition would further reposition Nigeria in the global football map where the country has made remarkable inroads.

NFF general-secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi also enjoined all football stakeholders to join hands with the government and the NFF to give Pinnick strong support in his bid for the FIFA council seat.

He also assured that once victorious, Pinnick would continue in his usual way of influencing the appointment of Nigerians into FIFA and CAF committees and administrations, as he did while he was the 1st vice president of CAF and has been doing as member, CAF executive committee and member, organising committee for FIFA competitions.

Meanwhile, South African businessman Patrice Motsepe is set to become the next President of CAF unopposed after incumbent president Ahmad Ahmad is barred from contesting in the forthcoming elections due to a reduced ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

A deal was concluded over the past month that saw Motsepe's rivals --Senegal's Augustin Senghor' Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast -- withdraw their candidacies in exchange for leadership and executive positions. Senghor and Yahya have been offered vice-president positions and Anouma an advisory role.

This means that the 54 African football association heads will forgo the formality of the voting process.

This article originally appeared on Leadership

Photo: SAFA