By Andrew Warshaw
February 27 – The race for the presidency of African football is turning ugly with Nigerian football federation boss Amaju Pinnick criticised by one of his own people for revealing he will vote for the sole challenger to Issa Hayatou next month.
Pinnick says that he had been given a firm mandate following an NFF board meeting earlier this month. But Chris Green, a member of the NFF Executive Committee, says Pinnick should respect the rules rather than openly announce he is backing Ahmad Ahmad in the 16 March election.
“I think we should conduct ourselves in a decent manner and let our votes count on the day,” Green told the BBC. “This is democracy and it’s going to be a secret ballot – we have not to talk.”
Pinnick is one of the leading supporters of Ahmad and Green denies he is at odds with his own board.
“That’s really not the position (of the NFF). Do not think the board sat, deliberated and decided that we should go for a particular candidate – no, we’ve not got there yet.”
“I don’t know of Ahmad nor what he stands for. Hayatou has not done badly. He’s not been against us from 1988 until today. In his own way, he has assisted football to grow in Nigeria.
“He’s brought two international tournaments to Nigeria – the under-20 World Championship in 1999 and the under-17 World Cup (in 2009). We’ve also hosted the Africa Cup of Nations (in 2000).”
The prevailing winds suggest Ahmad has the crucial support of Gianni Infantino but the FIFA president has been at pains to tell anyone who will listen that he has no influence on next month’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) ballot.
If that’s true his actions would suggest otherwise. Infantino attended a party in Zimbabwe on Thursday hosted by Phillip Chiyangwa, chairman of the Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) which has officially endorsed Ahmad. Chiyangwa is a successful Zimbabwean businessman who has prospered under the highly controversial regime of Robert Mugabe.
It is common knowledge that CAF backed Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa in last year’s FIFA presidential election but Infantino refuted speculation that he was seeking revenge by now lobbying against Hayatou.
“It is up to the CAF members to elect their own president,” said Infantino. “It is not up to the FIFA president to say anything about that.”
“Whatever the CAF members decide will be the right decision and I will support whatever decision is taken.”
Before the party took place CAF, in a letter sent on behalf of Hayatou, CAF accused Chiyangwa of “trying to destabilise” the continent’s governing body and warned he could face sanctions. Hayatou, who has ruled CAF for 29 years, reportedly believed the event was a front whose real purpose was to drum up support for Ahmad.
After the party, Infantino went on to meet controversial Zimbabwean leader Mugabe, reportedly describing Chiyangwa as “my friend and brother” and adding he first met Chiyangwa on a bus in South Africa in the run up to the FIFA presidential election last February.
An election, of course, in which Hayatou was against him taking over from Sepp Blatter.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1713418873labto1713418873ofdlr1713418873owedi1713418873sni@w1713418873ahsra1713418873w.wer1713418873dna1713418873