September 22 – Outspoken Nigerian football boss Amaju Pinnick says he hasn’t ruled out taking on present incumbent Ahmad for the leadership of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) when elections take place next March.
Applications to stand close on November 12 but Pinnick, who has been a fierce critic of Ahmad, says he is still weighing up his options.
The 49-year-old says he initially wanted Ahmad, who has not yet confirmed whether or not he will run again, to stay on for at least a second term but now seems to have changed his mind.
“From the beginning the idea was to have the incumbent Ahmad to get re-elected for a second tenure or even a third tenure,” Pinnick told BBC Sport Africa. “But the issue of trust started coming in and that’s what led to the initial breakdown (with Ahmad) but in football politics you never say never.”
Last year Pinnick was removed from his role as a CAF vice-president without proper explanation and says there are a multitude of factors that need to be put right.
“What is the reality? There are a lot of things wrong fundamentally in CAF right now – our credibility is at the lowest ebb our integrity is nowhere to be found – so we have a lot of challenges unless we keep deceiving ourselves.”
“Human beings make mistakes and the only way you can correct those mistakes is to ensure that you know you have made these mistakes and genuinely want to correct it if that’s the case we can’t sit there and do nothing.
“Nobody is in a hurry I am not desperate I am going to be just 50 in December so there is a lot of time for me if I want to pursue a career path in football administration in the future.”
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