Though the incumbent President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has formally dropped his third term bid, stakeholders have divergent views about the tenure of Pinnick as the helmsman of Nigerian football, TUNDE LIADI writes.
By September 30th 2022 , Pinnick, who has been in office since 2014 as President Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), is expected to leave the office at the expiration of this tenure in September 2022.
He is the first Nigerian to serve two terms as NFF president after he was re-elected in 2018 but football stakeholders are unanimous that he doesn’t deserve another term after the senior national team, Super Eagles, failed to qualify for the forthcoming Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Following the uproar of missing out of the Mundial by the Super Eagles, the Delta-born football administrator had in March declared that he would not be seeking a third term in office as NFF president.
But he seemingly issued a volte face as he admitted to a Kenyan newspaper on the sidelines of the CAF General Assembly this month, that he had been receiving appeals from eminent Nigerians to remain in office.
But on the eve of the NFF Annual General Assembly (AGA) in Lagos penultimate Thursday, Pinnick in a TV interview insisted, he was not seeking another term, while assuring that he will work with whoever succeeds him after the September elections.
“I am fine. There are so many Nigerians that are capable of being there (NFF President). I will assist and work with anyone who wins the elections,” Pinnick said.”I will work with whoever emerges as NFF President. That I promise. I will intervene but will not interfere.”
Under pressure at the AGA and in the face of an imminent impeachment, Pinnick affirmed that he was not going to seek another term. In the light of this, the days of the Pinnick-led NFF board are numbered with elections scheduled to hold on September 30th in Benin, the Edo State capital even as stakeholders x-rayed Pinnick’s tenure, stating the positives and the negatives of his stint in office.
Former Chairman of Gombe United Football Club, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe who is also bidding for the NFF Presidency in the forthcoming elections, has expressed dissatisfaction at the stint of Pinnick, whom he reckoned only cared about his personal development other than development of Nigerian football. .
“I don’t trust his (Pinnick) declaration that he was no longer interested in continuing as NFF President, I don’t trust him,” the firebrand Gara-Gombe told NationSport. “You have to wait until it happens despite whatever he says.
“In the interview he granted Arise for instance , he kept on saying ‘I won’t contest for now several times’ and what does he mean by for now? He may have said that to divert attention and for people to calm down.”
Though Pinnick, faced with impeachment during the NFF Annual General Assembly in Lagos penultimate Thursday, has since said he won’t be on the ballot in the September 30th elections, Gara-Gombe said he was not impressed with the eight-year reign of the former Delta State Football Association chairman at the NFF.
“There is nothing I can say about his achievements,” he said. “If I tell you I am going to pinpoint what he achieved, I will be lying to you.”
Despite the fact that September 30th election date has been fixed, the erstwhile secretary general of Nigeria Football Stakeholders Forum, is wary about Pinnick ‘s ‘Maradonic ‘ style.
“Will an election take place? What is the body language of the incumbent President, Amaju Pinnick and some other NFF Executive Committee members and even some congress?” Gara Gombe asked rhetorically. “There are statutory provisions or checklists in the statutes that you must follow before you have any election. Some of them are time bound. Between now and September, there is no way you are going to meet up with them.”
Yet former Super Eagles midfielder, Moses Kpakor has applauded the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF for repositioning the nation’s football back to where it belongs amidst the challenges.
Kpakor, who was a member of the Super Eagles that featured at the 1990 African Cup of Nations in Algeria, stated that the major negative side of Pinnick’s administration was the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for two successive AFCONs in 2015 and 2017 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup; as well as Super Falcons’ inability to attend the last two Olympic Games and the Golden Eaglets and the Flying Eagles failure to qualify for the respective World Cup competitions in 2017.
The former BCC Lions FC and Abiola Babes defender was of the view that the NFF under Pinnick have made a tremendous improvement in the areas of securing lucrative sponsorship deals for the national teams, adding Pinnick as an elective member of the CAF executive committee and FIFA Council member is a good image for Nigeria.
“The NFF is largely rated by the performances of our various national teams, and so his rating is higher than any NFF administration in recent years besides the non-qualification of the Eagles for Qatar 2022,” Kpakor told Soccernet.com.ng.
“He has done well, but far below expectations. Recall at some point, quite recently we won AFCON, World Cup U-17, and Super Falcons won African title for the 9th time, and our female U-20 nearly won the World Cup. That was his best moment. We have been dominating. Generally, his entire tenure has been amazing in terms of successes on the pitch, commercial opportunities, and so on.”
But Mazi Amanze Uchegbulam, Imo FA Chairman, would have none of that, saying Pinnick’s tenure has done more harm than good for Nigerian football.
Though he praised the tenacity of the outgoing NFF President for his boldness in seeking election into the CAF Executive Committee and FIFA council , Uchegbulam maintained that Pinnick erred by allowing the game to suffer under his watch.
“He came in 2014 (as NFF President) and by 2015 he began fighting for a position in CAF, it’s unprecedented,” a disappointed Uchegbulam who served for many years as Vice President of CAF’s Board of Appeal, told NationSport. “He has not solved local problems before going into international football politics.
“That’s why there is no attention to the home front because he is busy looking for a position up and down; It is all himself because all he wanted was t to be in CAF and FIFA and I don’t think it was right.”
Uchegbulam further noted that it would take many years to undone the orchestrated damages done to Nigerian football under Pinnick’s dispensation, adding the future of the game is bleak unless something drastic is done to avert further disaster.
He continued:”We have a lot to do on the home front. Our football requires a lot of attention, in all sectors; coaches, refereeing, technical and scouting policy which we don’t have.
“ We have to put up a process of U-13, U-15 which we brought in when I was with Alhaji Sani Lulu in the NFF and where we discovered people like Kelechi Iheanacho, Nwakali, all those boys that graduated to the main team.
That talent hunt system Lulu put in place, was abandoned. No such thing again. People are busy talking about how to be in CAF and how to be in FIFA.
“Now we are trying to show that we have performed by winning WAFU B. That’s the level we have reached, WAFU B?
“The president is proud to talk that our football is not nose-diving because we won WAFU B U17, U-20. Can you imagine, people that have won U-17 World Cup how many times? Won Olympic Gold medal. We are now using WAFU B, not even WAFU itself but WAFU B a section of WAFU – our president is using that to blow his trumpet.
“We’ve gone that bad, we can’t even go to the Mundial in Qatar. It is so bad. You know how much money we’ve lost by not qualifying for the main World Cup. It’s so bad. You journalists have lost a lot of money, you are not going to go to the World Cup, no sponsorship, nothing. It hits you, people, more.”
Uchegbulam also chided Pinnick for running the NFF almost alone without carrying others along while noting that things worked better when he served on the Executive Committee of the NFF because the then President Sanni Lulu was a team player.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the NFF under Pinnick interfered in the affairs of the State FA even when there was no reason to do so.
” In 2010, we had properly structured association football. When in 2014 Amaju came, association football died. It became a question of me, myself, and not a question of the structure. The NFF was interfering in the election of state FAs which is wrong.
“Nobody should interfere in affiliate elections, it is against the law. The election is democratized and within itself. All you can do is observe, you don’t interfere. Now, NFF will write a letter that they recognize this person as chairman, it is not done. It is against the rule of association football.
“FIFA’s rule is clear- All affiliates must run their affairs internally without external influence. It is there in the regulation, coaches, referees, you don’t interfere. All you need to do is make sure they respect the statutes, you don’t interfere.”
Uchegbulam also frowned at the monetization of the electoral process that he allegedly began during the elective congress that ushered in Pinnick in 2014 and 2018, insisting that so many things changed as soon as the incumbent President came in.
“I have gone on this road before,” noted Uchegbulam who is being speculated as one of the front runners to replace Pinnick.“ I was there in 2014 at Warri. And then the incumbent used financial muscle to edge us out; unfortunately, this is what is happening in our football now. It had never happened before.
“At the time, we had Galadima contest for the chairmanship, there was no money involved. When Lulu came – that was our time – there was no money involved. During Maigari, there was no money involved. But in the Amaju period, they now monetized the electoral process, which is very unfortunate and it has put our football where we are now.
“Galadima lost his position because we didn’t qualify for Germany 2006 World Cup. And somebody did not qualify for Qatar 2022 World Cup and he wants to do a third term. Does it show that he loves Nigerian football? He doesn’t love Nigerian football.”
Yet President of the Ghana Football Association, (GFA) Kurt Okraku who is Pinnick’s man Friday ,is shocked that his Nigerian counterpart has decided not to run for a third term.
“That’s unfortunate if he (Amaju Pinnick) really said he is quitting the NFF,” Okraku told Brila FM. “I would be one of those people who would go up to him to tell him to rethink that decision.
“I know Pinnick loves Nigeria; he loves Nigerian football. He wants to see the Super Eagles dominate African football. That’s his dream and it’s the dream of every Nigerian, including the President of the country.
“In this challenging period, it calls for cool heads. It also calls for everybody to stand with each other. This is time to offer solutions and Nigeria will get back to its feet,” he added.