The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ahmad Ahmad

  • BREAKING: Tinubu suspends REA MD, team

    BREAKING: Tinubu suspends REA MD, team

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Ahmad Salihijo and three Executive Directors of the agency from office with immediate effect.

    Those suspended with Ahmad include: Olaniyi Alaba Netufo — Executive Director, Corporate Services; Barka Sajou — Executive Director, Technical Services and Sa’adatu Balgore — Executive Director, Rural Electrification Fund (REF).

    A statement by the spokesman to Tinubu Chief Ajuri Ngelale said they were suspended over N1.2bn mismanaged funds in the agency within the last two years.

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    A new management team has been approved for REA in acting capacity.

    The new team includes: Abba Abubakar Aliyu as Managing Director/CEO; Ayoade Gboyega as Executive Director, Corporate Services; Umar Abdullahi Umar as Executive Director, Technical Services; Doris Uboh as Executive Director Rural Electrification Fund (REF) and Olufemi Akinyelure as Head of Project Management Unit.

    The President asked all ”appointees in his administration to uphold the highest standards of transparency and accountability in the discharge of their duties and reiterate his determination to elevate the yearnings of Nigerians for good governance and qualitative service delivery above the narrow interests of individuals who are entrusted to provide critical services to the Nigerian people.”

  • CAF President, Ahmad steps down as Madagascar Senate Leader

    CAF President, Ahmad steps down as Madagascar Senate Leader

    Newly elected Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Ahmad Ahmad has stepped down as Vice-President of the Madagascar Senate.

    Ahmad, who is also the Madagascar Football Federation (MFF) boss, tendered his resignation on Monday at 4.45 p.m local time to vacate the office he had occupied since February 2016.

    The 57-year-old former AC Sotema FC Coach was later received officially by the members of the MFF and Muslim community at the Carlton hotel in Antananarivo, where he addressed the gathering.

    Ahmad was last Thursday overwhelmingly voted as president of CAF, garnering 34 to 20 votes, to bring to a humiliating halt Issa Hayatou’s 29-year rule.

    Hayatou was seeking a record eight straight terms in office. The Cameroonian was first elected to head the largest member of FIFA, the world’s football governing body, in March 1988.

    Ahmad, a two-time government minister, is also expected to vacate his position as the MFF president, as required by the CAF rules.

    This could happen anytime soon with MFF’s first vice-president Soda Andriamiasasoa expected to take over the reins on an interim basis pending elections.

     

  • CAF: Ahmad Ahmad has emerged!

    It has been clinking of glasses and celebration galore for those of us who wished and wanted the Madagascar FA Chairman to win the CAF presidential election days back (although I am an AIPS member, I do not have voting rights in CAF).

    I was just going through the facts and it’s clear that after Late Chief Orok Oyo Orok, Vice President of CAF under Issa Hayatou, no Nigerian has ever again climbed the ranks in CAF in Hayatou’s near 30 year rule.

    Yes Amos Adamu was next as exco member, but that without high position. Plus it was Chief Orok Oyo who helped get him into the CAF committee in the first place. Many years after Adamu’s unceremonious exit, no Nigerian has replaced his seat.

    And this is under the Cameroonian Papa whose claim was that Cameroun had been a long-standing ally of Nigeria and even helped in the Boko Haram war. Laughable! First of all, that has no bearing WHATSOEVER with African football; it is also annoyingly untrue.

    Look at it today  Cameroun is now out and Nigeria has now stepped into CAF’s board. I must say that when the tsunami that hit FIFA and swept even Sepp Blatter out, I had thought then that Hayatou was a goner. Given his financial impropriety over the years, I am still surprised at how he escaped. Issa Hayatou had 29 years to take African football to whatever heights anyone could have. Rather, in that time African football which was on a rise went into free fall from a golden age. The emergence of an Asian bloc in football, as well as other emergent football blocs could not galvanize Hayatou into action. Even until America of all nations has reached global football reckoning, he continued to watch Africa’s fall.

    For Hayatou it was all about sitting pretty and sitting tight. Well, Cameroun has a president that has changed that country’s constitution and has become a noted African sit-tight ruler; it’s his blueprint that Hayatou must have been following and nothing else.

    But with this election, Light Has Come To African Football. THE EMERGENCE OF AHMAD MARKS THE END OF CORRUPTION AND STAGNATION IN AFRICAN FOOTBALL!

    Hear Ahmad’s first words (paraphrased): ‘The first step is  we won. The second step is the Development of African Football.’ Ahmad’s tenure is for just four years in the first instance. He has promised to

    1. introduce a code of ethics in African football administration
    2. to develop and revitalize African Football.

    It’s a thing of joy and the dawn of a new day. We all can now lift our heads high rejoicing in the victory of an election that has instantly brought about Nigeria’s elevation. For this we say Ahmad Ahmad  may your tenure be most successful (and I’m off to Madagascar for the celebration!).

     

  • Saraki congratulates new CAF President, Ahmad

    Saraki congratulates new CAF President, Ahmad

    The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Thursday congratulated the newly-elected President of African Football Confederation (CAF), Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad.

    Saraki said in Abuja that Ahmad as a consummate technocrat would help to usher in an era of innovation and positive change in the affairs of CAF.

    “Ahmad’s victory is testament to his determination to positively alter the 29-year status quo in CAF,” Saraki said in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Yusuph Olaniyonu.

    “His predecessor, Issa Hayatou had served the organisation well; now, we look forward to the new leadership to usher in an era of change and effectiveness to raise the standard of African football across all levels.”

    Saraki also urged Football Associations (FA) across the continent to rally support for the new CAF president to deliver on his electioneering promises for the good of African football.

    “This is a new beginning and we cannot afford to make the mistakes of the past.

    “African football has been yearning for a new direction and now that this opportunity to inject fresh blood into the management of CAF has been realised, it is time for stakeholders to extend the frontiers and fortunes of African football at the global level,” Saraki said.

    He commended the outgoing President of CAF, Issa Hayatou, for his services and contributions to the development of football in Africa in his 29-year headship of the body.

  • Saraki congratulates New CAF President, Ahmad

    Saraki congratulates New CAF President, Ahmad

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Thursday congratulated the newly-elected President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Ahmad Ahmad on his victory at the polls.

    Saraki, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, described Ahmad as a consummate technocrat, who can help to usher in a new era of innovation and positive change into the affairs of CAF.

    He commended the outgoing President of CAF, Issa Hayatou, for his services and immense contribution to the development of football in Africa in his 29-year headship of the body.

    “Ahmad’s victory is a testament to his message and determination to positively alter the 29-year status quo in CAF,” Saraki said, “Hayatou has served the organization well, now, we look forward to the new leadership to usher in a new era of change and effectiveness to raise the standard of African football across all levels.”

    Saraki also urged all Football Associations (FA) across the continent to rally round the new CAF President to enable him deliver on his electioneering promises, for the good of African football.

    “This is a new beginning and we cannot afford to make the mistakes of the past. African football has been yearning for a new direction and now that this opportunity to inject fresh blood into the management of the continental body has been realized, it is time for all stakeholders to roll up their sleeves and support the new executive to extend the frontiers and fortunes of African Football at the global level,” Saraki said.

     

  • Ahmad emerges new CAF president

    Ahmad emerges new CAF president

    Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad has emerged the new president of Confederation of African Football (CAF) after defeating the incumbent Issa Hayatou in Thursday’s election held in Addis –Ababa, Ethiopia.

    Ahmad polled 34 votes, while Hayatou garnered 20 in the keenly contested election.

    Details later…