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Tag: Amaju Melvin Pinnick

  • Pinnick thanks Tinubu, Infantino, others after losing FIFA Council Seat

    Pinnick thanks Tinubu, Infantino, others after losing FIFA Council Seat

    Former  President of Nigeria Football  Federation (NFF), Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who   lost his bid to retain his FIFA Council seat by a single vote at the poll, has expressed gratitude to President  Bola Tinubu for his support during his electioneering campaign  for the position.

    He also thanked his allies for their moral support  before yesterday’s  ill-fated poll in Cairo.

    He said he remains ‘unbowed, full of gratitude to God and to the throng of persons’ that had supported his push to retain  the seat on the all-powerful  FIFA Council. The Council consists of only 37 persons and are saddled with determining the governance of the beautiful game, globally.

    Pinnick, who had previously served as First Vice President of CAF between 2018 and 2019, thanked President Tinubu as a person and the Government of Nigeria as a whole, as well as FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino, NSC boss Shehu Dikko, NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau and those he called friends in government and the corporate world.

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     “I am drawn to tears by the support of President Tinubu, right from the time he publicly endorsed my candidature. I am most grateful and do not take anything for granted. I cherish my relationship with Gianni (Infantino) and appreciate his sincerity. I thank the National Sports Commission led by Shehu Dikko. The NFF, particularly Ibrahim Musa Gusau, were amazing in their push. Kudos also to my friends in government and the corporate world.

     “I was to be no more than the head of NFF electoral committee back in 2014, but fate catapulted me to the presidency and I became the youngest-ever Nigerian in world football’s supreme council. I am more than fulfilled,”  he said.

    Pinnick, who lost the seat by one vote having polled 28 votes, as against 29 votes each garnered by both Ahmed Yahya of Mauritania and Souleman Hassan Waberi of Djibouti, admitted that: “Football politics is fierce, but I am proud to have fought a good fight.”

    He continued: “I campaigned hard; travelled to more than 30 countries. Hours before the election, I was sure of close to 40 votes. But politics happened. I am not bitter about anything, just full of gratitude to everyone who supported my push.”

    Yet, looking back on his trajectory in the world of football, the former NFF president said: “When I started out 26 years ago, as a volunteer at the FIFA U20 World Cup that Nigeria hosted, I never dreamed of reaching these heights. Never thought I could become the number one administrator of football in Nigeria (and for eight years for that matter), play key roles in African football and easily mingle with the world’s top football governors. I have only gratitude to give to the Almighty God, to those who have helped me one way or the other and to all those I have met on my way.”

  • Ex-NFF boss Pinnick loses seat on  FIFA Council seat

    Ex-NFF boss Pinnick loses seat on  FIFA Council seat

    • Motsepe retains CAF President   

    Erstwhile President of Nigeria Football  Federation(NFF) , Amaju Melvin Pinnick, yesterday lost his bid

    to retain his FIFA Council seat, by a single vote at the poll that took place as part of the 14th CAF Extraordinary Congress in Cairo, Egypt.

    Pinnick  scored 28 votes, only one short of both Ahmed Yahya of Mauritania and Souleman Hassan Waberi of Djibouti, who each scored 29 votes to make it to the exalted panel.

    Impressive Morocco’s Fouzi Lekjaa swept 49 votes, with Egypt’s Hany Abou Rida and Niger Republic’s Djibrilla Hima Hamidou netting 35 votes each.

    Lekjaa, Rida, Hamidou, Yahya and Waberi will join CAF President Patrice Motsepe, unopposed for a second term, as Africa’s representatives at the FIFA Council, alongside Kanizat Ibrahim from the Comoros Island who collected the women’s seat by scoring 30 votes, as against 13 for former FIFA Council and IOC Member Lydia Nsekera and seven for incumbent Isha Johansen.

    Andrew Kamanga (Zambia), Yacine Idriss Diallo (Cote d’Ivoire) and Augustin Senghor (Senegal) polled 19, 18 and 13 votes respectively, while Benin Republic’s Mathurin De Chacus withdrew just before the vote.

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    In the CAF Executive Committee elections, Alfred Randriamanampisoa (Madagascar) withdrew before the vote, leaving Elvis Chetty (Seychelles), Sobha Mohamed Ally Samir (Mauritius) and Feizal Ismael Sidat (Mozambique) to contest for two COSAFA seats. In the event, Sobha Samir and Feizal Sidat were successful.

    Unopposed, as the CAF President, were Wallace Karia (CECAFA, Tanzania), Samuel Eto’o (UNIFFAC, Cameroon), Mustapha Ishola Raji (WAFU A, Liberia), Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku (WAFU B, Ghana), Sadhi Walid (UNAF) and Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (Female Seat, DR Congo).

    FIFA Council Seats: Patrice Motsepe (South Africa); Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco); Hany Abou Rida (Egypt); Djibrilla ‘Pele’ Hima Hamidou (Niger Republic); Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania), Souleman Hassan Waberi (Djibouti).

    Female Seat: Kanizat Ibrahim (Comoros)

    CAF Exco Seats: Samuel Eto’o (UNIFFAC); Wallace Karia (CECAFA); Sadhi Walid (UNAF); Mustapha Ishola Raji (WAFU A); Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku (WAFU B); Sobha Mohamed Ally Samir and Feizal Ismael Sidat (COSAFA)

    Female Seat: Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (DR Congo) 

  • 14th  CAF EGA: Pinnick battles  to retain FIFA Council seat

    14th  CAF EGA: Pinnick battles  to retain FIFA Council seat

    Nigeria’s Amaju Melvin Pinnick is highly favoured to retain his seat as a member of the 37-person FIFA Council – the supreme governing-organ for world football – when elections are conducted at the 14th Extraordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football in Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday.

    The debonair football administrator is at the forefront of the race alongside Moroccan Fouzi Lekjaa and Egyptian Hany Abou Rida, with 10 persons to battle for the available five seats when the poll is called inside the Marriott Mena House this morning.

    Africa has seven seats on the FIFA Council, with the sitting CAF President’s position guaranteed. One of the seven seats is reserved for a woman, and here, CAF’s sitting 5th  vice president Kanizat Ibrahim from the Comoros Islands will slug it out with sitting member Isha Johansen from Sierra Leone.

    The contest for the FIFA Council seats will certainly be the fiercest ever, with Ivorian Yacine Idriss Diallo, Senegal’s Augustin Senghor, Niger Republic’s Djibrilla ‘Pele’ Hima Hamidou, Zambia’s Andrew Kamanga, Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya, Benin Republic’s Mathurin De Chacus and Djibouti’s Souleman Hassan Waberi also in the poll.

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    CAF President Patrice Motsepe, who is also unchallenged for a second term at African football’s helm, keeps his seat without any sweat, but will watch keenly as only half of the contestants, all strong and deft politicians in their own rights, make it to the esteemed FIFA Council.

    Each of the 54 Member Associations will have the opportunity to vote five persons in the densely-populated male category, and one of the two women. President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who will vote on behalf of Nigeria, landed in Cairo on Sunday in company with the General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi.

    The Government of Nigeria, which publicly endorsed Pinnick’s candidacy through the Presidency in July 2024, is robustly represented, with Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Alhaji Shehu Dikko, and Director-General, Hon. Bukola Olopade on ground.

    There were indications that  morning that Mauritania’s Yahya may also sail through in the contest at the extraordinary general assembly that begins at 9am Nigeria time.

    Unlike the elections into the FIFA Council, the race for seats into the CAF Executive Committee has been weakened by zonal arrangements that have seen single candidates emerge in most zones, except the southern African region where firestorms are expected.

    South African mining billionaire Motsepe comes from the COSAFA region where four candidates viz, Elvis Chetty (Seychelles), Alfred Randriamanampisoa (Madagascar), Mohamed Ally Samir (Mauritius) and Feizal Ismael Sidat (Mozambique), battle for two seats.

    Elsewhere, Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o Fils, who needed the intervention of the Court of Arbitration for Sports to be reinstated on the ballot, is the sole candidate for the UNIFFAC (Central Africa) region, as Mustapha Ishola Raji (Liberia) for the WAFU A zone; Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku for the WAFU B zone and; Algeria’s Sadhi Walid for the UNAF (North Africa) zone.

    The only female seat is also uncontested, with Congolese Bestine Kazadi the only candidate on the ballot.

    FIFA Council Poll: Amaju Pinnick (Nigeria); Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco); Hany Abou Rida (Egypt); Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania); Yacine Idriss Diallo (Cote d’Ivoire); Augustin Senghor (Senegal); Djibrilla ‘Pele’ Hima Hamidou (Niger Republic), Andrew Kamanga (Zambia), Mathurin De Chacus (Benin Republic) and; Souleman Hassan Waberi (Djibouti).

    Female Seat: Kanizat Ibrahim (Comoros); Isha Johansen (Sierra Leone)

    CAF Exco Poll: Samuel Eto’o (UNIFFAC, unchallenged); Sadhi Walid (UNAF, unchallenged); Mustapha Ishola Raji (WAFU A, unchallenged); Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku (WAFU B, unchallenged); Elvis Chetty (COSAFA); Alfred Randriamanampisoa (COSAFA), Mohamed Ally Samir (COSAFA) and; Feizal Ismael Sidat (COSAFA)

    Female Seat: Bestine Kazadi (DR Congo).